Concrete & Dirt Dumpster Calculator
Turn a slab, a driveway or an excavation into tons, and into the number of 10-yard heavy-debris containers it takes. We use solid, in-place densities from state DOT design manuals and USDA soil data.
Measure what you’re removing before you break it up. Densities and container limits are listed with sources under “How we calculate”.
Concrete & dirt dumpster calculator
Measure the slab or the hole, not the rubble pile. We work from solid, in-place volume.
See the math
In-place vs. loose: two very different “weights per yard”
Search for the weight of a cubic yard of concrete and you’ll find answers from under 1,000 lb to over 4,000 lb. Both can be right, because they measure different things.
- In place means the solid slab or the undisturbed ground. Colorado DOT designs with unreinforced concrete at 145 lb per cubic foot (3,915 lb per cubic yard); FHWA reports measured unit weights of about 140–155 lb per cubic foot.
- Loose means broken rubble tossed into a truck, air gaps included. The U.S. EPA’s waste-hauling factors put loose concrete at 860 lb and loose dirt and sand at 929 lb per cubic yard.
Breaking a slab doesn’t change its weight; it only adds air. So if you start from the slab’s measurements, you must use the in-place density. Multiplying slab volume by a loose factor understates the weight by roughly four times, and that is exactly how people end up with an overweight container. This calculator never mixes the two.
How much slab fits in one container?
At a 10-ton limit, one 10-yard heavy-debris container takes about 4.94 cubic yards of plain concrete measured in place. Spread out as a slab, that is:
| Slab thickness | Plain concrete | Reinforced concrete | Asphalt paving |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 in | 400 sq ft | 387 sq ft | 409 sq ft |
| 5 in | 320 sq ft | 310 sq ft | 327 sq ft |
| 6 in | 267 sq ft | 258 sq ft | 273 sq ft |
Uses the heavier end of each density range, so the areas lean conservative.
What a cubic yard of soil weighs
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) measures soil as dry bulk density: oven-dry weight divided by volume. Its rule of thumb is 1.33 g/cm³ for a medium-textured soil with about half its volume as pore space. Its texture table puts the threshold where density starts to restrict root growth at 1.80 g/cm³ for sandy soil, 1.65 for silty and 1.47 for clayey soil. Real dirt also carries water, and the NRCS method adds it as a percentage of the dry weight.
| Soil texture | Dry bulk density (g/cm³) | Dry, lb per cu yd | With 25.9% water, lb per cu yd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Not sure / mixed | 1.10–1.80 | 1,854–3,034 | 2,334–3,575 |
| Sandy | 1.60–1.80 | 2,697–3,034 | 3,365–3,575 |
| Silty / loam | 1.40–1.65 | 2,360–2,781 | 2,971–3,417 |
| Clayey | 1.10–1.47 | 1,854–2,478 | 2,334–3,120 |
Water can only fill the pore space. A dense soil has less of it, so we cap the water at saturation. Even fully saturated, the densest soil in the table weighs about 3,575 lb per cubic yard, a little less than concrete.
Before you book a heavy-debris container
- Ask for a heavy-debris or “clean load” container. Dumpsters.com and Budget Dumpster both list 10 tons as the limit for a 10-yard taking concrete or brick. A general debris container of the same size usually includes far less weight (see the weight calculator).
- A bigger container doesn’t buy more weight. Dumpsters.com notes that its 15 and 20-yard containers carry the same 10-ton restriction for heavy debris, which is why the 10-yard is the usual choice.
- Keep it separate. Mixing heavy material with other debris can trigger overage or a different rate. No wet concrete (slurry); break slabs into manageable pieces.
- Plan the swap-outs. When the job needs more than one container, the hauler collects the full one and drops an empty, so ask about the haul fee for each extra load.
How we calculate
Every number in the calculator comes from these steps and the data below. The page runs the same numbers you see here.
- Volume in place (cu yd) = length × width × thickness ÷ 27, with a slab’s thickness converted from inches to feet (÷ 12). For a hole or trench, use its depth in feet.
- Concrete and asphalt: density (lb per cu yd) = the DOT unit weight in lb per cubic foot × 27.
- Soil: dry density = NRCS bulk density (g/cm³) × 62.428 lb/ft³ × 27. Water adds bulk density × water % ÷ 100, but never more than the pore space, 1 − bulk density ÷ 2.65.
