What is Heavy General Waste? And what can Heavy Waste include?

Heavy General Waste is any waste that contains a mixture of materials that are considered heavy, specifically heavier than 250 kilograms per cubic meter.  

Heavy General Waste is just waste or rubbish that is likely to weigh more than 250 kilograms per cubic meter. Usually waste becomes heavier than 250 kilograms per cubic meter when it contains waste materials like soil, sand, bricks, masonry, concrete, large tree stumps and tree trunks and other heavy materials.

In many locations around Australian it is relatively expensive to dispose of heavy general waste or mixed heavy waste. The reason for the greater disposal cost is because tipping is charged for based on the weight of the waste. Typically at most tip sites the truck carrying the waste is weighed when it is entering the landfill facility and then it is weighed on the way out after the waste has been tipped off on the land-fill.  The disposal company is charged for the difference between the weight entering the landfill site and exiting. Inbound the weight of the truck with its load of waste is known as the gross weight. When the waste has been dump the weight of the truck leaving is known as the tare ware, and the difference is the gross weight.  This is the Gross weight of the waste that has been dumped at the landfill and the tip charges the truck operator for that weight of waste at the tipping rate per tonne.  The heavier the weight the more expensive it is to dispose of the waste it is.

Heavy general waste is usually generate from building and landscaping projects that generate masonry (bricks, ceramic tiles, like tiles from bathrooms and kitchens), concrete, rocks and soil.  These waste materials often weigh more than 1 tonne per cubic meter or more.  By way of example soil can vary in weight or density considerably depending on how moist or wet it is. Water weighs 1 tonne per cubic meter. So if you have wet sand you essentially have the weight of the sand and the water. This could me that the wet sand could weigh 2 tonnes of more per cubic meter.

There are other heavy waste that you should be careful of when disposing of it, is glass which is extremely heavy. Glass is similar to sand except it has no air between the particles, it is solid which means it can weigh well over 2 tonnes per cubic meter.