BinClerk

The clerk for: can I put this on the street, what size, what’s banned, who hauls.

Sheet 3 of 7. Chicago dumpster rental (sizes, prices, alley vs street). Chicago dumpster permit (CDOT Class A/B). Coming, not written yet: Naperville, Aurora, Bagster, junk vs dumpster.

10 vs 20 vs 30 vs 40 yard: what actually fits

This is the deep size sheet. The Chicago rental page already has a short size table. This page is what actually goes in the box, why a half-empty 30-yard still costs you money, and why a Chicago alley cares more about truck approach than the number painted on the door. It will not get you a quote.

Cubic yards are volume. The invoice is often weight. Those are different numbers. Pick the box for the denser of the two.

1. Cubic yards are volume, not weight

A cubic yard is a 3-foot cube. A “20-yard” dumpster holds 20 of those — if you fill it to the rail and the debris is fluffy. It does not mean 20 tons. Brackenbox’s size page says the same thing: the number on the door is volume.

Footprint is a different number again. Many manufacturers build the 20, 30, and 40 on the same roughly 22-foot length and change the wall height. The 10-yard is usually the short low-boy — about 12 feet long, walls around 3.5–4 feet — so you can toss concrete and dirt over the side without a ladder. Width is commonly in the 7–8 foot range. Dimensions vary by manufacturer. Do not order from a brochure drawing.

One Chicago-area hauler’s published boxes (Brackenbox, fetched 29 Aug 2026) are shorter than that 22-foot convention:

They do not publish a 40-yard. Other yards run the long-box / tall-wall set. Ask the dispatcher for this truck’s length, width, and wall height, not “a 20-yard.”

Chicago alleys are tight. The truck is longer than the box.

The box is not the only thing that has to fit. A roll-off truck backs in, tilts, and slides the container off the rails. That needs a straight approach, and it needs air above the rails for the hoist and the empty box as it comes off.

Brackenbox publishes approach numbers on its size pages (fetched 29 Aug 2026): for a 10- or 20-yard, 34 feet unobstructed in front of the drop and 22 feet of vertical clearance; for a 30-yard, 60 feet leading up to the drop and 23 feet vertical. Those are one operator’s numbers, not a city standard. Other trucks differ. The point is the same: measure the approach, not just the parking pad.

Overhead wires, garage eaves, tree canopy, and the El will stop a drop that looked fine on the ground. Chicago alleys also have poles, garage aprons, and parked cars. CDOT’s 2007 Street and Site Plan Design Standards set a 16-foot minimum for new residential alleys (18 feet downtown). A lot of existing alleys are narrower than the new-construction number. If the truck cannot get a straight shot, the 40-yard you ordered to “be safe” is the one that will not drop.

Many South and West Side bungalows have no driveway. The alley is the drop. That is normal. Tell the dispatcher the alley width, the distance from the street to the pad, and whether there are wires. A 10-yard low-boy is easier to sneak in than a tall 30. A 40 is Class B and a longer, taller object. Do not pick it to look like you mean business.

2. What actually fits — plain loads, not marketing

Pickup-truck counts are a rough analog. Haulers disagree with themselves. GreenWay (in-city yard, 2100 S Kilbourn) publishes about 3 / 5 / 7 / 10 pickup loads for 10 / 15 / 20 / 30. Brackenbox’s size pages say 3–5 for a 10, six (or eight, on their commercial table) for a 20, and nine (or fourteen, same table) for a 30. Treat the range as “more than a couple of truckloads, less than a fleet.” Do not size a job from a pickup count.

