How to Dispose of Small Amounts of Concrete

Quick answer: For a few chunks of concrete, you have three good options: reuse it, ask your trash hauler if they take small amounts, or drop it at a recycling yard. Smoky Mountain Sand & Gravel at 245 Brookdale Rd in Maryville takes clean concrete free with no minimum load. A car trunk, a wheelbarrow's worth, or one fence footing is fine. No scale, no appointment.

Most concrete disposal advice is written for driveways and dump trucks. But a lot of people have a much smaller problem: four fence post footings, a mailbox post, a stack of cracked stepping stones, or three bags of mix that turned to rock in the garage. Too heavy for the trash can, too small to rent a dumpster for. Here is what to do with it.

How Much Does "a Little Concrete" Weigh?

Small jobs are heavier than they look. Solid concrete weighs about 150 pounds per cubic foot.

Item	Typical size	Approximate weight
Fence post footing	8-10" diameter, 2-3 ft deep	75-200 lb each
Mailbox post footing	1-2 bags of mix	50-160 lb
Clothesline or light pole footing	2-3 bags of mix	120-240 lb
Basketball goal footing	Often 2 ft square, 3-4 ft deep	1,500-2,500 lb or more
Round stepping stone	16" diameter, 2" thick	25-35 lb
Concrete paver	Standard brick-size or 12" square	5-25 lb
Hardened 80 lb bag of mix	One bag	About 80 lb
Splash block or parking stop	Single piece	25-200 lb

Two takeaways. First, a handful of fence footings can easily be 500 pounds or more. Second, a basketball goal footing is not a small job. It is a big plug of concrete, and you may need a breaker or a mini excavator to get it out.

Option 1: Check Your Trash Service (Usually a No)

Most curbside trash services will not take concrete. The weight damages carts and trucks, and many have a per-cart weight limit that a single footing exceeds. Some will take a small, bagged piece now and then. Others will not take any. Call your hauler or check their website before you set it out.

Knox County convenience centers refuse concrete. Blount County Landfill takes it at about $60 per ton, weekdays roughly 7 AM to 3 PM. For a few hundred pounds, a landfill trip may cost you more in time than in money, but it is still a trip during working hours.

Option 2: Reuse It Around the Yard

Small pieces of concrete are useful:

• Fill the bottom of a planter or a low spot before topping with soil.
• Edge a flower bed with broken pieces set on end.
• Stepping stones. Flat broken slab pieces make a rustic path.
• Base for a rain barrel or AC pad if the pieces are flat and you set them level.
• Drainage backfill at the bottom of a hole, if you break it small.

Fence post footings are rounded and awkward, so they reuse poorly. Flat pieces and pavers are the easiest to put back to work.

Option 3: Give It Away

Pavers, whole stepping stones, and hardened bags in usable shape will go free on Facebook Marketplace or Nextdoor. Fence footings and random chunks usually will not.

Option 4: Drop It at a Recycling Yard (No Minimum)

This is the easiest route for most small jobs. Clean concrete drops off free at our yard in Maryville. There is no minimum. People bring a single footing in a car trunk, a few buckets in an SUV, or a half-full pickup bed.

How you are hauling	What works
Car trunk	A few footings or pavers. Line the trunk with an old tarp or moving blanket.
SUV or hatchback	Put pieces in heavy contractor buckets or a plastic bin so they do not slide.
Pickup truck	Load by weight, not volume. A half-ton truck fills up fast with concrete.
Utility trailer	Check the trailer's weight rating. Small trailers max out quickly.

At the gate, a staff member points you to the right pile, you unload, and you leave. If you have a lot of pieces, our loading guide covers weight and tie-downs.

