Manchester City Council used a crane to remove the 44ft (13.5m) trailer, which had sunk into the road surface in South Street, Openshaw.
The cost of removal and disposal was almost Â£10,000.
Councillor Nigel Murphy said the people who dumped it had "stolen from Manchester taxpayers".
The trailer, which weighed double the legal limit, had been stripped of usable parts and scrap metal, as well as all its identifying features, such as registration plates.
Mr Murphy said investigators suspected the waste had "come from a site used to sort skips".
A council spokesman said it was hoped "someone working in logistics" would recognise the vehicle, which was described as "an old tri-axle steel waste hydraulic ejector trailer".
A trailer filled with 90 tonnes of domestic waste was dumped on a street in an act of "fly-tipping on an industrial scale", a council has said.