Construction Waste Disposal in Knox County: Options & Costs

If you're a contractor or homeowner in Knox County dealing with construction or demolition waste, the options get confusing fast. Transfer stations, landfills, roll-off companies, recycling facilities: figuring out the right route for your material takes some homework.

This post lays out the main disposal options for Knox County and Knoxville-area contractors, what they cost, and why a growing number of guys are making the drive to Smoky Mountain Sand & Gravel in Maryville for their concrete.

The Knox County Disposal Landscape

Knox County generates a lot of construction and demolition (C&D) waste. Between downtown redevelopment, suburban builds, commercial work along the interstates, and infrastructure projects, there's no shortage of material that needs to go somewhere. Your main options:

Convenience Centers, Transfer Stations, and Landfills

Knox County convenience centers refuse concrete outright. We break down what they turn away in Knox County convenience centers and concrete.

C&D landfills and transfer stations will take heavy demo waste, but they charge by the ton, and concrete is heavy. Call them for current rates before you haul. Our comparison of Riverside C&D landfill vs SMSG walks through one example.

Convenience is the other problem. Wait times at busy facilities eat into your day, and not every location takes every material.

Roll-Off Dumpster Rentals

For mixed C&D waste, roll-offs are the usual move. But the costs stack up fast: container rental, per-ton disposal on top, overage fees, fuel surcharges. For a demo job that's mostly concrete, a roll-off is usually overkill, and many have weight limits that concrete blows through. You're paying for mixed-waste convenience when your material is really one recyclable commodity. More on that in can I put concrete in a dumpster.

Dedicated Concrete Recycling

This is where options get thin. For real concrete recycling, where the concrete actually gets crushed and turned back into usable aggregate, a lot of Knox County contractors look south to Blount County. That's where we come in.

Why Knox County Contractors Drive to SMSG

Smoky Mountain Sand & Gravel is at 245 Brookdale Rd in Maryville, about 15 to 20 miles south of downtown Knoxville via Alcoa Highway. For South Knoxville guys it's even shorter. A growing number of Knox County contractors have figured out the drive pays for itself.

A few reasons:

Clean Concrete Drops Off Free

Clean concrete costs nothing at our gate. Rebar and wire mesh are fine. No scale, no appointment.

Say you're hauling 10 tons of concrete from a foundation demo in West Knoxville. At landfill rates of about $60 a ton, that's around $600 in disposal alone. At SMSG it's free. Run your numbers on our cost calculator to see the difference on your specific load.

Mixed or dirty loads are different. Call (865) 999-0857 before you haul those.

Clean Loads Are Simple

If your load is clean concrete, which it often is on demo jobs, tear-outs, and site prep, you don't need the complexity of a mixed-waste dumpster service. Load your truck or trailer, drive to our yard, dump, and go.

No scheduling a dumpster drop-off. No waiting for pickup. No rental periods. No surprise overage charges.

You Can Buy Material on the Same Trip

A lot of our Knox County customers drop off demo concrete and pick up recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) on the same visit. If your project needs base material or drainage stone, you can load up with RCA crusher run or RCA #57 while you're here. Call (865) 999-0857 for current pricing, or ask about delivery.

Our aggregate for sale page shows the products we carry.

Making the Drive Work for Your Schedule

Driving 20 minutes south isn't the same as dumping at a facility five minutes from your job site. Fair. A few ways Knox County contractors make it work:

Batch your loads. Stockpile concrete on site and make one trip with a full load instead of multiple small trips to a closer but pricier facility.

Use Alcoa Highway. From the Chapman Highway interchange to our yard is about 15 minutes in normal traffic.

Time your trips. Early morning and mid-afternoon are our least busy windows. We're open Monday through Friday 7 AM to 5 PM and Saturday 8 AM to noon, which beats landfill hours that usually end mid-afternoon on weekdays.

Combine drop-off and pickup. Need base material? Grab your RCA while you're here. Two birds, one trip.

What We Accept (and What We Don't)

So your trip's productive, here's what qualifies at SMSG:

Free when clean:

• Broken concrete (driveways, sidewalks, slabs, foundations), with or without rebar
• Concrete block, CMU, and brick
• Asphalt chunks and millings
• Natural stone and rock
• Curbing and gutter sections

Clean fill dirt: only with a call ahead.

We don't accept:

• Mixed C&D waste (wood, drywall, roofing, etc.)
• Trash, household waste, or general debris
• Hazardous material

If your demo job produces mixed waste, you'll still need a solution for the non-concrete portion. But separating the concrete and bringing it to us drops your overall disposal cost because concrete is usually the heaviest, and most expensive, part of your waste stream.

First time at our yard? Just show up during business hours with a clean load. No appointment, any size load. Our first-timer's guide covers what to expect.

Knox County, In Short

Knox County has disposal options for construction waste, but for concrete specifically the smartest choice is to recycle it at SMSG in Maryville. The drive is short, clean drop-off is free, and you're keeping heavy material out of landfills that don't need it.

We serve Knox County contractors every day. Happy to talk through your project, whether it's a one-time demo or ongoing commercial work generating regular concrete loads.

Call us at (865) 999-0857, hit our contact page, or read up on our Knox County service area. We're closer than you think, and the savings are worth every mile.