Construction Debris Disposal in Weld County

Weld County is 3,984.94 square miles — the third largest county in Colorado, with about 378,426 people, more than 80 percent of the state’s oil and gas production in 2024, $2.38 billion in agricultural sales in the 2022 Census of Agriculture, and more recorded tornadoes than any other county in the United States.

And every county counter that touches a construction job in those four thousand square miles sits at 1150 O Street, in Greeley.

That is the thing to understand about doing construction work in this county. The paperwork is centralized in the county seat, and the county seat is here. A contractor framing a house on a section road outside Briggsdale or pouring footings near Keenesburg sorts the permits at the same address as a contractor working four blocks from downtown Greeley. What differs is not where you go — it is which rules apply once you get there, and that depends entirely on which side of a city limit your job sits on.

This guide walks through the three jurisdictional answers, then the material-by-material disposal picture, then the practical container decisions.

Three kinds of address, three different rule sets

1. Inside the Greeley city limits

The City is the government in every sense that touches a job site. Greeley is a home rule city, and it exercises that authority thoroughly. It adopts its own building codes, adopts its own fire code, runs its own fire department, permits its own right-of-way, and licenses the businesses that haul refuse within the city — Greeley Municipal Code § 8-368 provides that “All refuse haulers who collect, transport or remove refuse, garbage or ashes within the city shall be required to have a license.” One number covers the lot: Greeley 311, (970) 351-5311.

2. In one of the separate Weld County municipalities

Evans is its own home rule city. Eaton, Kersey, La Salle, Ault, Platteville and Garden City are statutory towns, each with its own government. We did not establish their code editions, their hauler rules or their right-of-way permits, and we are not going to assume Greeley’s apply. Tell us the address and we will point you at the town rather than guess.

3. In unincorporated Weld County

No municipal government at all. County rules apply, from O Street. Lucerne, Galeton and Gill are on Weld County’s own published list of its unincorporated communities.

The code difference that surprises everyone

Here is a genuinely odd fact, verified from both jurisdictions’ own documents.

The City of Greeley is a full code edition behind its own county. Greeley adopted the 2021 International Building Code at Municipal Code § 22-31, the 2021 International Residential Code at § 22-76 and the 2021 International Fire Code at § 22-454, all effective 1 January 2023. Unincorporated Weld County moved to the 2024 I-Code suite on 15 June 2026.

And the fire code does something stranger still. Weld County adopts none. The county’s own ordinance provides that the International Fire Code applies only when adopted by a local fire district and is not enforced under the county building code. So drive out of the Greeley city limits and the building code edition changes and the fire code changes hands entirely — from a City fire department with seven stations to whichever fire protection district covers that ground.

None of this is unusual for Colorado, because Colorado has no statewide building code. Adoption is entirely local, every jurisdiction does it separately, and neighboring jurisdictions genuinely differ. It is the reason that “what does the code say?” is always a question about an address rather than about a state.

Weld County Building Department, 1150 O Street, Greeley — (970) 400-4000. Planning and Development Services — (970) 400-6100. The county’s own site is weld.gov.

Thirty inches of frost, and what that does to a container

Greeley publishes its own frost depth. Table R301.2(1) in the residential code the City has adopted specifies a frost line depth of 30 inches. Weld County publishes the same 30 inches, and so does the county to the west — three jurisdictions, one number, so it is safe to plan around.

Thirty inches has a direct consequence for a construction container. Footings, water services and sewer laterals in this market are set at least thirty inches down. A foundation repair, a sewer lateral replacement or a footing dig here produces meaningfully more spoil than the same job would in a warmer state, and spoil is the densest thing anyone ever puts in a box.

And in Greeley specifically that argument sharpens, because the housing is old. Median year built 1985; roughly 46 percent before 1980. Old sewer laterals, old water services and old foundations mean that excavation work here is ordinary recurring work rather than an occasional emergency. Basements are common in this climate for the same frost-depth reason, and basement work is a normal reason to need a container.

Dirt, concrete and masonry go in a small dedicated box — a 10-yard almost every time — kept clean and unmixed. That is the heavy debris job, and mixing a couple of yards of soil into an otherwise general load is the fastest way to make a container unmovable.

Where a Weld County construction load can actually go

The county publishes its own list of permitted solid waste facilities, and it is worth knowing the shape of it.

Every Weld County facility that takes construction and demolition debris is a general municipal landfill that also accepts it. There is no construction-and-demolition-only landfill in Weld County. Anyone who tells you they are taking your load to “the local C&D landfill” is describing something that does not exist here.

There is a genuine local advantage, though: the closest permitted landfill to this market sits north of Greeley, off the highway toward Ault — roughly a third of the distance to the facilities down at the southern end of the county. Greeley is materially closer to disposal than the corridor towns are. We are not going to publish a driving distance, because every figure we hold is measured straight-line, but the ordering is reliable.

