Every contractor in East Tennessee has a disposal line item in their project budgets. It is easy to overlook when bidding a job — until you realize it is eating into your margins on every single project.

If you are hauling concrete to the Blount County landfill, you are paying around $60 per ton in tipping fees. That number has been climbing over the years, and landfills are not getting cheaper.

But what if you could cut that cost significantly while doing something better with the material? That is the case for concrete recycling at Smoky Mountain Sand & Gravel. Let us break down the real numbers.

The Landfill Cost Structure

First, let us be clear about what the landfill charges you for. When you haul concrete to a landfill, you are paying for them to bury it in the ground permanently. That is it. Your perfectly good concrete gets dumped into a cell, compacted, and covered. It will sit there for centuries.

Here is what that costs:

Tipping fee: ~$60 per ton at the Blount County landfill
Gate fees or minimum charges at some facilities
Wait time costs — your crew and truck sitting in the landfill queue is billable time you are not getting back
Fuel costs — landfills are not always close to your job site

The tipping fee is the number you see on the invoice, but the total cost of a landfill trip is always higher than that number alone.

The Concrete Recycling Cost Structure

When you bring concrete to SMSG, the cost structure looks different. Our per-ton rate for concrete drop-off is well below the $60/ton landfill fee. Visit our pricing page for current rates.

Beyond the per-ton rate, here is what else factors in:

Shorter wait times. We are a dedicated recycling yard, not a multi-use landfill handling every type of waste. You get in and out faster.
Convenient location. We are centrally located in Blount County, which keeps drive times reasonable for contractors across the region.
No surprises. Our pricing is straightforward. No hidden gate fees, no surcharges for "oversized pieces," no extra charges for concrete with rebar.

Head-to-Head: A Single Project

Let us look at a real-world scenario. Say you are tearing out an old commercial parking lot and you have got 25 tons of broken concrete to get rid of.

Landfill Route

| Line Item | Cost | |---|---| | Tipping fee (25 tons x $60) | $1,500 | | Fuel (estimate, round trip) | $80 | | Crew time at landfill (1 hour wait x 2 workers) | $90 | | Total | $1,670 |

SMSG Recycling Route

| Line Item | Cost | |---|---| | Drop-off fee (25 tons at SMSG rate) | Significantly less than $1,500 | | Fuel (estimate, round trip) | $60 | | Crew time at SMSG (15-20 min) | $30 | | Total | Hundreds less than the landfill option |

We are keeping our exact rates off this blog post — they are on our pricing page — but the savings on a 25-ton load are substantial. We are talking hundreds of dollars on a single project.

Use our savings calculator to plug in your actual tonnage and see the exact difference.

The Annual Picture Is Where It Gets Serious

A few hundred dollars on one job is nice. But contractors do not do one job a year. Let us look at what the savings mean over 12 months.

Scenario: A mid-size demolition and sitework contractor

Average of 3 concrete disposal trips per month
Average load: 15 tons per trip
Annual tonnage: 540 tons

Annual Landfill Cost

540 tons x $60/ton = $32,400 per year in tipping fees alone

Annual SMSG Cost

540 tons at our recycling rate = Thousands less per year

That difference could cover a piece of equipment, fund a crew bonus, or go straight to your bottom line. For heavy demolition contractors moving 100+ tons per month, the annual savings can easily reach five figures.

Hidden Costs of Landfill Disposal

The per-ton fee is not the only cost of using the landfill. Here are costs that contractors often overlook:

Increasing fees. Landfill tipping fees have been trending upward for years. As capacity shrinks and operating costs rise, expect fees to keep climbing. Locking in a recycling relationship now protects you from future increases.
Environmental compliance risk. More municipalities and project owners are requiring waste diversion plans that show C&D materials are recycled rather than landfilled. If you are already recycling, you are ahead of the curve.
Lost material value. Concrete is a valuable raw material. When you send it to the landfill, you are burying money. We turn it into recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) that goes back into the supply chain. You can even buy RCA from us at a lower cost than virgin aggregate.
Opportunity cost of time. Every hour your crew spends at the landfill is an hour they are not on a job site. Our faster unloading process means your trucks get back on the road sooner.

What About Mixed Loads?

If your demo job produces concrete mixed with wood, drywall, and other debris, separating the concrete before you load out is almost always worth it. Bring the clean concrete to SMSG at our lower rate and take only the non-recyclable material to the landfill. A few minutes of sorting on the job site saves real money. Our drop-off guide explains exactly what we accept.

Making the Switch

Switching from landfill disposal to concrete recycling at SMSG is not complicated. Here is all it takes:

Check our rates. Visit the pricing page or call us at (865) 999-0857.
Bring your next load. No appointment needed. Just show up during business hours.
See the difference. Once you compare the invoice to what you were paying at the landfill, the decision makes itself.

If you are a contractor with regular disposal needs, we also offer contractor accounts with volume pricing and net payment terms that make the economics even better.

The Bottom Line

Landfill disposal at $60 per ton is the expensive, wasteful way to get rid of concrete. Recycling at SMSG is the affordable, responsible alternative — and it is available right here in East Tennessee.

We are the only dedicated concrete recycling facility in the region. Nobody else does what we do, and nobody else can match our combination of low rates, fast service, and genuine material recycling.

Run your numbers. Use our savings calculator, check our pricing, or call us at (865) 999-0857. Once you see the math, the decision is easy.

Landfill vs Concrete Recycling — The Real Cost Comparison for East TN Contractors