Concrete and patio removal: container, weight and what you cannot throw in
A 10 yard container. Always a 10, and never anything larger. Concrete is about two tons per cubic yard, so a bigger container just sells you space you are not legally allowed to fill. Expect $250 to $600 for the rental, and check the material list below before you start — this job produces 2 things worth verifying.
- Recommended
- 10 yd³
- Constraint
- Weight-limited
- Weight limit
- 1–2 tons
- Typical cost
- $250–$600
How much debris this job produces
A 4 inch slab is about 1.25 cubic yards per 100 square feet, or roughly 2.5 tons. A 400 square foot patio is therefore around 10 tons — three or four separate clean-concrete containers, not one big one.
Why this size and not the next one
Always a 10, and never anything larger. Concrete is about two tons per cubic yard, so a bigger container just sells you space you are not legally allowed to fill. The 10 yard is the heavy-debris container. Its low walls are the point: you can walk a wheelbarrow of broken concrete up to the rim, and the truck hits its legal axle weight before the box is full anyway.
What goes wrong on this job
- Ask for a clean concrete rate and keep the load clean. One pallet of mixed trash reclassifies the whole container at the mixed-debris rate
- Rebar is tolerated in small amounts by some processors and refused by others. Ask first
- Haulers often fill these to a marked line rather than the rim. That line is the truck’s legal axle weight, not a suggestion
Materials from this job that need checking
- Conditional
Concrete, brick and asphalt
Accepted only as a clean, dedicated load — no rebar-tangled slabs mixed with wood and trash. Concrete is about two tons per cubic yard, which is why haulers cap these containers by depth rather than by rim. Massachusetts bans asphalt pavement, brick and concrete from disposal outright; they go to an aggregate processor instead.
Massachusetts: Asphalt pavement, brick and concrete are banned materials and must be diverted to processing. (310 CMR 19.017)
California: Not banned, but CALGreen requires covered projects to divert at least 65% of non-hazardous C&D debris by weight, and concrete is the easiest material to hit that number with. Expect to document where it went. (CALGreen)
We have not verified this material against your state’s own regulator. That means unknown, not allowed — check with your state before you load it.
Varies by state Heavy debris MA, CA - Conditional
Sod, soil and dirt
Accepted, but almost always as a clean dedicated load in a 10 yard container at a dirt-specific rate. Mixed into general debris it fails: soil is roughly a ton per cubic yard, so half a 20 yard box of dirt is already over a typical weight allowance.
Hauler policy Heavy debris
Sources
- Primary source MassDEP Waste Disposal Bans — Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection · last reviewed 2026-08-17
mass.gov refuses automated requests from this build environment (HTTP 403). The ban list was read from the publisher’s own guide through a search index and cross-checked against the October 2021 amendment document below. - Primary source CALGreen Construction Waste Management Requirements — CalRecycle · last reviewed 2026-08-17
- Primary source Construction and Demolition Debris: Material-Specific Data — US Environmental Protection Agency · last reviewed 2026-08-17