- Weight (tons) = volume × density ÷ 2,000, shown as a low–high range across the density range.
- Containers = tons ÷ the container limit (10 tons by default), rounded up.
Concrete and asphalt densities
| Material | lb per cu ft | lb per cu yd | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain concrete (patio, sidewalk, footing) | 145–150 | 3,915–4,050 | 145 pcf unreinforced (CDOT, per AASHTO Table 3.5.1-1); 150 pcf plain concrete (WSDOT) |
| Reinforced concrete (rebar or mesh) | 150–155 | 4,050–4,185 | 150 pcf reinforced cast-in-place (CDOT); 155 pcf dead load with reinforcement (WSDOT) |
| Asphalt paving | 146.67 | 3,960 | 146.67 lb/ft³ asphalt unit weight (CDOT) |
Soil densities (NRCS)
| Soil texture | Dry bulk density (g/cm³) | Dry, lb per cu yd | With 25.9% water, lb per cu yd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Not sure / mixed | 1.10–1.80 | 1,854–3,034 | 2,334–3,575 |
| Sandy | 1.60–1.80 | 2,697–3,034 | 3,365–3,575 |
| Silty / loam | 1.40–1.65 | 2,360–2,781 | 2,971–3,417 |
| Clayey | 1.10–1.47 | 1,854–2,478 | 2,334–3,120 |
Assumptions and limits
- The soil range for each texture runs from NRCS’s “ideal” bulk density to the density that restricts root growth (sandy 1.60–1.80, silty 1.40–1.65, clayey 1.10–1.47 g/cm³). “Not sure” spans all of them. Compacted fill can be denser.
- The default water content, 25.9%, is the measured sample in NRCS’s worked example, not a national average. Use your own if you know it; soaked soil weighs more.
- We don’t model how much dug soil or broken concrete swells in the container. No primary source we opened gives a reliable factor, so watch your hauler’s fill line.
- Container limits differ between haulers. Our 10-ton default is the published figure from Dumpsters.com and Budget Dumpster; use your quote’s number.
- We don’t estimate prices for heavy-debris containers yet, because we haven’t found two published sources that agree.
Sources
We opened and checked every source below in October 2026. ACI 318 isn’t freely published, so for concrete we use state DOT design manuals, which take their values from the AASHTO bridge specifications.
- USDA NRCS — Soil Quality Indicators: Bulk Density (June 2008)
- USDA NRCS — Soil Health Guides for Educators: Bulk Density / Moisture / Aeration (May 2019)
- Colorado DOT — Bridge Design Manual, Section 3: Loads and Load Factors (April 2025)
- Washington State DOT — Bridge Design Memorandum: Unit Weight of Concrete (June 1, 2010)
- FHWA-HRT-05-057 — Appendix C: Proposed revisions to the AASHTO Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges (concrete unit weight)
- Dumpsters.com — Concrete disposal: dumpsters for concrete
- Budget Dumpster — Dumpster weight limits
- U.S. EPA — Volume-to-Weight Conversion Factors (April 2016)
Last reviewed: October 2026 · Full methodology
Concrete & dirt dumpster FAQ
How much does a cubic yard of concrete weigh?
Solid, in-place concrete weighs about 3,915–4,050 lb per cubic yard unreinforced and 4,050–4,185 lb with rebar, based on Colorado and Washington DOT design values. Broken and loose in a truck, the same yard of rubble takes more room, so the EPA’s loose factor is only 860 lb per cubic yard of space.
How much does a cubic yard of dirt weigh?
Dry in place, about 1,854–3,034 lb, from the NRCS bulk density range of 1.10–1.80 g/cm³. Moist soil weighs more: with 25.9% water the range is about 2,334–3,575 lb.
How much concrete fits in a 10-yard dumpster?
By weight, not by volume. At the 10-ton limit Dumpsters.com and Budget Dumpster publish, that is about 4.94 cubic yards of plain concrete measured in place, or roughly 400 sq ft of a 4-inch slab.
Can I put concrete in a 20 or 30-yard dumpster?
Some haulers allow it, but the weight limit doesn’t grow with the container. Dumpsters.com applies the same 10-ton restriction to its 15 and 20-yard containers for heavy debris, so a bigger box mostly adds empty space.
Why do concrete weights online disagree so much?
Some figures describe solid concrete in place, others describe loose, broken rubble with air gaps. Start from the slab’s measurements and use the in-place figure.