Pasadena dumpster guide
Sizing a dumpster comes down to two questions: how much space your debris takes up, and how much it weighs. Here’s how our five sizes break down — and why the second question trips up more Pasadena-area projects than the first.
“What size do I actually need?” is the question we field more than any other, and it’s worth sorting out before a container shows up too small for the job — or bigger than it needed to be. Most projects across Pasadena, Altadena and the surrounding San Gabriel Valley land on one of five sizes pretty predictably once you think through both how much space your debris takes up and how much it weighs. Here’s the full lineup, along with a few things worth factoring in locally.
Our smallest container measures 14 ft × 7.5 ft × 3.5 ft and holds roughly 3 pickup-truck loads at a 1–2 ton weight allowance. It’s built for a job that’s genuinely contained — a single room, a garage purge, or a load of dense material like a walkway’s worth of concrete or dirt. It’s also the easiest size to tuck onto a tighter Pasadena bungalow driveway or a smaller lot near Old Pasadena. See the 10-yard dumpster page for full details.
At 16 ft × 7.5 ft × 4.5 ft and 4–5 pickup-truck loads (2–3 tons), the 15-yard sits between our smallest and mid-size containers. It’s a good fit when a project is more than a single room but doesn’t need the full capacity of a 20-yard — a kitchen or bath remodel, a flooring tear-out, a smaller roofing job, or general yard work. If you’re weighing this one against the size above or below it, our team can help settle it on a quick call. Details on the 15-yard dumpster page.
The 20-yard dumpster measures 22 ft × 7.5 ft × 4.5 ft, holds about 6 pickup-truck loads, and carries a 3–4 ton allowance — making it our most-booked size. It covers a whole-house cleanout, a larger remodel spanning a few rooms, a roofing tear-off up to roughly 50 squares, or a full landscaping overhaul without needing a second delivery mid-project. If you call us undecided and describe a project as “medium to large but still one house,” this is very often where we land.
Step up to the 30-yard dumpster — 22 ft × 7.5 ft × 6 ft, about 9 pickup-truck loads, 4–5 tons — when a project outgrows a single household’s worth of debris. That covers whole-house renovations, commercial cleanouts, and new-build construction, where framing offcuts and packaging pile up fast. Contractors managing a multi-week job often prefer this size specifically so they’re not coordinating a mid-job swap — see our construction dumpster rental page.
Our largest container, the 40-yard dumpster, measures 22 ft × 7.5 ft × 8 ft, holds around 12 pickup-truck loads, and carries a 5–6 ton allowance. It’s the right call for major demolition, large-scale construction sites, and commercial fit-outs generating a steady volume of lighter debris — drywall, lumber, packaging. It’s rarely the right call for dense material on its own, since concrete, brick, or masonry debris will hit the weight allowance long before it fills a box this size — which brings us to the part of sizing people underestimate the most.
Every container comes with a weight allowance as well as a volume, and it’s entirely possible to fill a box only partway and still hit that ceiling. Concrete, brick, dirt, and roofing shingles are the usual culprits — a load of broken concrete that barely covers the floor of a 20-yard can weigh as much as the same container packed full of old furniture and boxes. This is why “just get the bigger one” isn’t always the safer move: a larger container buys you more room, not a proportionally larger weight allowance, and dense debris doesn’t care how much empty space is left above it. If your project involves concrete, brick, or other heavy material, our concrete & heavy debris page covers how we size those loads on their own terms. Once size and weight are both sorted, our guide to what actually drives dumpster rental cost covers the rest of the picture. We quote every job by phone with a flat rate for your project, so call and we’ll confirm the exact weight allowance that comes with the size you need.
A couple of things worth factoring in locally. Older neighborhoods around Old Pasadena and South Pasadena often have narrower Craftsman-era driveways, so a 10 or 15-yard is frequently the more realistic fit even when a project feels bigger — mention your driveway width when you call and we’ll confirm the size you want will actually clear it. Up toward the Altadena foothills and the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, lots can slope and driveways can be narrower or gated, which affects where a container can safely sit and how our truck maneuvers to place it — our dumpster placement tips guide goes deeper on this. Placing a container entirely on private property — a driveway, yard, or parking lot — never requires a permit anywhere in our service area; a container in the street or other public right-of-way is a different story, and our permit guide covers exactly what that involves in Pasadena versus unincorporated Altadena.
If you’ve read through all five sizes and you’re still torn, that’s normal — and it’s exactly what a two-minute phone call solves. Tell us what’s coming out, roughly how much of it there is, and whether it leans bulky-and-light or dense-and-heavy, and we’ll recommend a size on the spot. It beats guessing off a chart, and you’ll get a flat-rate quote for the size that actually fits, the first time. Call PTT Dumpster Rental at (626) 740-2880, whether your project is a residential dumpster rental or a larger roll-off dumpster rental. Or browse the full lineup on our dumpster sizes page.
FAQs
The 20-yard dumpster is our most-booked residential size — big enough for a whole-house cleanout or a larger remodel without paying for space you won’t use. Smaller single-room jobs often do fine with a 10 or 15-yard instead.
Not automatically — a bigger container only buys you more volume, not a proportionally bigger weight allowance. Dense debris like concrete, brick, or shingles can hit the weight limit before a larger box even looks full. Describing your project on a call usually gets you a more accurate size than guessing up.
Yes — it’s our most compact size and works well on narrower driveways, including many older lots around Pasadena and South Pasadena. Mention your driveway width when you call and we’ll confirm it fits.
It depends on the roof size and how many shingle layers are coming off, since shingles are heavy for their volume. A 20-yard typically covers a tear-off up to about 50 squares, but larger or multi-layer jobs may need to size up for weight, not just space — see our roofing dumpster rental page.
Not usually a different size, but access can be tighter — narrower or sloped driveways in the foothill neighborhoods sometimes change where a container can sit. Mention your address and driveway situation when you call so we can confirm placement before delivery.
Call and describe the project instead of guessing. We’ll ask about volume and material type and recommend the size that actually fits — more reliable than picking off a chart alone. Reach us at (626) 740-2880.
Ready when you are
Call and you will speak to someone local who knows the streets, the permit rules and which box actually fits your lot. Flat rate quoted up front.
Keep reading
We don’t publish a price chart, and that’s deliberate — too many variables change the number for it to be honest. Here’s exactly what we weigh when we quote a job, so a phone call feels less like a mystery.
Most household and construction debris is fine. A shorter list — batteries, electronics, tires, asbestos, and a handful of chemicals — is banned by California law and needs a different disposal route. Here’s the full breakdown.
Most driveway rentals need no permit at all. If your container has to sit in the street, the process depends on exactly where you are — the City of Pasadena and LA County Public Works run two entirely separate systems. Here’s both, in full.
