Pick the Right Can the First Time

Four sizes, four kinds of material, and one question that decides most of it: what is going in the can.

That sounds obvious and it is the part people get wrong. A 30 yard full of roof shingles and a 30 yard full of palm fronds are the same container having two completely different problems. One runs out of weight. The other runs out of room. If you pick a size off volume alone, you will be right about half the time.

This page covers how to size a can, what goes in which one, and what we will not take. If you already know what you are hauling, the four service pages at the bottom go deeper on each one.

Every load hits one of two ceilings. Either the can gets physically full, or it hits its weight allowance. Which one you hit first is decided almost entirely by what you put in it.

Get that column right and the size question mostly answers itself.

Concrete is the clearest case. A 20 yard can of broken slab reaches its fifteen-ton limit long before it looks full. A properly loaded concrete can sits low. That is not a wasted rental, that is what a correct concrete load looks like — the weight is gone and the volume is still there.

Brush is the mirror image. Limbs do not compact the way people expect. They bridge across the container and leave air underneath. Cutting material down to roughly the width of the can before it goes in is the difference between filling a 30 yard and filling half of one.

Mixed C&D sits in between, and it is the one where telling us the job actually matters. Roofing tear-offs, tile, plaster, dirt and wet debris are heavier than almost anyone guesses. Tell us what the work is and we will size it with you. We are not going to push you into a 30 when a 20 does the job.

Approximate. Every can is the same width.

Two things fall out of that table, and they answer most driveway questions before you have to ask them.

The 20 and the 30 take up the same ground. Same length, same width. The 30 is two feet taller, not one foot longer. So if a 20 yard fits your driveway, a 30 yard fits it too — the decision between them is about how much you are throwing away and how heavy it is, not about whether it will physically go there.

The 10 yard is the one that fits tight. At 11 feet it is half the length of the other two. If you have a short driveway, a turnaround you need to keep open, or a gate you have to get past, the 10 is often the only can that works — and two pulls on a 10 is a real option worth asking about.

Separately from the can itself, we need roughly sixty feet of straight-line room to set one down, plus clearance overhead. That number, not the container length, is what usually decides a delivery.

Weight is the part people guess at, and guessing is what produces a surprise on the invoice. These are the numbers off our own scale tickets. They are averages, not promises — but they are real, and they will get you close.

Concrete — about 12 tons per 500 square feet at 4 inches thick

That is the most useful number on this page if you are doing demo. Work backwards from it: the 15-ton limit on the concrete can lands at roughly 600 square feet of 4-inch slab. A standard two-car driveway is usually in range of one can. A driveway plus a patio usually is not.

Thicker changes it fast. The same 500 square feet at 6 inches is half again as heavy. If you are near the line, call with the square footage and the thickness and we will do the math with you before anything gets loaded.

Shingle roof tear-off — about 3 to 4 tons for 20 squares

Twenty squares is 2,000 square feet of roof. Notice what that means against the allowances: a 20 yard includes 2 tons, so a typical 20-square tear-off will go over it. That is not a reason to avoid a 20 yard — it is a reason to know before you book, so you either size up to a 30 or you go in expecting the overage instead of finding it on the invoice.

Layers matter too. A tear-off down through two or three layers of old shingle weighs what two or three tear-offs weigh.

Horticulture — a full 30 yard runs around 4 tons

Brush lands inside the allowance almost every time. The 30 yard horticulture can includes 5 tons and a full one typically comes in near 4, which is why we very rarely write an overage on a brush load. It depends on the debris — wet material and green palm are heavier than dry limbs — but on this one the weight is not usually the thing to worry about. The volume is. Cut it down before it goes in.

Construction debris — this is the wide one

C&D is not one material, it is every material, and the spread is enormous:

Same container, eight times the weight. A 30 yard includes 3 tons, so a garage cleanout sits right about at the allowance and a wet drywall load is well past it.

Wet is the word to pay attention to. Drywall, plaster and dirt all pick up water and hold it, and a load that sits open through a Southwest Florida afternoon can weigh substantially more at the scale than it did going in. If rain is coming and the can is holding absorbent material, covering it is worth the trouble.

If your job is not on this list, call and describe it. We have weighed a lot of these.

Construction and demolition debris. Lumber, drywall, roofing, tile, flooring, cabinetry, fixtures, packaging, general jobsite waste. Mixed loads are fine — this is the can that exists for mixed loads. Sorted and recycled on our end, and only a small fraction of what we haul reaches a landfill.

Concrete only. Concrete, block and brick. Nothing else. No wood, plastic, metal, dirt, roots or trash. Rebar is acceptable but adds $100. A clean load goes to the recycling facility at the concrete rate; a contaminated one gets reclassified as construction debris and we have to pass that cost through — so “concrete only” is worth taking literally. If your demo is producing concrete mixed with everything else, that is a C&D load and it should go in a C&D can.

Horticulture and yard waste. Limbs, palm, brush, hedge and tree work, storm cleanup, land clearing. No construction debris in a horticulture can — no lumber, fencing, treated wood, concrete or trash. It goes to a different facility, and a contaminated brush load stops being a brush load.

What we do not take at all. No hazardous material, no liquids, no paint, solvents, fuel, batteries, tires, appliances containing refrigerant, or medical waste. If you are unsure about something, ask before it goes in the can rather than after — it is a five-second phone call and it is a real charge if it shows up at the scale.

And a limit worth stating plainly: we do not do junk removal. We drop a container and we pick it up. Nobody arrives with a crew to carry things out of your house. If that is what the job needs, we are not the right call and we will tell you so on the phone rather than after you have booked.

Four things decide whether a delivery goes smoothly, and all four are on your side of the line.

Room. We need roughly sixty feet of straight-line space to set a can down and clearance overhead. The truck does not set the container sideways. On tree jobs the overhead part is the one that stops deliveries — low limbs over the drop spot will end the attempt.

A clear spot. Cars moved, gate open, nothing parked where the can goes.

Where it sits. On your own driveway or property, no permit. If it has to go in the street or the right-of-way, your city may want one, and the rules are different in Fort Myers, Cape Coral and the county. Tell us the address and where you want it and we will flag it if it is going to be a problem.

How it gets loaded. Heavy material low and flat. Keep the load level with the top rail so it can be legally tarped — a heaped can is one we cannot legally haul, and that turns into a second trip. Break down bulky items where you can.

Thirty days are included on every rental, so there is no clock pressure to load it badly.

Rates and the full fee schedule are on the pricing page.

Maxim Disposal runs roll-off containers across Southwest Florida, from Marco Island north to Sarasota.

Also serving North Port, Venice, Fort Myers Beach, North Fort Myers, Matlacha, Captiva, Buckingham, Lehigh Acres, Estero, San Carlos Park, Golden Gate, Marco Island, Bonita Beach, Immokalee, LaBelle, Babcock Ranch and Arcadia.