Plain-load guidance compiled 29 Aug 2026 from Brackenbox size pages, D & D Dumpsters, GreenWay roll-off page, and 606 Junk concrete FAQ. Not a quote. Not every hauler runs every size.
Size What actually fits What does not
10 yard
(low-boy)		 Bathroom gut. Small garage or one-to-two room cleanout. Small attic. A short stretch of driveway or patio if the debris is masonry. Dedicated home for concrete, dirt, brick, block, stone, tile, asphalt — loaded partway, not to the rail. GreenWay and Brackenbox both put heavy material in this size on purpose. A whole-home reno. A 40-square roof. Anything you will heap because the walls are short. A 10-yard filled with solid concrete is a fantasy; the truck cannot legally haul that weight.
20 yard The default residential box. Kitchen remodel (cabinets, counters, appliances if the hauler takes them). Medium cleanout. Deck demo. GreenWay lists room additions, a new garage, a new roof. Brackenbox: whole-house cleanout, kitchen cabinets, large roofing debris, large deck. D & D: home cleanouts, light remodels, roofing up to about 40 squares — that last number is their published figure; still ask tons, not yards. A driveway of broken concrete. Dirt. A load you intend to pack as masonry. Confirm alley length; some 20s are the long 22-foot box.
30 yard Whole-home reno, large estate or garage cleanout, bulky C&D, home addition debris, commercial cleanout. GreenWay: rehabbing or building a home, office cleanout. Brackenbox: construction sites, garage demolitions, large home renovations, packing materials. Taller walls — walk-in door helps; tossing over the side does not. Concrete, dirt, brick, or a roof of shingles you have not weighed. Brackenbox’s 30-yard accepted-materials list omits dirt, rock, concrete, brick, asphalt, and shingles (those appear on their 10- and 20-yard pages). That is the clerk signal: this size is for volume.
40 yard Bulky, relatively light debris you will actually fill: large demo of wood and drywall, commercial gut of furniture and fixtures, a job that cubes out a 30 and still has more light stuff. Same length as many 20/30s if the manufacturer uses the tall-wall 22-foot box; the extra yards are height. Concrete. Dirt. Brick. Tile. A Chicago alley that cannot take the truck. A driveway that is 18 feet long. Ordering a 40 “just in case” when you will not fill it. Class B — higher city usage. Fewer local haulers publish a 40 at all (Brackenbox, D & D, 606 Junk, GreenWay, SBC: no public 40-yard rate on 29 Aug 2026).

A few other sizes exist and are not this sheet. Brackenbox and GreenWay run a 15-yard (GreenWay: landscaping, flooring, “most requested” for those jobs; Brackenbox: limited availability). D & D runs a 25-yard and an 8-yard concrete-only (broken concrete, pavers, bricks; no dirt, wood, or trash). Odyssey advertises 6- through 40-yard without publishing rates. If a dispatcher offers an 8, 15, or 25, it is the same decision: heavy → small box; bulky light → taller box.

Bags exist for driveway-only small jobs — a single bathroom, a closet, a few bags of shingles. They sit on private property. They are not a roll-off, they do not need a CDOT dumpster permit, and they are the wrong tool for an alley drop or a kitchen gut. The Bagster sheet is not written yet. No product link here.

3. Weigh-out vs cube-out — this is the decision

Two ways a load “fills.” Only one of them looks full from the sidewalk.

Weigh-out: you hit the included tons while the box still looks empty. Dense debris does this. Concrete is about 2 tons per cubic yard as a solid (the same figure already on the Chicago rental page). Dirt, brick, block, tile, plaster, and asphalt shingles are in that family. A few cubic yards of slab will eat a 1–3 ton allowance. The walls will mock you.

Cube-out: you hit the rail while the scale is still friendly. Furniture, wood, mixed C&D, cardboard, trim, hollow cabinets. That is when a 30 or a 40 earns the rent. You are buying air you will actually use.

Weighs out (keep it small)

Concrete, dirt, brick, block, stone, tile, plaster, asphalt, shingles. Dedicated small / heavy box. 10-yard low-boy, or an 8-yard concrete-only like D & D. Do not mix dirt with wood. 606 Junk: concrete stays separate from wood, drywall, and household junk, or the transfer station treats it as contaminated.

Cubes out (volume is the point)

Furniture, lumber, cabinets, drywall, mixed household, bulky demo. 20 is the residential default. 30 when you know it is a lot of light debris. 40 only if you have the space, the debris is light, and you will fill it.

Concrete does not belong in a 30 or a 40. A 30-yard of concrete is not “more capacity.” It is a truck that cannot leave the alley. 606 Junk’s concrete FAQ tells people to use a 10-yard and, if the volume is large, to rent multiple small units rather than one oversized box. That is the right instinct. D & D will not put dirt, wood, or trash in the 8-yard concrete box. Clean load, small box, keep the pile low.

Brackenbox’s 10-yard page is explicit: the size is for smaller demolition, bricklaying, masonry, and concrete; they will talk about “up to 2.5 tons” of dirt and block in the same breath as a 3-ton included allowance. Read that as: you will weigh out. You will not see a full-looking 10-yard of slab.

4. Roofing — ask squares vs included tons

Shingles are heavy. The number on the door is the wrong question. Ask: how many squares (one square = 100 square feet of roof) will you accept at the included tons? Then ask what a second layer does, and what wet shingles do.

Published Chicago-area guidance, not a calculator:

Do not order a 30 or a 40 for shingles because the roof “looks big.” You will weigh out with walls to spare, and you may be in a Class B box you did not need. Two 10- or 20-yard pulls, or a 20 with a stated roofing tonnage, is how roofers stay legal on the truck. Confirm the transfer station takes shingles as C&D and whether they want them clean (no wood, no trash).

5. Do not heap above the rail

The legal and practical load is to the top rail, water-level. A peaked pile of boards or a couch sitting on the rim is not a “fuller 20.” The truck will not pull a heaped box. You will get a dry run (they came, they left, you still have a pile) or a reload (you pull it down, they come back). Both cost money.

