How-To Guides · For homeowners & landscapers
How Many Yards Is My Debris Pile? Choosing a Dumpster for Dirt, Concrete or Brush
Dumpsters are sold by the cubic yard, piles are not labeled, and concrete runs out of weight allowance long before it runs out of room. Here is how to size the pile and the container.
In short
- A “yard” is a cubic yard: 27 cubic feet, about the volume of a washing machine and a half. Dumpsters come in 10, 15, 20, 30 and 40 cubic yard sizes.
- Measuring a pile as a box (length × width × height ÷ 27) overstates a mound by a third to a half. Use a cone or ridge formula, or scan the pile.
- Broken concrete weighs about 2,025 lb per cubic yard, so 10 cubic yards is 10 tons, the cap on a heavy-debris dumpster. Dirt is 2,000–2,600 lb per yard.
- Brush is mostly air: a 30-yard brush pile weighs a ton or two and chips down to about a third of its volume.
What “yards” means on a dumpster
Roll-off dumpsters are named for their volume in cubic yards. A 10-yard container is roughly 12 feet long, 8 feet wide and 3.5 feet tall; a 20-yard is about 22 × 8 × 4.5 feet; 30- and 40-yard cans share that footprint and grow to 6 and 8 feet tall. Rental companies such as Boom & Bucket publish these dimensions, and they vary a little by hauler. The question “how many yards is my debris pile” is really two: how much space does it take up, and how much does it weigh. Light debris is sized by the first; dirt and concrete by the second.
Measuring the pile
The quick method is to treat the pile as a box: length × width × height in feet, divided by 27. A pile 12 feet long, 6 feet wide and 4 feet high is 288 cubic feet, or 10.7 cubic yards. The trouble is that no pile is a box. A cone fills only about a quarter of the box that encloses it, and a long ridge fills about half. Order a 20-yard dumpster for a “10.7-yard” mound of dirt and you may be paying for 8 yards of air.
Better shapes are easy. For a rounded mound, use the cone formula: 0.2618 × diameter² × height in feet, then divide by 27. A mound 12 feet across and 4 feet high is 0.2618 × 144 × 4 = 151 cubic feet, about 5.6 cubic yards, roughly half the box estimate. For a loader-built ridge, take half the width times the height times the length. The stockpile volume formula guide covers flat-topped piles and the angle each material naturally rests at.
For an irregular heap of excavation spoil or demolition rubble, a walk-around phone scan skips the geometry. Stockpile Scan builds a 3D model of the pile from a short walk and reports its volume with a ± range worked out from that scan; set a custom density for rubble and it estimates the weight as well. The pile-of-gravel guide walks through the tape method and the scan method on the same pile.
The heavy-debris rule
Haulers price a dumpster with a weight allowance built in, often 1 to 2 tons on a 10-yard can and 2 to 4 tons on a 20- or 30-yard, and bill overage per ton. Dense material blows through those allowances fast. Trucks and local road laws generally cap a haul at about 10 tons, as Trash Daddy’s material weight guide notes, so companies offer dedicated heavy-debris containers, usually 10 yards, rated to 10 tons, and they will not put concrete or dirt in a 30- or 40-yard can at all.
The numbers explain why. Solid concrete weighs about 4,050 lb per cubic yard, and once broken up it occupies roughly twice the space at about 2,025 lb per cubic yard, according to Dumpsters.com’s concrete weight calculator. Ten cubic yards of broken concrete is therefore 20,000 lb, exactly 10 tons: a 10-yard heavy-debris dumpster filled level is at its legal limit. Loose dirt is a little lighter at 2,000 to 2,600 lb per cubic yard, so about 8 to 10 yards fills the same allowance. See how much a cubic yard weighs for other materials.
| Material | Weight per cubic yard | Cubic yards under a 10-ton limit | Container that fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Concrete, broken | ~2,025 lb | ~10 yd³ | 10-yd heavy-debris |
| Asphalt millings | 2,400–2,800 lb | 7–8 yd³ | 10-yd heavy-debris |
| Dirt, loose | 2,000–2,600 lb | 8–10 yd³ | 10-yd heavy-debris |
| Sand or gravel | 2,600–3,400 lb | 6–8 yd³ | 10-yd heavy-debris |
| Mixed construction debris | ~500 lb | 40 yd³ (volume limits first) | 20–40 yd by volume |
| Brush, branches, yard waste | 130–250 lb | Well over 40 yd³ | Any size by volume |
Approximate loose weights; wet dirt and rubble with soil attached weigh more. Ask the hauler for their heavy-debris rules before ordering.