How to Get Rid of Fence Post Concrete

This is the most common small concrete job we see. Here is the process:

1. Dig around the footing. Expose the top 6 to 12 inches.
2. Rock the post back and forth to break the soil grip. A long post works as a lever.
3. Pull it out. A fence post puller, a farm jack with a chain, or a digging bar helps. For metal posts, a high-lift jack and chain is the classic tool.
4. Knock off the dirt. Tap the footing with a hammer or hose it off. Clumps of clay add weight and are not concrete.
5. Deal with the post. Wood posts: cut the wood off at the concrete line, then pull or chisel the stub out if you can. Wood is not accepted. Metal posts (chain link, T-posts, galvanized pipe): leave them in. Steel is fine.
6. Haul the plug to a recycling yard.

If a wood stub is stuck deep in the footing, call (865) 999-0857 and describe it. A small amount of embedded wood is a judgment call. A full wood post is a no.

Mailbox Posts and Basketball Goal Footings

Mailbox posts are usually one or two bags of mix. Same process as a fence post. Most come out with a digging bar and some patience.

Basketball goal footings are a different job. In-ground goals sit on big footings, often with anchor bolts or a steel sleeve set in the concrete. Options:

• Cut the pole at grade and leave the footing buried, if you are not building over that spot.
• Break the top of the footing below grade with a rented electric breaker hammer, and backfill over the rest.
• Pull the whole footing with a mini excavator. Steel anchor bolts can stay in the concrete.

The concrete, with steel in it, drops off free either way. See our DIY guide to breaking up concrete for breaker tips and safety.

Leftover Hardened Bagged Concrete

Bags of mix left in a damp garage or shed often harden right in the bag. They cannot be used for a new pour. Strip off the paper and put it in your trash. The hardened block is just concrete and drops off free with any other clean concrete.

What About Leftover Wet Concrete?

If you have fresh concrete left over from a small pour:

• Let it harden first. Dump it onto plastic sheeting, into a cardboard box lined with a trash bag, or into a simple form. A few small paver-size forms turn leftovers into stepping stones.
• Never wash it into a storm drain, ditch, or creek. Concrete washout is highly alkaline and harmful to fish and streams. It is also an easy way to get a call from your city.
• Rinse tools into a bucket or a dirt area away from drains. Let the solids settle and harden, then dispose of them with the rest.
• Do not pour it in the trash wet. It can set inside the cart or the truck.

Once it is hard, it is just concrete. Bring it with the rest.

What Counts as a Clean Load

Small loads follow the same rules as big ones.

Item	Free drop-off?
Concrete chunks, footings, pavers, stepping stones	Yes
Concrete with rebar, wire mesh, or a metal post	Yes
Brick, block, and natural stone	Yes
Asphalt chunks	Yes
A little dirt still clinging to footings	Knock off what you can
Wood posts, lumber, or form boards	No, remove them
Paper bags, plastic, trash	No
Mixed debris	Call (865) 999-0857 before you haul

Lifting and Hauling Safely

• Wear gloves. Old concrete edges are rough and can cut.
• Use eye protection if you are breaking anything with a hammer.
• Lift with your legs and do not try to lift a full footing alone if it is over about 50 pounds. Roll it, use a hand truck, or get help.
• Use a ramp or two people to get footings into a truck bed.
• Keep loads low and forward in a car or SUV, and do not overload a small vehicle. Check the payload on your door sticker.

Bigger Than You Thought?

If the "small" job turned into a patio or walkway, run the concrete tear-out calculator to estimate tons and truck trips. Our homeowner guide to broken concrete compares every disposal option for larger jobs.

Drop It Off Free in Maryville

No minimum, no scale, no appointment for clean concrete.

• Address: 245 Brookdale Rd, Maryville, TN 37801
• Phone: (865) 999-0857
• Hours: Mon-Fri 7 AM to 5 PM, Sat 8 AM to noon. Closed Sunday.
• More info: Free concrete drop-off and concrete disposal

We are close to most of Maryville, Alcoa, and Blount County, and an easy run from Knoxville. Toss the footings in the trunk and swing by.