Dump run calculator

See how many trips your debris takes with your truck or trailer, how much it weighs, and what the dump fees could come to.

Overloading is unsafe right away and damages your vehicle over time.

Debris can be much heavier than it looks, especially concrete, brick, dirt, and wet material. Going past your payload can lengthen stopping distances, cause brake fade, hurt steering and handling, and lead to tire failure, and the risk grows with every pound over. Repeated overloading also wears the suspension, tires, brakes, frame, and drivetrain. With a trailer, too little weight on the hitch can cause severe sway. Stay within the ratings on your vehicle's placard or your trailer's sticker. These results are estimates, not scale weights.

Don't know the yards? Enter the pile size
Starting payloads sit at the low end of typical ranges. For a pickup, use the payload on the door-jamb placard. For a trailer, it's the gross rating minus the empty weight on the compliance sticker.
People, gear, and space start as examples. Enter your own. Full-size pickups usually hold up to about 2 cubic yards level with the bed walls. For a trailer, space is length × width × side height in feet, divided by 27.
Don't know the space? Enter the bed or trailer size
Fees vary by facility and material, so enter your dump's actual rate. Call ahead. Some dumps limit or refuse items like concrete, shingles, yard waste, or appliances.

Trips to the dump

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Enter your debris and vehicle details.

Never load past your vehicle's payload or your trailer's rating. Weights here lean heavy on purpose, because overloading is the risk, but they can still be off in either direction. Wet debris weighs more. Cover and secure loose loads. Fee estimates are only as accurate as the rate you enter.

How this is estimated

Per trip, the load is limited by whichever runs out first: your payload (after people and gear, for pickups) or your space. Dense debris like concrete, brick, and dirt hits the weight limit first. Light debris like household junk, wood, and drywall usually fills the space first.

Weights per cubic yard, loose in a truck or trailer, lean toward the heavy end of commonly quoted ranges:

  • Household junk or mixed trash: 400 lb (150 to 300 loose, 300 to 500 compacted)
  • Mixed construction debris: 450 lb (about 350 to 420 quoted)
  • Scrap wood or lumber: 400 lb (about 170 to 500)
  • Drywall: 750 lb (about 470 to 750)
  • Roofing shingles: 1,000 lb (quoted from about 400 to 2,600, so ask your facility)
  • Yard waste or brush: 700 lb (about 400 to 700)
  • Broken concrete or asphalt: 2,500 lb (quoted from about 860 to 2,000 loose, and up to 4,000 packed or solid)
  • Brick: 3,000 lb (about 2,500 to 3,500)
  • Dirt, sand, or gravel: 3,000 lb (about 1,800 to 3,000 or more when wet)
  • Loose scrap metal: 1,000 lb (light sheet metal)

Trip loads are rounded down so you don't end up overloaded. Truck payloads start at the low end of typical ranges: 1,500 lb for a half-ton, 2,800 lb for a 3/4-ton, and 4,000 lb for a 1-ton. Trailer presets use about 1,700 lb for a small single-axle trailer and about 4,700 lb for a 7,000 lb tandem.

Dump fees use the rate you enter: by the ton, by the cubic yard, or per load, with an optional minimum per visit. Each trip is charged separately.

Sources and how the numbers were checked

Weights for debris vary a lot by source, moisture, and how tightly it's packed, so the figures were compared across several references that disagree with each other.

For real weights, ask the facility, or use a scale.

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Weights and sources last reviewed October 2026.