How to get rid of construction & renovation debris in Texas
Renovation debris is the load where the rules quietly flip. The same city landfill that takes your household junk free will often charge for construction and demolition (C&D) waste — because it's heavy and priced by the ton — and some route it to a completely different landfill than your regular trash. Concrete, dirt and shingles usually cost extra on top. And there's a contractor trap that catches people out: the moment someone else hauls it for you, you may lose the resident rate entirely. Here's what your city charges and how to keep the bill down.
What construction & demolition debris costs, city by city
| City | Cost for C&D debris | The rule |
|---|---|---|
| Denton | $66.50/ton | Construction & demolition debris is $66.50/ton for residents and non-residents alike. Clean concrete is cheaper at $23.50/ton — but shingles are a brutal $125/ton. Cards only, no cash. |
| Amarillo | ~$41/ton | C&D material is charged by weight even for residents. Confirm the current per-ton rate before you haul — call (806) 378-6813. |
| Wichita Falls | $32.23/ton | Construction & demolition material from a non-primary residence runs $32.23/ton. Debris from your own primary home may be treated differently — worth asking. |
| Harlingen | $12/load (≤500 lbs) | Residents pay a flat $12 per load for garbage, brush OR construction material — but the load can't exceed 500 lbs, which is a modest pickup. A full bed of debris will be over that. |
| Beaumont | Free (self-haul) | Free for residents with proof of Beaumont garbage service — but it must be YOUR OWN household debris, self-hauled. Someone else hauling it changes the equation to commercial. |
| Dallas | Free for residents (self-haul) | McCommas Bluff takes construction debris free for Dallas residents in a car, pickup or trailer under 15 ft, with proof of residency. Cover the load or it's a $40 fee. Contractors pay the $43.60/ton gate rate. |
| Edinburg | Free for residents | Brush and bulky/construction material can go to the Edinburg Regional Landfill at no cost for city residents. |
| Nacogdoches | Free debris (residents) | City residents get unlimited brush and debris disposal free with a residential city water bill; extra household loads are charged per truckload. |
| Houston | Concrete accepted | The Neighborhood Depositories take concrete and a range of debris, free for residents — but with a 4-cubic-yard limit per visit. A gut renovation will need multiple trips or a different site. |
| Stephenville | Type IV site | A Type IV landfill built specifically for brush, construction and demolition debris and rubbish — it legally can't take household garbage, so it's the right destination for a reno load, not the wrong one. |
| Victoria | Accepted | The city landfill takes an unusually broad range including construction debris, free for residents — one of the more forgiving sites in the state. |
| Conroe | Accepted | General household junk, furniture and construction debris all go to the GFL Montgomery County Landfill on TX-105 East. Privately run — call for current rates. |
Verified from official city sources, July 2026. C&D rates are weight-based and change; concrete, dirt and shingles are often billed separately. Call the landfill before a big load.
Find a construction landfill near you
Enter your ZIP to see the nearest landfills and transfer stations. Construction debris is often routed to a specific site — call ahead to confirm they take C&D and what they charge per ton.
Why construction debris costs when household junk is free
It comes down to weight. Most city landfills that let residents dump free do it for normal household loads — light, bagged trash and the occasional bulky item. Construction and demolition debris is the opposite: broken concrete, tile, brick, drywall and lumber are dense and heavy, and the landfill's real cost is driven by tonnage. So even a city that waves you through with a couch will put your reno load on the scale.
Some cities go further and send C&D waste to a separate landfill entirely. A 'Type IV' site (like Stephenville's) is permitted for brush, rubble and construction debris but legally cannot accept household garbage — the reverse of your regular dump. Showing up at the wrong one means getting turned away, so it's worth confirming which site takes what before you load up.
Concrete, dirt and shingles are usually billed separately
Don't assume one per-ton rate covers everything in the trailer. Cities routinely price the heavy specialty materials on their own line. Denton is the clearest example: general C&D debris is $66.50 a ton, but clean concrete drops to $23.50 (it gets crushed and reused) while a load of roofing shingles jumps to $125 a ton.
Clean concrete and clean dirt are often the cheapest things you can haul, because recyclers actually want them — some concrete crushers and fill yards take them free or even pay by the load. If your demo is mostly a broken patio or a driveway, search for a concrete recycler before you pay landfill rates. Keep it 'clean' though: concrete mixed with rebar, wire or trash usually loses the discount.
- Clean concrete/dirt: cheapest — often a discounted landfill rate or a free concrete recycler.
- General C&D (drywall, lumber, tile): mid-range, charged by the ton.
- Shingles: usually the most expensive line item — Denton charges $125/ton.
- Mixed loads: sorting clean concrete out of the pile before you go can genuinely cut the bill.
The contractor rule — don't accidentally lose your resident rate
This is the one that costs people money. The free and discounted resident rates almost always come with fine print: it has to be your own debris, from your own home, hauled by you. The moment a contractor, handyman or hauling service is involved, the city treats it as a commercial load at the full gate rate — Beaumont says this outright.
So the decision is cleaner than it looks. If you're hiring someone to do the demo or renovation, make disposal their problem and their line item in the bid — they have commercial accounts and it's priced into their day. Only self-haul when you did the work yourself. And if it's more than fits in your vehicle, compare a dumpster rental (good for a multi-day project) against a junk-removal quote (good for a one-time pile) before you make five trips to the scale.
Construction debris in Fort Bend County
Fort Bend County — Sugar Land, Missouri City, Richmond, Rosenberg — has construction and demolition landfills that are separate from the household-trash sites. C&D debris is its own category with its own gate rate, so a remodel or a lot-clearing job in the Houston suburbs doesn't go to the same place as your kitchen trash. See the nearest C&D site on our Fort Bend County disposal page, and call ahead for the current per-ton rate before you load a trailer.