BFI/TRC Transfer Station

I’m reviewing the dump. And I don’t mean «The Dive.» I mean the dump. If you’ve never been, it’s quite an experience. Let me paint you a picture.
You’ve just helped a friend gut the third floor of his rowhome, and have dozens of bags of plaster, lathe, carpet, furring strips, linoleum, a janky old toilet, popcorn ceiling and wood paneling. What to do with this treasure? Recycle it of course. And this is the part where you put stuff on freecycle or CL and birds land on your shoulder and rainbows shoot from your ass. But say you just want to *disappear* these materials, you head down to the dump. Well, first you get a big truck. In fact, you might rent a box truck from Penske (see my review) the night before your run, load it up and make the trip in the early AM.
Why take time off from work when you can make a 6:30 am dump run? Oh, it’s open before then, but only for trash trucks and whatnot. So you show up at 6:30 with a wad of cash, drive onto the scale and they weigh your inbound mass. You throw down a $ 200 CASH deposit in exchange for a hard hat and safety vest. Of course you brought your own work gloves. They’ll give you a laminated card that’s like your VIP ticket and send you onward. You drive your truck o’ trash up to the hanger beyond and look to see where the other trucks are parking. They’ll throw some concrete blocks in the way to make it pretty clear whether you should go up to the left and around or just to the front. You back your truck up to the insane mound of festering garbage and park. I recommend parking as close to a support pylon as possible — you’ll get grief from the people who do this for a living if you hog the space their larger trucks need for unloading.
So there you are, heaving crap onto a pile. If you’re on the backside of the building, you can try to do some hammer throws with your refuse… there’s a nice drop and you can challenge yourself or whatever. All the while, two things are happening: There are massive front-​end loaders pushing the trash around with no lack of expertise, and there are trash trucks pulling up and unceremoniously dumping their loads, right next to your vehicle. It takes a little while to get used to it, but it makes you appreciate refuse collection and is guaranteed to incentivize your departure. After all, you know what you put in your truck, but you have no idea what’s in someone else’s. Best not to stick around longer than necessary.
So you empty your truck and thoroughly sweep it out to avoid suspicion back at Penske. Drive back down to the exit scale to weigh the empty truck and you’ll pay $ 70 or $ 80 a ton, with a similar minimum, so don’t go if you don’t have a ton or more. Trade your safety gear for your change, drop off the truck and head to work with a great story for your coworkers. Most likely, none of them spent the morning getting up close and personal with the dump.
I almost finished without telling you how to get to this shangri-​la: Head to Club Risqué on Columbus Boulevard for some pre-​dawn buffalo wings and ogling, then drive south on Columbus to Crazy Horse II or whatever it is now for more strippers (past the Best Buy). Then drive just a little further south and look for a driveway on your right. It’s practically under the WW bridge. If you get to Packer Ave, you went too far. If it’s raining, don’t worry — there’s an overhang on the building, but wear some boots regardless of the weather.