How Big Is a 10 Yard Dumpster Small Box, Heavy Loads

The measurements, and what they mean

The yardage is a volume: ten cubic yards equals 270 cubic feet of space inside the box. Haulers in Northwest Arkansas do not all build the same box, and several do not offer a true 10-yard at all. One Benton County hauler lists an 8-yard box at 8 by 8 by 4 feet and an 11-yard box at 12 by 8 by 4 feet, which bracket the 10-yard size from either side. Another Springdale and Bentonville hauler posts a 10-yard box and describes it as about four pickup-truck loads, or roughly 21 household trash bins.

What stays constant is the shape. A small roll-off is about 8 feet across, with walls around 4 feet high, and it is shorter end to end than a full-size pickup truck. The low walls are the point: debris goes in over the side by hand, without a ladder, and heavy material such as broken concrete can be dropped in from a wheelbarrow tipped against the rim. Listed dimensions are usually outside measurements, so the space inside is a little smaller.

What actually fits in one

In practical terms, a 10-yard box takes:

• one bathroom gutted to the studs, including the tub, vanity, tile and drywall;
• a single-car garage cleared of old shelving, boxes and broken furniture;
• a small deck or a short run of wooden fence, cut into manageable lengths;
• a patio slab or a stretch of old sidewalk, broken up and filled only part way.

It is too small for a kitchen remodel with cabinets, a roof on anything bigger than a shed, or a whole-house cleanout. Those jobs belong in a 15- or 20-yard box.

Why the small box is the heavy-debris box

The included weight on a 10-yard box around Bentonville is about one ton, and the 8- and 11-yard boxes that sit on either side of it come with one to one and a half tons. Broken concrete and wet soil are among the densest things a household ever throws out, which means a small box loaded with them reaches its limit long before it reaches the rim. That is why the small size is the standard choice for concrete, brick, dirt and rock. Spread the load across the floor instead of piling it at one end, and stop at the fill line the hauler gives. More on this kind of job is on the concrete and dirt dumpster rental page.

Driveway fit and the Bentonville permit question

The short length is the other reason people pick a 10-yard: it fits on driveways that cannot take a 20 or 30. One Bentonville hauler suggests laying 4-by-8 sheets of plywood under the rails and wheels to keep the steel from scratching concrete or asphalt, and warns that a box set on a lawn can leave ruts or crush sprinkler lines.

If even the small box will not fit on private property and has to go on the street, the curb or the sidewalk, it sits in the public right-of-way. The City of Bentonville requires a right-of-way permit for work there, applied for through eTrakit with a site plan and reviewed over five business days, with the approved permit posted where it can be seen from the street. The Street Department handles it at 479-271-3130.

Where the load goes, and what stays out

A 10-yard load of construction debris from Bentonville ends up in the construction and demolition cell at Eco-Vista Landfill in Springdale, which takes no hazardous materials. Tires, paint, batteries, electronics and refrigerant appliances go instead to the Benton County Solid Waste District's drop-off sites in Centerton and Rogers, where fees and limits apply. Leaving them out of the box avoids a charge when the load is checked.

Is a 10-yard the right size?

For one room of tear-out or a heavy patio job, usually yes; for a household clearing years of storage, see cleanout dumpster rental, and for a bathroom or flooring job, remodeling dumpster rental. The included tons and the charge for each ton over are listed by size on the pricing page.