Dust cover, then a slip
A plastic sheet looks like an easy liner because it is light and waterproof in the store. On a wooden floor it bunches, and the bunched plastic is slick under boots, especially if any dust or a drip is on it. People fall in their own trucks this way. If you use plastic, tape it flat, edge to edge, with no loose skirt at the door. Tape it to itself more than to the truck, so you can pull the tape off later. Do not expect it to hold a liquid spill. Paint, oil, gasoline, and solvents go through or pool on top. Do not hose that pool into the street or a storm drain. Absorb it and tell the counter. For ordinary grit, cardboard that you can walk on is often the calmer choice.
The sheet has to leave at the site
Plastic that rode under a load is dirty. It belongs with the trash at the disposal site if they accept it, not in a recycling bin of clean film, and not blowing across the rental lot. Fold it into a bag so it cannot sail off the ramp. A loose sheet on the highway is litter. Shake dry crumbs into the bay first. Ordinary dry sweepings go in the bay, not into a ditch. If the plastic is wrapped around a wet leak, bag the whole thing and ask the attendant where it goes. Do not burn it to get rid of it. Do not leave it under the bumper to fall off later. After it is out, the floor still needs a broom, because plastic never caught the tracks.
When to skip plastic entirely
Skip it for a load you must walk on: shingles you stack by hand, a sofa you carry, a ramp you use in the rain. Wet plastic on a wet ramp is a bad combination. Skip it for batteries and paint, where you need to see a leak, not hide it under a clear skin. A taped cardboard liner or no liner at all, plus a careful sweep, is enough for bagged trash. If the goal is only to impress the return counter, a swept floor beats a shiny sheet you are still standing on. Photograph the bare floor after the plastic is gone. The photo of a liner is not a photo of a clean truck.
Before you go
- Tape plastic flat if you use it, with no loose edge at the door.
- Do not walk a wet or dusty sheet, and do not use it to hide a spill.
- Bag the plastic and put it in the trash at the disposal site.
- Sweep the bare floor after the sheet is out, including the tracks.
Leaving loose plastic on the floor and then hosing a spill off it into the street.
Questions people ask
Is plastic better than cardboard?
It sheds some dust and then gets slick. Cardboard is easier to walk on if you tape it flat. Neither one holds a liquid. Pick cardboard for a load you must stand on. Skip both if the load is only intact bags and you will sweep anyway.
Can I recycle the sheet at the site?
Only if that site told you this dirty film belongs in recycling. A sheet that sat under junk is usually trash. Ask. Do not add it to a bin of clean bags, and do not let it blow out of the truck on the way to the container.
Search Dumpmapper by ZIP code or city, then call the site before you load the truck. Hours and accepted materials change.