Can I recover a valuable item from the trash?

Oops! You just discovered that a valuable item unintentionally went into the trash... and the trash truck has already picked it up.

Is it possible to find valuable items picked up as trash?

Sometimes. One critical element is our ability to identify the collection truck before it dumps its load at our Solid Waste Transfer Station.

If your loss occurred on the day you call us, you might find your items.
If your loss occurred prior to that, we cannot recover your items.

What steps should I take?

Contact us immediately

Time is critical! Our window of opportunity for being able to help you is typically very short.

Help us identify the collection truck

If your trash collection is provided by Montgomery County, contact our Call Center at 240-777-6410.
- Our staff will determine which company and truck serviced your home, and will contact our Solid Waste Transfer Station for you.
If your trash collection is not provided by Montgomery County, please call our Solid Waste Transfer Station at 240-777-6560 with this information:
- the name of your trash collection company
  - If the company does not take its loads to our Solid Waste Transfer Station, we will not be able to assist you further.
- the number of the truck which serviced your address (contact the collection company for this information)
- what time the the truck is scheduled to come to the Transfer Station to unload (contact the collection company for this information)

Other helpful information is:

what time the valuable item was picked up by the truck
whether the pickup was at the beginning, middle, or end of the route
- this helps us know what section of the truck load to target in searching for your item

Once we know the collection company and truck, we will contact our Transfer Station Scale House staff to determine whether the truck has already dumped its load.

If the truck has already unloaded, it is too late to locate your item.
If the truck has not unloaded, we will watch for it to arrive. Once the truck arrives, we will ask the driver to dump in a separate location on our tipping floor. We will contact you right away.

Be safe

Searching through trash can be dangerous. Risks include slipping, falling, and getting cut on sharp objects. You must assess the importance of recovering your lost item relative to these risks.

You must wear long pants, and sturdy footwear such as leather boots.

We will provide a hard hat, glasses, gloves, and a vest.

Look through the trash to find your item

If we succeed in having the truck's load dumped separately, we will ask you to be at the Transfer Station as soon as this occurs. You will then be able to look through the load to find your item -- you will know best for what bag, box, etc. you are seeking.

We will assist the you with search through the trash at our discretion, if staff are available.

Load size and working conditions

A 10-ton pile of trash is approximately 30 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 8 feet high. It is usually very smelly and wet, and consists mostly of black and white identical trash bags.
There is much heavy truck traffic in and out of the Transfer Station building, where it is very loud, dusty, and dirty, with strong odors.

Time available to work

We must clear out all trash that comes into the Transfer Station before our day is over. Therefore, we can give you only a limited time -- 30 minutes -- for your search. If we find the search too dangerous at any time, we may terminate it.