How much does your construction debris weigh?

What does each material weigh?

Every figure below comes from a published source, cited at the foot of the page with its verification date. Materials we could not source are absent — a short accurate list beats a complete invented one.

• Asphalt shingles — 113 kg per square (100 sq ft), single layer (source: Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association)
• Drywall 1/2 in (4×8 sheet) — 18 kg – 23 kg per sheet (source: USG Sheetrock UltraLight / Firecode X submittal sheets)
• Drywall 5/8 in Type X (4×8 sheet) — 29 kg – 32 kg per sheet (source: USG Sheetrock UltraLight / Firecode X submittal sheets)
• Concrete, 4 in slab — 23 kg per sq ft of slab (source: Iowa DOT IM 340 — normal-weight concrete 140–150 lb/ft³)
• Mattress or box spring — 27 kg per unit (source: Oregon DEQ / Mattress Recycling Council 2025 annual report, Table 8)
• Mixed renovation debris (C&D) — 220 kg per cubic yard (source: Florida DEP / University of Florida — 171 measured loads at 10 facilities)
• Brick — 1372 kg per cubic yard (loose) (source: City of Woodland, CA — C&D volume-to-weight chart)
• Ceramic and tile — 551 kg per cubic yard (loose) (source: City of Woodland, CA — C&D volume-to-weight chart)
• Construction lumber — 77 kg – 149 kg per cubic yard (loose) (source: City of Woodland, CA — C&D volume-to-weight chart)
• Soil and fill — 931 kg – 1470 kg per cubic yard (loose) (source: City of Woodland, CA — C&D volume-to-weight chart)

Which materials blow through the included tonnage?

Soil and concrete, by a distance. A cubic yard of soil weighs 931 kg – 1470 kg — meaning fewer than three cubic yards of soil is enough to pass the included tonnage on a 20-yard while the container still looks three-quarters empty. Concrete behaves the same way: a 4-inch slab weighs about 23 kg per square foot, so a 100 sq ft patio is already 2.3 tonnes.

This is exactly why included tonnage is adjusted by material type at booking. Pick "soil" or "concrete" rather than "mixed": the container fills halfway and the tonnage is set accordingly.

How do you predict your bill before ordering?

Take your main material's weight from the list above, multiply by the volume you expect, and compare with your size's included tonnage. Past it, overage is $149 per tonne — billed only with a load photo and a certified weigh ticket, and never before you have seen both.

• 10 yards — 1t included; filled with mixed debris it would weigh about 2.2 t
• 14 yards — 2t included; filled with mixed debris it would weigh about 3.1 t
• 20 yards — 2.5t included; filled with mixed debris it would weigh about 4.4 t
• 40 yards — 4t included; filled with mixed debris it would weigh about 8.8 t

How much does a roof replacement weigh?

About 113 kg per 100 sq ft square, single layer. A 2,000 sq ft roof therefore produces roughly 2.3 t of shingles. Beware the 400–430 lb per square figure that circulates online for architectural shingles: it is wrong, and five independent sources — RECYC-QUÉBEC among them — put the real weight between 175 and 250 lb.

For other job types — bathroom, kitchen, garage, landscaping — we found no authoritative source publishing a reliable total. The figures in circulation all trace back to container-rental sites copying one another. We won't repeat them: use your dominant material's weight and your estimated volume instead.