Dirt swells when you dig it
A hole does not tell you the size of the pile beside it. Excavated soil fluffs up by 10 to 30% as it leaves the ground, so a 6-cubic-yard footing excavation produces 7 or 8 cubic yards of spoil to haul. Clay swells the most and sand the least. If you are estimating a pile from the dimensions of the hole, add the swell; if you have the pile in front of you, measure the pile. The bank, loose and compacted yards explainer gives factors by soil type.
Brush is mostly air
A brush pile is the opposite problem. Limbs and branches stack with huge voids, so a pile that looks enormous weighs almost nothing: 130 to 250 lb per cubic yard for branches and mixed yard waste. Volume limits the container, not weight, and the cheapest fix is to shrink the volume. Chipping reduces a brush pile to about a third of its loose size, and cutting limbs to 4-foot lengths and stacking them tightly does nearly as well. A 30-yard pile of limbs becomes 10 yards of chips, which is a smaller dumpster or, better, free mulch; wood chips by the yard covers what those chips weigh and what they are worth.
Three worked examples
A patio excavation. You dug out a 10 × 12 foot area 8 inches deep for a paver base. That is 80 cubic feet, or 3 cubic yards in the ground. With 25% swell the spoil pile is about 3.7 cubic yards, and at roughly 2,400 lb per loose yard it weighs 8,900 lb, or 4.4 tons. One 10-yard heavy-debris dumpster handles it with room to spare; a standard 10-yard can with a 2-ton allowance would cost about 2.4 tons of overage.
A driveway slab. A 400-square-foot driveway 4 inches thick is 133 cubic feet of solid concrete, about 4.9 cubic yards, weighing roughly 20,000 lb. Broken up it fills about 10 cubic yards. That is one heavy-debris dumpster filled level, right at its 10-ton cap. A 500-square-foot driveway needs two.
A storm brush pile. A heap of limbs 20 feet long, 12 feet wide and 6 feet high boxes out at 53 cubic yards; as a rounded mound it is closer to 30. It weighs perhaps 2 to 4 tons. A 30-yard dumpster takes it as is, or an afternoon with a rented chipper turns it into about 10 yards of chips and a 10- or 15-yard can.
Rounding up, overage fees and alternatives
Ordering a size too large costs the difference in rental, usually $50 to $150. Ordering too small means a second haul at nearly full price, and exceeding the weight allowance is billed per ton at rates that make the heavy-debris can look cheap. When the pile is near a boundary, round the volume up and the weight estimate up, then check both against the hauler’s weight calculator or a quick phone scan with a density set for your material.
Not everything needs a dumpster. Clean fill dirt and broken concrete are often accepted free or cheaply at local clean-fill sites and recyclers, and a concrete recycler will sometimes send a truck for a big slab. Screened topsoil from a stripped lawn has resale value by the yard. Brush can be chipped on site. The cheapest dumpster is the one you measured your way out of needing.
Frequently asked questions
How many yards is a pile of dirt?
Measure the pile’s diameter and height in feet, then use the cone formula: 0.2618 × diameter² × height gives cubic feet, and dividing by 27 gives cubic yards. A mound 12 feet across and 4 feet high is about 5.6 cubic yards. A box estimate (length × width × height ÷ 27) overstates a mound by roughly half, so use the cone or ridge formula or scan the pile.
What size dumpster do I need for concrete?
Almost always a 10-yard heavy-debris dumpster rated to 10 tons. Broken concrete weighs about 2,025 lb per cubic yard, so 10 cubic yards is 10 tons and a single can filled level is at its limit. Haulers do not put concrete in 30- or 40-yard containers because the truck could not legally carry the load. A 400-square-foot, 4-inch slab is about one heavy-debris dumpster; anything larger needs two.
How much does a 20-yard dumpster hold?
About 20 cubic yards of volume, roughly 22 feet long, 8 feet wide and 4.5 feet tall, with a typical included weight allowance of 2 to 3 tons. That suits mixed construction debris, furniture and brush. It is not offered for dirt or concrete, which would exceed the weight limit at a fraction of the volume.
Can I put dirt in a dumpster?
Yes, but only in a heavy-debris container, usually 10 yards, and most haulers want clean dirt without roots, trash or concrete mixed in. Loose dirt weighs 2,000 to 2,600 lb per cubic yard, so 8 to 10 cubic yards reaches the 10-ton limit. Clean-fill sites and local landscapers will often take clean soil for less than a dumpster costs.
Measure your next pile with your iPhone
Stockpile Scan is free, with no ads, subscriptions or account. Walk around the pile, get its volume with a ± range, set a density for your debris and get a weight estimate before you order the dumpster.
Any iPhone with iOS 18 or later. LiDAR optional. Learn more about the app.