Brackenbox’s 10-yard FAQ treats an overfilled box as incomplete service and stacks the overweight fee (they quote $70 per extra ton) on top. Their pricing page also names a dead-run fee when the truck arrives and cannot complete the work. Other operators use the same idea under different names. Ask what they charge if the load is above the rail, and what they charge if the alley is blocked when they arrive.

If you are still generating debris after the rail, you do not need a taller box of masonry. You need a second pull or a second box. Heaping is how people crack a driveway, lose a tarp on the Dan Ryan, and argue with a driver who is not allowed to leave the yard overweight.

6. CDOT class is volume, not length

On the public way, class is cubic yards. Full clerk sheet: Chicago dumpster permit (CDOT Class A/B). The short version:

A 20 and a 30 can be the same length. CDOT does not care. A 30-yard is still Class A. A 40-yard is Class B: usage $100 for 1–3 days or $200 / month (double in the CBD), plus the application fee. Class A usage is $50 / $100 a month (double in the CBD). Source: MCC 10-28-799(G).

A 7-day 20-yard alley drop is still Class A monthly usage — $100, plus the application fee — because the rental is more than 3 days. It is not $50. The city’s 3-day clock and the hauler’s 7-day rental clock are different clocks. Driveway / private property: no CDOT dumpster permit, no class, no usage fee. The alley is public way.

If someone is dropping a 40 and calling it Class A, they have the wrong permit. If they are dropping a 20 and calling it Class B, they are overcharging you for the city line. Ask to see the class on the permit.

7. Included weight, overage, market rent

Included weight on a residential roll-off is commonly 1–3 tons. Brackenbox advertises 3 tons on 10 through 30. Other operators include less on a 10-yard (sometimes 1–2 tons). Overage on published Chicago-area pages runs roughly $60–$100 per extra ton. Brackenbox’s size pages say “typically $70”; their pricing page also describes an industry overage of $60–$100/ton. Do not treat $70 as a citywide rate.

Same market rental ranges as the Chicago page, compiled 29 August 2026, not a quote:

Size Published market range (typical 7-day) Weight note
10 yard $300–$500 Best price / weight tool for masonry and dirt. You will not fill it with slab.
20 yard $370–$650 Default remodel box. Spread is wide because some quotes assume household junk and others assume mixed C&D.
30 yard $440–$800 You are paying for volume. Dense loads do not belong here.
40 yard $600–$900 Fewer local haulers publish a 40-yard rate. Class B. Light bulky only.

Local starting prices seen 29 Aug 2026: Brackenbox from $395 / $420 / $495 for 10 / 20 / 30, 7 days, 3 tons. SBC Waste Solutions (Broadview, serves Chicago) listed Chicago-area averages of $299–$419 / $369–$519 / $439–$660 for 10 / 20 / 30. A May 2026 Chicago coordinator guide (Prime Dumpster) listed $399–$499 / $499–$649 / $599–$799 / $699–$899 for 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 on a 5-day estimate. Sources disagree. That is why this is a range.

Ask every hauler for four numbers in writing: base rate, included tons, overage per ton, extra day. Then: driveway or public way, and who holds the CDOT permit. Citations: SOURCES.md.

8. Which size to order

Masonry / dirt → 10-yard heavy

Concrete, dirt, brick, block, stone, tile, a patio or driveway tear-out. 10-yard low-boy, or D & D’s 8-yard concrete-only. Keep it clean. Keep it low. Never a 40. Never a 30.

Mixed household / remodel → 20

Kitchen, bath-plus-hallway, medium cleanout, most roofs (once you have squares vs tons). This is the default. Confirm the truck can drop it in your alley.

Bulky light demo → 30

Whole-home reno, estate, garage full of furniture and lumber, addition debris. You will cube out. Still Class A. Taller walls; use the door.

40 only if all three are true

You have the space (approach + overhead). The debris is light. You will actually fill it. If any one of those fails, stay at 30 or run two 20s. Never 40 for concrete.

Chicago alley: ask approach and overhead, not the number on the door. A 10 that fits the truck is worth more than a 40 that will not drop.

If you are between two sizes, say so to the dispatcher and tell them the debris. “Twenty or thirty” without “it’s all plaster and tile” is how people weigh out. “Ten or twenty” without “it’s couches and cabinets” is how people cube out and pay for a second pull.

What to ask, in this order: What is the actual length / width / wall height of the box you will drop? What approach and overhead do you need? Included tons? Overage? Will you take this debris in this size (concrete / dirt / shingles / mixed)? Who holds the CDOT permit if this is an alley? What is the dry-run / overfill charge?