Construction and Demolition Debris Statistics: U.S., New York & the Hudson Valley (2026)
The United States generated 600 million tons of construction and demolition (C&D) debris in 2018, more than twice the amount of all household and business trash. Demolition, not new construction, creates more than 90% of it. Headline recycling rates look high, but they are driven by heavy concrete and asphalt. The materials that come out of a typical interior tear-out (wood, drywall, shingles and brick) still mostly go to landfill.
This page collects the key C&D debris figures for the U.S., New York State and the lower Hudson Valley. Every figure comes from a government source that is linked at the bottom. We are MCI Waste, a dumpster rental and interior demolition company serving Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess counties, so these are the materials we haul every week.
Key statistics at a glance
- The U.S. generated 600 million tons of C&D debris in 2018, more than twice the 292.4 million tons of household and business trash. (U.S. EPA)
- Demolition produces more than 90% of C&D debris. New construction produces less than 10%. (U.S. EPA)
- Concrete is 67.5% of all U.S. C&D debris by weight, and asphalt concrete is 17.8%. (U.S. EPA)
- About 73% of C&D wood, 87% of drywall and 86% of asphalt shingles went to landfill in 2018. (Calculated from U.S. EPA tables)
- C&D debris is the largest part of New York’s waste stream: 46% of 42.2 million tons, slightly more than household and business trash (45%). (NYS DEC)
- New York recycled 64% of its C&D debris in 2018, up from 55% in 2008. The state’s goal is 85% by 2050. (NYS DEC)
- In DEC Region 3, the Hudson Valley region that includes Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess, the C&D recycling rate was 61%, and C&D was 40% of all waste. (NYS DEC)
- Private haulers in Westchester County sent 552,078 tons of C&D debris to recycling and 296,621 tons to disposal in 2024. (Westchester County DEF)
How much C&D debris does the U.S. generate?
- EPA’s figure for 2018 is 600.3 million tons. Of that, 567.3 million tons came from demolition and 33.0 million tons from construction.
- Roads and bridges produced more C&D debris (275.3 million tons) than buildings (188.8 million tons).
- About 457 million tons went to a “next use”, such as recycled aggregate or new asphalt, and over 143 million tons went to landfill. Landfill was 24% of the total.
- Recycled aggregate was the main next use, at 52%. About 301 million tons of concrete became aggregate.
- About 92 million tons of old asphalt pavement went into new products.
- Even so, over 71 million tons of concrete went to landfill.
- Recycling C&D materials supported 175,000 jobs in 2012.
EPA’s national C&D data is current through 2018, the latest year EPA has published. EPA’s measurement scope has widened over time, so older totals are not directly comparable with 2018.
What is in C&D debris, and where does it go?
| Material (U.S., 2018) | Generated | Sent to landfill | Share landfilled |
|---|---|---|---|
| Concrete | 405.2M tons | over 71M tons | about 18% |
| Asphalt concrete | 107.0M tons | n/a | n/a |
| Wood products | 40.8M tons | 29.6M tons | about 73% |
| Drywall and plaster | 15.2M tons | 13.2M tons | about 87% |
| Asphalt shingles | 15.1M tons | 13.0M tons | about 86% |
| Brick and clay tile | 12.3M tons | 10.8M tons | about 88% |
| Steel | 4.7M tons | n/a | n/a |
Source: U.S. EPA, Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: 2018 Fact Sheet, Tables 6 and 8. Shares landfilled are our calculations from EPA’s tonnages.
EPA states it directly: “Landfills were the primary destination for C&D debris wood, asphalt shingles, gypsum drywall and brick and clay tile.” These are the materials that come out of kitchens, bathrooms, basements and roofs. The high overall recycling rate comes mostly from concrete and asphalt, which are heavy and have strong markets as aggregate and new pavement.
Renovation and home projects
EPA’s most recent breakdown of building-related debris by activity is older (2003 data), but it shows how much comes from existing homes:
- Renovation produced 42% of building-related C&D debris (71 million tons). Demolition produced 49% and new construction 9%.
- Remodeling kitchens, bathrooms and other home interiors produced about 6.7 million tons in one year.
- Asphalt roof replacement produced about 7 million tons, and driveway replacement about 20 million tons of concrete.
EPA’s 1998 study (1996 data) also gives rules of thumb per square foot:
- Building a new home generates about 4.38 lbs of waste per square foot of floor space (the range across studies was 2.41 to 11.3 lbs).
