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Getting rid of a large appliance is hard when the city charges hundreds for pickup.

One broke renter was told the dryer had to fit inside the trash can.

That answer gave him a wild idea involving bad tools, three weeks, and plenty of smashing.

Technically, every piece fit.

“If it doesn’t fit in the trash can we can’t take it.”

I lived in the Atlanta area in the early 2000s. At the time, where I lived did not have large item trash pickup.

I needed to get rid of a dryer before I moved.

It was a gas clothes dryer ( odd, I know) and I had no gas hookup at the place I was moving to.

It worked. I tried to sell it and then give it away for many weeks. No one wanted it.

There were only so many options, but none of them would work.

One option was for me to rent a truck and take it across town to a recycling center, but I had zero money.

I called the city and they said if it doesn’t fit in the trash can they can’t take it. And at the time it was like $200 for a large item pickup.

Again, I had zero money.

So I was at a loss. I couldn’t just leave it or my landlord would charge me.

Time to get creative!

Then the phrase “if it doesn’t fit in the trash can we can’t take it,” slipped back into my mind.

So, off and on over the last three weeks I was in that place I would go down to the garage and with a really bad set of tools I took that dryer apart piece by piece.

The garbage can was provided by the city and was large and you could roll it out to the curb.

Here’s what went in the trash each week…

I managed to take off the outer sheet metal and jumped on it to fold it into a piece that would fit. That and the wires and electronic components went in week 1.

Week 2 I smashed the base into a form that kinda fit and the motor and other smaller pieces.

Finally the drum the third week. It barley fit. I was concerned it would get stuck when the robotic arm thing tried to dump it. It was also extremely heavy.

It worked, kind of.

The next morning I’m awaken to a large crash.

The garbage truck successfully lifted the heavy drum and dumped it in the truck with a loud bang.

Unfortunately a large piece of the trash can broke off with it. Unfortunate for the next tenant, anyway. And the city.

I moved out the next day. Kind of a jerk move I guess, but I was in a tough spot.

And yes I now realize that it was probably not the most environmentally responsible thing to do. I promise I won’t do it again.

When there are no other options, you have to find a way to make one option work. I don’t blame OP for coming up with this creative, although not environmentally friendly plan.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

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Here’s another story about throwing something unusual in the trash.

This person did the same thing with a couch.

Maybe this would’ve been another option.

Perhaps leaving it on the curb would’ve worked.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a person who is told their fence doesn’t meet community guidelines, but then they find a way around those guidelines in their own handbook.

This person doesn’t think it was really that bad for the environment.

This renter slowly took the dryer apart and placed different pieces in the trash over three collection days.

The city hauled away every part, although the final heavy drum also broke a chunk off the garbage can.

He couldn’t afford bulk pickup, so he turned the dryer into a weekly subscription.

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Author

Chris Allen