Riverside C&D Landfill vs SMSG: Knoxville Concrete Disposal

If you're in East Tennessee with a load of concrete or asphalt to get rid of, you have basically two direct drop-off options within a reasonable haul: Riverside C&D Landfill on Delrose Drive in Knoxville, or Smoky Mountain Sand & Gravel in Maryville.

Both take the material. Both are legitimate operations. But they aren't the same kind of facility, and depending on where your job is, when you can haul, and what you want to pay for the load, one is usually the clear pick.

Here's a straight comparison.

Riverside C&D Landfill at a Glance

Riverside C&D is a construction and demolition landfill operated by Meridian Waste, one of the larger waste-services companies working in the Southeast.

The facts (per Meridian Waste's facility page):

• Address: 3330 Delrose Dr, Knoxville, TN 37914
• Operator: Meridian Waste
• Accepts: Asphalt, dirt, rock, concrete, shingles, drywall, wood, carpet & flooring, insulation, non-friable asbestos (with proper manifest), plus appliances without compressors, brush, cardboard, furniture, metal, paper, plastic, wiring, and landscaping waste
• Hours: Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a 3:30 p.m. hand-off cutoff. No Saturday hours.
• Pricing: Per-ton, weighed at the scale. Meridian does not publish tipping fees online, so you have to call them for a current quote. Meridian also applies a bi-monthly fuel surcharge on top of the base rate, indexed to EIA diesel prices.
• What happens to the material: Buried on site as C&D landfill

It's a real, permitted C&D landfill and it does what it says on the tin. If you have a very large weighed load and you're already on the east side of Knoxville, it's a solid option.

SMSG at a Glance

Smoky Mountain Sand & Gravel is a concrete and asphalt recycling yard, a different animal from a landfill. Material comes in, gets crushed, and gets sold back out as aggregate.

The facts:

• Address: 245 Brookdale Rd, Maryville, TN 37801
• Phone: (865) 999-0857
• Accepts: Concrete, asphalt (chunk and RAP), brick, block, masonry, and clean natural stone
• Hours: Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to noon
• Pricing: Free for clean loads (no scale, no weigh ticket, no appointment). Mixed loads: call before you haul.
• What happens to the material: Crushed and recycled into aggregate

Head-to-Head Comparison

	Riverside C&D Landfill	Smoky Mountain Sand & Gravel
Address	3330 Delrose Dr, Knoxville	245 Brookdale Rd, Maryville
Operator	Meridian Waste	Smoky Mountain Sand & Gravel, LLC
Concrete accepted	Yes	Yes
Asphalt / RAP accepted	Yes	Yes
Saturday hours	No, Monday to Friday only	Yes, 8 a.m. to noon
Weekday closing	4:00 p.m. (3:30 p.m. hand-off cutoff)	5:00 p.m.
Pricing model	Per-ton (weighed at scale) + fuel surcharge; call for current rate	Free for clean loads, see /pricing
What happens to material	Buried in landfill	Crushed + recycled into aggregate
Best for	Mixed C&D loads, or jobs needing a scale ticket	Clean concrete and asphalt, any load size, contractor or homeowner

When Riverside Is the Right Pick

There are real cases where Riverside is the smarter call:

• You're closer to East Knoxville than to Maryville. If your job is in East Knox, Strawberry Plains, or up toward Jefferson County, Delrose Drive may cut a lot of drive time off your haul.
• Your job requires per-ton documentation. Some prime contractors, government jobs, and disposal manifests specifically call for a scale ticket. A landfill scale ticket is the format they want.
• Your load is mixed C&D. Riverside takes wood, drywall, shingles, and other debris that a concrete recycler does not.

When SMSG Is the Right Pick

• You're anywhere south or west of Knoxville: Blount County, Loudon County, Sevier County, or West Knox and Farragut. Maryville is a shorter haul than East Knoxville from most of that footprint.
• You're doing a Saturday job. SMSG is open Saturday 8 a.m. to noon for concrete and asphalt drops. Riverside is Monday to Friday.
• You want to skip the tipping fee. Per-ton pricing is a moving target: you don't know what a load costs until it's on the scale. Clean concrete and asphalt drop off free at SMSG, so you can bid the job with confidence.
• You care about the sustainability angle. If your job is chasing LEED credits, or a client cares that the material gets recycled instead of landfilled, a recycling yard is the right paperwork.
• You're a homeowner. No trailer weight, no truck weight, no math. Pull in with a pickup, dump a clean load for free, and leave.

Drive Time from East TN Population Centers

Rough rule of thumb, without traffic:

• Blount County (Alcoa, Maryville, Louisville, Townsend): SMSG is significantly closer.
• Sevier County (Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Seymour): SMSG via US-411 is the more direct run.
• East Knox County / Strawberry Plains: Riverside is closer.
• West Knox, Farragut, Hardin Valley: SMSG is closer or comparable, and often less traffic to reach.
• Loudon County (Lenoir City, Loudon, Greenback): SMSG is closer.
• Downtown Knoxville: roughly a wash on drive time; the deciding factor is usually hours and price, not miles.

Which One to Pick

Both places do the job. Which one saves you time and money depends on where your job is, when you're free to haul, and what is in your load.

Riverside makes sense if you're on the east side of Knoxville, hauling on a weekday, and your load is mixed C&D or needs a scale ticket.

Smoky Mountain Sand & Gravel makes sense if you're south or west of Knoxville, need Saturday hours, want to skip the tipping fee on clean loads, or care that the material gets recycled instead of landfilled.

If you want to try SMSG, we're at 245 Brookdale Rd, Maryville, and you can call (865) 999-0857. More reading: Knoxville concrete contractors: where to send demo, what Knox County convenience centers refuse, and concrete recycling vs. landfill disposal.