- Tearing down a single-family house generates about 111 lbs of debris per square foot.
New York State
- New York generated 18.4 million tons of C&D debris in 2018.
- Of the state’s 42.2 million tons of total waste, C&D debris was 46%, household and business trash 45%, industrial waste 5% and biosolids 4%.
- In 2018, 64% of New York’s C&D debris was recycled, 26% went to New York landfills, 9% was exported for disposal, and 1% was burned.
- About 6.6 million tons of C&D debris was disposed of.
- New York’s plan aims to raise the C&D recycling rate from 64% to 72% by 2025, 80% by 2032 and 85% by 2050.
- New York had 464 registered and 93 permitted C&D debris handling and processing facilities, plus 11 permitted C&D landfills (June 2022).
What New York’s C&D debris is made of
| Material | Share |
|---|---|
| Concrete, asphalt, rock and brick | 35% |
| Soil and gravel | 27% |
| Wood | 15% |
| Metal | 6% |
| Roofing | 5% |
| Drywall | 2% |
| Cardboard | 2% |
| Plastic | 1% |
| Other | 7% |
Source: NYS DEC estimate, New York State Solid Waste Management Plan (2023), 2018 data.
The Hudson Valley: Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess
- DEC Region 3 (Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties) recycled 61% of its C&D debris in 2018. C&D was 40% of the region’s waste.
- Westchester County: in 2024, private haulers sent 552,078 tons of C&D debris to recycling and 296,621 tons to disposal. That is about 65% recycled (our calculation). The county’s overall recycling rate for all waste was 54%.
- Dutchess County: generated 149,066 tons of C&D debris in 2020 and diverted 64,583 tons, a diversion rate of 43.3%. In 2019, more than 172,000 tons were generated and over 100,000 tons were recycled.
- In Dutchess, an estimated 17% of C&D debris comes from homes, 25% from non-residential buildings and 58% from infrastructure and other sources.
- Illegal dumping: a 2018 state investigation, Operation TrashNet, running from Long Island to the mid-Hudson Valley, had produced more than 170 tickets, identified more than 40 trucking companies suspected of illegal dumping, impounded 26 trucks and found 81 dump sites, as reported by The Highlands Current.
Commonly misquoted C&D figures
- “136 million tons” and “20-30% recycled” are building-only figures for 1996. The current national total is 600 million tons (2018), with about 76% sent to a next use.
- “548 million tons” is often quoted as current. EPA’s 2015 figure was about 547 million tons, and the 2018 figure is 600 million.
- “230,000 jobs” does not match EPA, which reports 175,000 jobs from C&D recycling (2012 data).
What this means for your project
Most of what comes out of a renovation (wood, drywall, shingles, tile) is the kind of C&D debris that is least likely to be recycled. Keeping clean concrete, brick and metal separate, and booking the right container size, makes a difference. See construction dumpster rental, interior demolition, or all of our services.
Methodology
National figures come from U.S. EPA publications; the latest national C&D data is for 2018. New York figures come from the New York State Solid Waste Management Plan (2023), which uses 2018 data. County figures come from each county’s most recent published report, so data years differ and are stated next to each figure. Shares marked as our calculation are simple divisions of published tonnages. Figures were retrieved in September 2026.
Sources
- U.S. EPA, Sustainable Management of Construction and Demolition Materials.
- U.S. EPA, Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: 2018 Fact Sheet (December 2020).
- U.S. EPA, Construction and Demolition Debris: Material-Specific Data.
- U.S. EPA, National Overview: Facts and Figures on Materials, Wastes and Recycling.
- U.S. EPA, Estimating 2003 Building-Related Construction and Demolition Materials Amounts (2009).
- U.S. EPA, Characterization of Building-Related Construction and Demolition Debris in the United States (1998).
- NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, New York State Solid Waste Management Plan (2023).
- NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Region 3.
- Westchester County Department of Environmental Facilities, 2024 Annual Report.
- Dutchess County, 2023 Local Solid Waste Management Plan and 2019 Annual Summary.
- The Highlands Current, August 3, 2018.
Cite this page
You are welcome to use these statistics in articles, reports or presentations. Please credit MCI Waste and link to this page:
Source: MCI Waste, "Construction and Demolition Debris Statistics: U.S., New York & the Hudson Valley (2026)", https://mciwaste.com/construction-demolition-debris-statistics/
