What Happens to It After We Load It

Plenty of hauling companies advertise that they divert most material from landfill. Some do. Many state a percentage that nobody measures and no customer could check.

Here is how it actually works, so you can ask better questions of whoever you hire, including us.

Just-In-Time Moving hauls across West Valley City and Salt Lake County.

The three destinations

Landfill or transfer station. Where mixed household material goes. Charged by weight, which is the main reason a hauling quote depends on density.

Recycling. Realistic for separated material of a single type. Metal is the clearest case, since scrap has actual value and appliances and exercise equipment are largely metal. Cardboard and clean wood are usually straightforward. Mixed household waste generally is not, because separating it afterwards costs more than it recovers.

Donation. Possible for items in genuinely usable condition, and charities are more selective than people expect. Furniture with stains or damage, mattresses, non-working electronics and worn upholstery are commonly refused, and a crew arriving with a load of it will be turned away.

What to ask a hauler

Not whether they recycle, which everybody says yes to. Ask what specifically gets separated on their trucks, and where it goes. A straight answer names facilities. A vague one is a marketing line.

Ask what they do with appliances and metal, since that is where honest diversion actually happens.

What you can do that works better

If diversion matters to you, the effective step is separating before the crew arrives, not after.

Set aside anything genuinely donatable and take it or book a charity collection yourself; they will accept from you what they would refuse from a truck of mixed load. Put metal in its own pile. Keep electronics separate, since Salt Lake County runs collection points for them.

Then have the crew take what is left, which is the part that was always going to be waste.

The other thing that genuinely helps is deciding earlier. A sofa cleared out while it is still in usable condition has somewhere to go; the same sofa after two more winters in a garage has one destination, and it is not a charity.

Our position

We separate metal and appliances, and we will take donatable items to a charity if you have identified them and it is on the route. We do not claim a diversion percentage, because we do not measure one and would rather say that than invent a number.

Call (435) 862-3080 or email office@movingjustintime.com.