Commercial Concrete Disposal for Knoxville Contractors

Quick answer: For commercial and demolition concrete around Knoxville, Smoky Mountain Sand & Gravel in Maryville takes clean loads free, pickups through tri-axles, with no scale and no appointment. Concrete with rebar or mesh is fine. Every load gets a gate ticket for your records, contractor accounts get Net-15/30/45 terms, and your trucks can backhaul RCA on the return trip. Call (865) 999-0857 to plan a multi-load job.

Residential tear-outs are a few loads. Commercial work is different: a parking lot, a warehouse slab, a building pad, or a full demolition can mean dozens or hundreds of loads over days or weeks. At that scale, disposal is a line item that can win or lose a bid, and truck cycle time matters as much as tipping cost.

This guide is for the estimator, the PM, and the superintendent planning that work.

How Many Loads Will the Job Generate?

Start with tonnage. Solid concrete weighs about 4,050 pounds per cubic yard, a little over 2 tons. The math:

Area (sq ft) x thickness (ft) / 27 = cubic yards. Cubic yards x 2.025 = tons.

Here is that worked out per 1,000 square feet of slab:

Slab thickness	Cubic yards per 1,000 sq ft	Tons per 1,000 sq ft
4"	12.3	About 25
5"	15.4	About 31
6"	18.5	About 37.5
8"	24.7	About 50
12"	37.0	About 75

Then add footings, grade beams, curbs, sidewalks, and walls. Those are easy to undercount. Thickened slab edges and footings can add a meaningful share on top of the flat slab number.

Broken concrete takes up more room than it did in place, so trucks hit legal weight before they look full. Plan loads by tons, not yards.

Example Load Counts

These examples assume about 22 tons per tri-axle load and about 15 tons per tandem. Plug in what your own trucks legally carry.

Job	Size	Approx. tons	Tri-axle loads	Tandem loads
Retail parking lot section	10,000 sq ft at 6"	375	17-18	25
Warehouse floor	20,000 sq ft at 4"	500	23	34
Loading dock apron	5,000 sq ft at 8"	250	12	17
Building pad plus footings	8,000 sq ft at 6" plus about 20%	360	17	24

For a quick estimate on smaller pieces of the job, use the concrete tear-out calculator.

At the Blount County Landfill's rate of about $60 per ton, that 375-ton parking lot would run about $22,500 in tipping alone. Clean, it drops free at our yard. For a full breakdown of what each truck size costs at a landfill, see concrete disposal cost by truck size. For the bid-level comparison, see recycling vs landfill for contractors.

Truck Types and Cycle Times

Disposal cost is only half of it. The other half is how many turns each truck makes per day.

One truck's cycle = load time on site + drive to the yard + time at the yard + drive back.

The time at the yard is where commercial jobs usually bleed hours. Landfills weigh you in and weigh you out, and scale lines back up. We do not run a scale. Trucks pull in, a staff member points to the pile, they dump, they get a ticket, and they leave.

Cycle piece	Typical range from a Knoxville job
Load with excavator or loader	10-15 min
Drive to Maryville (downtown Knoxville)	About 25 min
At the yard, dump and ticket	Usually short, no scale line
Drive back	About 25 min

With a cycle in the 70 to 90 minute range, a truck can make several turns in a day. Hours are Monday to Friday 7 AM to 5 PM and Saturday 8 AM to noon, so schedule the last loads to arrive before close.

Which trucks fit:

• Tri-axles and quad-axles: best tons per trip for big slab work.
• Tandems: flexible, and good for tighter sites.
• Single-axles and dump trailers: fine for smaller phases and punch-list pieces.
• Roll-offs: workable for concrete-only boxes. Keep them clean.

Running Trucks Back to Back

Because there is no scale or appointment for clean loads, you can stack trucks during hours without booking time slots. For the largest jobs, call (865) 999-0857 a few days ahead. We do not need permission for each load, but a heads-up on a job that will run 100+ loads helps us keep room on the pile and the traffic moving.

