5 yard
11×7×3 ft
1 ton included
- One small room cleared out
- A single bathroom tear-out
- About 2 pickup truck loads
Dumpster sizes and types
Three different things get called a dumpster. A roll-off is dropped for a project and taken away when you are done. A front-load stays and gets emptied on a schedule. Specialty equipment covers the jobs neither one suits. Sizes, dimensions and weight allowances for all three are below.
Roll-off dumpster sizes
Every roll-off is 22 ft long and 8 ft wide — except the 5 yard, which is shorter. The yard number is how much it holds; taller walls mean more volume and a bigger weight allowance.
10 yard
22×8×3 ft
1 ton included
- A single-car garage cleared to the walls
- One small bathroom or kitchen tear-out
- Roughly 3 pickup truck loads
15 yard
22×8×4 ft
2 tons included
- Two rooms of furniture and household junk
- A one-layer roof tear-off up to about 25 squares
- Deck boards and railings from a mid-size deck
20 yard
22×8×4.5 ft
2 tons included
- A full two-car garage or an unfinished basement
- A kitchen remodel — cabinets, counters, drywall
- Most whole-room renovations
30 yard
22×8×6 ft
3 tons included
- A whole-house or estate cleanout
- Framing, siding, and additions
- Multiple rooms cleared in one weekend
40 yard
22×8×8 ft
4 tons included
- Commercial and multi-unit cleanouts
- Bulky light debris that fills volume before weight
- Large renovation and demolition jobs
Permanent (front-load) containers
For a property that produces waste every week rather than a project that ends. Emptied on a set schedule by a front-load truck, billed monthly.
A front-load yard number is not a roll-off yard number. A 4 yard front-load is a steel box about the size of two washing machines side by side, emptied once or twice a week — not a quarter of a 16 yard roll-off. Pick by how much the property throws out between pickups, not by the number.
| Size | Dimensions | Typical property |
|---|---|---|
| 1 yard | 3×3×3 ft | The smallest permanent container — a small office, salon or single storefront that fills a few bags a week. |
| 2 yard | 6×3×3 ft | Small restaurant, office suite or retail unit on weekly pickup. |
| 3 yard | 6×3×4 ft | Mid-size restaurant, small apartment building or a busy retail unit. |
| 4 yard | 6×4×4 ft | The most common commercial size — apartment buildings, restaurants and strip centers. |
| 6 yard | 6×5×5 ft | Larger multi-family, schools and busy commercial kitchens. |
| 8 yard | 6×6×6 ft | The largest front-load container — big properties, warehouses and high-volume sites. |
Which one, and how often?
Most haulers will start you on a 4 yard with weekly pickup and adjust after a month, because guessing volume from a floor plan is worse than measuring it from one month of real waste. If the lid will not close, size up before you add a second pickup — an extra pickup costs more per yard than a bigger box.
Get front-load pricingSpecialty equipment
For the jobs a roll-off does badly: no room for the truck, debris coming off a roof, or a volume that justifies crushing it on site.
Compactor
An on-site compactor crushes waste so one haul replaces several — worth it once pickups get frequent enough that the trips cost more than the equipment.
More on compactor rentalEquipter
A self-propelled dump trailer that raises to the roofline, so tear-off debris goes straight in instead of onto the lawn or driveway.
More on equipter rentalDump trailer
A towable trailer dropped and picked up like a small roll-off, but it fits where a roll-off truck cannot get in.
More on dump trailer rentalContainer types
Standard roll-off
Open-top steel container delivered on a roll-off truck. Every size on this page is one of these; the number is cubic yards of capacity.
Heavy debris container
A 10 yard loaded only with concrete, dirt, brick, or asphalt. Kept small because the material hits the weight limit long before the container is full.
Yard waste container
Grass, leaves, and brush headed to a composting facility instead of a landfill. Keep it clean of trash or the load gets reclassified.
Not sure which one?
Pick the job and roughly how big it is. The calculator gives you a size, the weight allowance that comes with it, and the reasoning — and it caps heavy debris at a 10 yard, which is the part that catches people out.
Common questions
Will it fit in my driveway?
Every size is 22 ft long and 8 ft wide, so the footprint is the same. A standard two-car driveway fits any of them. The truck needs about 60 ft of straight approach and 14 ft of overhead clearance to drop it.
Can I mix debris?
Household junk, furniture, drywall, and wood can go together. Concrete, dirt, and brick need their own container, and yard waste is usually kept separate too.
What if I pick the wrong size?
Going one size up is usually a small difference. Running out of room means a second container and a second delivery. When in doubt, take the larger size.