Bags per cubic metre – the full table
| Bag size | Exact bags per m³ | Buy | Bags per 0.5 m³ | Bags per 0.25 m³ | Commonly holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 L | 100 | 100 | 50 | 25 | Seed-raising mix, specialty mixes |
| 25 L | 40 | 40 | 20 | 10 | Potting mix, garden soil, compost |
| 30 L | 33.3 | 34 | 17 | 9 | Garden soil, compost, manure |
| 40 L | 25 | 25 | 13 | 7 | Premium garden mixes, potting mix |
| 50 L | 20 | 20 | 10 | 5 | Potting mix, mulch |
| 60 L | 16.7 | 17 | 9 | 5 | Mulch, bark, sugar cane |
| 70 L | 14.3 | 15 | 8 | 4 | Mulch, bark chips |
Why the yard and the store use different units
Bulk landscape products are measured by the loader bucket – a "cubic metre" is one heaped scoop of a standard loader, and the bigger yards check it with a weighbridge. Retail bags, on the other hand, are filled by volume on a packing line and labelled in litres. Because 1 m³ is exactly 1,000 L, converting between them is only division, but three things trip people up:
- Loose vs settled. A bulk cubic metre is loose and airy. Once it is spread, watered and walked on it settles by 10–15 %. Bagged products have already been compressed in the bag and settle less. If you are comparing a bulk quote with a bag count, the bulk metre is the more generous measure.
- Litres are not kilograms. A 30 L bag of soil weighs roughly 20–25 kg; a 30 L bag of potting mix 10–12 kg; a 60 L bag of mulch about 12–15 kg. Gravel, sand and pebbles are sold by weight (20 kg bags, tonnes) – use the gravel calculator for those.
- Rounding. 33.3 bags means 34 bags in the trolley. For big jobs, that rounding is trivial; for a single pot, a 25 L bag versus a 30 L bag can be the difference between one bag and two.
Everyday conversions
| Job | Volume | In 30 L bags | In 60 L bags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fill a 1.2 m × 0.9 m × 0.4 m raised bed | 432 L | 15 | 8 |
| Mulch 10 m² at 75 mm | 750 L | 25 | 13 |
| Half a cubic metre of garden soil | 500 L | 17 | 9 |
| Top dress a 60 m² lawn at 10 mm | 600 L | 20 | 10 |
| Fill two 400 mm pots | 54 L | 2 | 1 |
Conversion questions
How many 30 L bags of soil are in a cubic metre?
33.3, so buy 34. A cubic metre of soil weighs about 1.2–1.4 tonnes, so those 34 bags are roughly 800 kg of lifting.
How many litres in half a cubic metre?
500 litres – 20 × 25 L bags, 17 × 30 L bags or 9 × 60 L bags.
Is a "scoop" the same as a cubic metre?
Not necessarily. Many yards sell by the "scoop" of a particular loader, which may be 0.5 m³, 0.75 m³ or 1 m³. Ask what the scoop is calibrated to before comparing prices.
Sources and method
- 1 m³ = 1,000 L by definition (SI). All conversions in the tables are exact division with bag counts rounded up.
- Bag sizes reflect products commonly stocked by Australian and New Zealand hardware chains and nurseries; typical bag weights are from product listings and vary with moisture.
Written by DueRiva · Last reviewed 22 September 2026 · Report an error