Dumpster

A dumpster is a movable waste container designed to be brought and taken away by a special collection vehicle, or to a bin that a specially designed garbage truck lifts, empties into its hopper, and lowers, on the spot. The word is a generic trademark of Dumpster, an American brand name for a specific design. Generic usage of skip, or wheelie bin may be used in other English speaking countries. The word "dumpster", first used commercially in 1936, came from the Dempster-Dumpster system of mechanically loading the contents of standardized containers onto garbage trucks, which was patented by Dempster Brothers in 1935. The containers were called Dumpsters, a blending of the company's name with the word dump. The Dempster Dumpmaster, which became the first successful front-loading garbage truck that used this system, popularized the word. The word dumpster has had at least three trademarks associated with it by Dempster Brothers, but today it is often used as a genericized trademark. All three trademarks have since either been expired or cancelled. A dumpster is sometimes considered synonymous with a skip. However, there are functional differences between them. A skip is intended to be loaded onto a vehicle and transported to another location. Dumpsters, on the other hand, have their contents emptied into a special vehicle, and are seldom moved from their locations. The main purpose of a dumpster is to store garbage until it is emptied by a garbage truck for disposal. Dumpsters can be used for all kinds of waste, or for recycling purposes. Most dumpsters are emptied by front-loading garbage trucks. These trucks have large prongs on the front which are aligned and inserted into arms or slots on the dumpster. Hydraulics lift the prongs and the dumpster, eventually flipping the dumpster upside-down and emptying its contents into the garbage truck's hopper (storage compartment). Other dumpsters are smaller and are emptied by rear-loading trucks. Dumpsters are typically emptied outside of peak traffic hours.