A few habits keep the line fast:

• Send loads with the slab broken to manageable size. Huge slabs slow unloading. Our guide to loading for drop-off covers sizing and weight.
• Tarp every load. Road debris complaints are not worth it.
• Have drivers give the company name at the gate so tickets go to the right account.
• Keep it clean from the start. One load of mixed debris holds up everyone behind it.

What a Clean Commercial Load Looks Like

Material	Accepted free when clean?
Slab, footings, curbs, walls, sidewalks	Yes
Concrete with rebar, wire mesh, or embedded steel	Yes
Asphalt (pavement, chunks, millings)	Yes
Brick, block, and natural stone	Yes
Clean fill dirt	Only with a call ahead
Concrete with a lot of dirt mixed in	Call first
Wood, drywall, roofing, insulation, trash	No
Mixed C&D debris	No
Hazardous material	No

Long rebar sticking out of chunks is fine. Bend it down or cut extra-long runs so it does not snag in the truck bed or catch on the tailgate. More on steel in reinforced concrete demolition.

When Mixed C&D Has to Go to a Landfill

Not every demo stream belongs at a recycling yard. If concrete is mixed with wood framing, drywall, roofing, ceiling tile, or general trash, it is mixed C&D, and that generally goes to a landfill that accepts mixed debris and charges by the ton.

The money is in separating. On most commercial demo, concrete and masonry are the heaviest streams by far. Pull the soft strip-out first, then demo the structure, then crush or load the concrete clean. That keeps the heavy tonnage out of the per-ton bill. If you are not sure whether a load qualifies, call (865) 999-0857 before you haul.

For a Knox County view of what goes where, see construction waste in Knox County.

Recycling Documentation and LEED

Every load gets a gate ticket with the date and load details. Keep them in the project file. On public work, green building projects, or owners with diversion goals, those tickets are how you show the concrete was recycled instead of landfilled.

Because we do not run a scale, our tickets do not show certified weights. Before the job starts, ask your LEED reviewer or the owner's sustainability lead what documentation they accept, such as tickets with truck type and load counts, combined with your own tonnage calculation. Ask us at the gate if you need something specific listed on the tickets. For the full credit picture, see our LEED recycled aggregate guide.

Contractor Accounts

Running multiple trucks over weeks is easier on account. Approved contractor accounts get:

• Net-15, Net-30, or Net-45 terms for RCA and trucking
• One invoice with records for every load
• Drivers who just give the company name at the gate

Clean drop-off is free either way. The account is what makes buying RCA and booking trucking simple. Apply on our accounts page, or read how contractor accounts work.

Backhaul RCA on the Return Trip

An empty truck driving back to the job is wasted time. Many commercial jobs need base under the new slab, a construction entrance, or backfill. Trucks that dump concrete can load RCA crusher run (1" minus with fines, compacts hard for base, pads, and drives) or RCA #57 (clean washed-size recycled concrete for drainage) on the way out.

That turns one trip into two jobs: haul away the old slab, bring back the base for the new one. RCA pricing and trucking are call for pricing at (865) 999-0857. See aggregate for sale and trucking for details, or what RCA is if your spec writer has questions.

Getting There from Knoxville and Knox County

We are at 245 Brookdale Rd in Maryville, about 25 minutes from downtown Knoxville via Alcoa Highway. South Knoxville and west Blount County jobs are closer. See local notes for Knoxville, Knox County, Alcoa, Maryville, and Blount County. Knoxville contractors can also read where Knoxville contractors send demo.

Plan Your Commercial Job With SMSG

• Clean concrete: free, any volume, pickups through tri-axles
• Address: 245 Brookdale Rd, Maryville, TN 37801
• Phone: (865) 999-0857
• Hours: Mon-Fri 7 AM to 5 PM, Sat 8 AM to noon
• Learn more: Free concrete drop-off and commercial concrete disposal services

Bidding a big tear-out? Call before you price disposal. A free, scale-free yard 25 minutes from downtown changes the number.