On the authorization side, Colorado does something that catches out-of-state contractors. A Colorado landfill is authorized by the county, not by the state. Under C.R.S. § 30-20-102, a certificate of designation is issued by “the governing body having jurisdiction” — and in Weld County that governing body sits on O Street, in Greeley. Note carefully what the certificate attaches to: disposal facilities, not haulers. It is a facility authorization, and it is a common source of confusion. State-level solid waste oversight sits with CDPHE under 6 CCR 1007-2 — cdphe.colorado.gov, solid waste program 303-692-3320.

We do not publish gate rates. Disposal is charged by weight, with minimum charges and surcharges that vary by facility and by material, set by the operator and changed without notice. Any number we printed would be wrong within months. What we will say is that one of the landfills serving this region publishes that all incoming loads are subject to random inspection and that all uncovered or unsecured loads will be charged double — which, with Weld County’s published 115 mph residential design wind, is two good reasons to tarp a load.

What comes out of the load, and where it goes instead

Four streams do not belong in a construction container, and three of them have a free or straightforward local answer.

Household hazardous waste. Paint, stain, solvents, thinners, strippers, adhesives, pesticides, pool chemicals, motor oil, antifreeze and automotive fluids cannot go in a container at all. They go to Weld County’s household hazardous waste facility, 1311 North 17th Avenue, Greeley, on (970) 400-2217, open Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and it is free to every Weld County resident. Published limits: 200 pounds per household per visit, nothing in a container over five gallons, no leaking containers, no plastic bags. Electronics and appliances are not accepted there.

Electronics. Banned from Colorado landfills since 1 July 2013 under C.R.S. § 25-17-303. Weld County runs e-waste collections; that is the route.

Tires. Refused by the facilities that serve this market and handled through their own registered channels. Colorado also requires state registration to transport ten or more waste tires, with manifests and annual reporting. Do not put them in the box.

Asbestos. On any older building, and Greeley has a lot of them, this comes before the container rather than after. CDPHE Regulation 8, Part B makes asbestos an air quality matter in Colorado, with single-family triggers of 32 square feet, 50 linear feet or a 55-gallon drum, ten working days’ notification — which also applies to any demolition — and an exemption for buildings built after 12 October 1988. The asbestos line is 720-507-5136. Full detail in our lead and asbestos guide. Regulated asbestos material never travels in a roll-off.

Call 811 before the shovel, and mean it in this county

Colorado 811 — 811 or 800-922-1987. The statute, C.R.S. § 9-1.5-103, requires two business days’ notice, not counting the day of notice. Colorado 811’s own homepage advises three, so build in the margin. White-line the dig area first. colorado811.org

In Weld County that is not boilerplate. This is the state’s production center, and the ground carries wells, gathering lines, flow lines and tank batteries that a property owner may know nothing about. Greeley’s own development code has a section headed “Recordation of Flow Lines” — the City takes the point seriously enough to legislate it. The state regulator is the Energy and Carbon Management Commission, (303) 894-2100.

Placing a container is not excavation and does not itself require a locate. The footing dig, the fence posts, the sewer trench and the tree removal absolutely do.

Right-of-way: two counters, two answers

Inside Greeley, the City names dumpsters in its own permitting guidance, in as many words: “Placement of dumpsters within the Public Space and roadways requires Public Space Traffic permits and proper signage.” That is a Public Space Traffic Control permit, administered by Public Works Permits, 970-350-9881, at 2835 W. 10th Street, Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. On private property — a driveway, a yard, a job-site lot — no City right-of-way permit is in play at all. Our permit guide works through it.

In unincorporated Weld County, the county requires permits for occupation and excavation within county rights-of-way. Its language does not name dumpsters, and it is broad enough that a call is warranted rather than an assumption. Weld County Public Works right-of-way permits are at 1150 O Street, Greeley — (970) 400-4000.

Two more Greeley provisions worth having on a job site:

• § 12-269(b): refuse and debris left by the demolition or repair of a building must be removed following substantial completion of the work. The obligation sits with the property.
• § 12-269(a) allows trash containers on the public right-of-way for one 24-hour period in seven days. That is the weekly curbside rule for a household cart, not authority to leave a roll-off in the street. Street placement is the permit above.

And the City’s own clean-up will not help you

Worth saying plainly, because it is the first thing people reach for. The Greeley Annual Spring Clean-Up — a two-day, residents-only event in early May — refuses, in the City’s own published words, “Construction or demolition debris (including dirt, concrete, masonry, plywood, and similar materials).” It also turns away bagged loads and enclosed trailers. Dates move each year; the Clean-Up line is 970-350-9336. Full detail in what the City will not take.

For construction work in this county there is no municipal disposal route. That is not a criticism of anyone; it is simply the shape of the thing.

Sizing a construction job

• Mixed renovation and demolition debris — framing, drywall, flooring, cabinetry, trim, insulation — a 15 or a 20.
• Concrete, masonry, brick, block, soil — a 10, clean and unmixed.
• Roof tear-off — a 15 or a 20 and never a 30 or a 40. See the tear-off guide.
• Bulky, light material from a strip-out where weight is genuinely low — that is where the larger boxes earn their place.

Call (970) 888-6911 with the address first and the material second. The address tells us which of the three governments above is in charge, and that answer shapes everything else. See construction containers, demolition debris, and the directory of who answers what.