Municipal Solid Waste Landfills | US EPA

21 Jul.,2025

 

Municipal Solid Waste Landfills | US EPA

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  • What is a Municipal Solid Waste Landfill?
  • Learn about Municipal Solid Waste Transfer Stations
  • Regulations for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills
  • Publications and Guidance for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills

What is a Municipal Solid Waste Landfill?

A municipal solid waste landfill (MSWLF) is a discrete area of land or excavation that receives household waste. A MSWLF may also receive other types of nonhazardous wastes, such as commercial solid waste, nonhazardous sludge, conditionally exempt small quantity generator waste, and industrial nonhazardous solid waste. In , there were approximately 1,908 MSWLFs in the continental United States all managed by the states where they are located.

Non-hazardous solid waste is regulated under Subtitle D of RCRA. States play a lead role in ensuring the federal criteria for operating municipal solid waste and industrial waste landfills regulations are met, and they may set more stringent requirements. In absence of an approved state program, the federal requirements must be met by waste facilities. The revised criteria in Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 258 addresses seven major aspects of MSWLFs, which include the following:

  • Location restrictions—ensure that landfills are built in suitable geological areas away from faults, wetlands, flood plains or other restricted areas.
  • Composite liners requirements—include a flexible membrane (i.e., geo-membrane) overlaying two feet of compacted clay soil lining the bottom and sides of the landfill. They are used to protect groundwater and the underlying soil from leachate releases.
  • Leachate collection and removal systems—sit on top of the composite liner and removes leachate from the landfill for treatment and disposal.
  • Operating practices—include compacting and covering waste frequently with several inches of soil.
    These practices help reduce odor, control litter, insects, and rodents, and protect public health.
  • Groundwater monitoring requirements—requires testing groundwater wells to determine whether waste materials have escaped from the landfill.
  • Closure and post-closure care requirements—include covering landfills and providing long-term care of closed landfills.
  • Corrective action provisions—control and clean up landfill releases and achieves groundwater protection standards.
  • Financial assurance—provides funding for environmental protection during and after landfill closure (i.e., closure and post-closure care).

Some materials may be banned from disposal in MSWLFs, including common household items like paints, cleaners/chemicals, motor oil, batteries and pesticides. Leftover portions of these products are called household hazardous waste. These products, if mishandled, can be dangerous to your health and the environment. Many MSWLFs have a household hazardous waste drop-off station for these materials.

MSWLFs can also receive household appliances (i.e. white goods) that are no longer needed. Many of these appliances, such as refrigerators or window air conditioners, rely on ozone-depleting refrigerants and their substitutes. MSWLFs follow the federal disposal procedures for household appliances that use refrigerants. EPA has general information on how refrigerants can damage the ozone layer and consumer information on the specifics for disposing of these appliances.

Municipal Solid Waste Transfer Stations

Waste transfer stations are facilities where municipal solid waste (MSW) is unloaded from collection vehicles. The MSW is briefly held while it is reloaded onto larger long-distance transport vehicles (e.g. trains, trucks, barges) for shipment to landfills or other treatment or disposal facilities. Communities can save money on the labor and operating costs of transporting the waste to a distant disposal site by combining the loads of several individual waste collection trucks into a single shipment.

They can also reduce the total number of trips traveling to and from the disposal site. Although waste transfer stations help reduce the impacts of trucks traveling to and from the disposal site, they can cause an increase in traffic in the immediate area where they are located. If not properly sited, designed and operated they can cause problems for residents living near them.

A Regulatory Strategy for Siting and Operating Waste Transfer Stations (pdf)   provides information about waster transfer stations and the actions EPA has taken to address this issue.

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Regulations for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills

The table below provides links to final and promulgated rules pertaining to the operation and management of MSWLFs. Background information and technical support documents are also available for several rulemakings.

Rulemakings for MSWLFs

Publications and Guidance for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills

The table below includes additional resources and guidance for the operation and management of MSWLFs.

Best Garbage Disposal Buying Guide - Consumer Reports

Did you know your trashed dinner scraps end up in a landfill, slowly decaying into greenhouse gas? Garbage disposals solve this concern.

They do double duty, meeting the often competing demands of convenience and conservation. Disposals grind spoiled meats, corn cobs, fish bones, ice, and all those veggies kids reject, discharging them down the drain to a wastewater plant (unless you have a septic system). When food waste is processed at a wastewater plant, it’s even more eco-friendly than composting. Plus, garbage disposals immediately rid your home of waste, odors, and any critters they might attract.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), solid waste landfills release harmful gases, composed of roughly 50 percent carbon dioxide and 50 percent methane, a potent greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere—a key contributor to climate change. In , methane emissions from municipal solid waste were almost equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions from more than 21.6 million passenger vehicles driven for one year.

Garbage disposals efficiently eliminate waste and dispatch it for environmentally friendly processing. Many major U.S. wastewater plants use what’s called anaerobic digestion to turn the gas generated from food waste into biofuel. The remaining solids are turned into fertilizer for farms. So if you’re considering installing or replacing a disposal but are concerned about the environmental impact, find out how your local sewage treatment plant processes the town’s wastewater.

A February nationally representative CR survey of 1,000 U.S. adults shows that just over half of Americans live in homes with a garbage disposal, and of those who do have one, more than 60 percent said their disposal was already installed when they moved in. According to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, these appliances last about 11 years, so if yours came with the place, depending on how long you’ve lived there, it could soon be time to look for a new one. 

Your disposal might be kaput if you notice it leaking, taking longer to grind, making louder-than-usual noises, or requiring a reset often. (The reset button is like a circuit breaker that needs to be reset after the disposal shuts off, typically because of a strain on the motor.) In fact, before you call the plumber—or throw down hundreds of dollars on a new grinder—simply reset the disposal by pressing the small (usually red) button on the bottom or lower backside of the unit. If this doesn’t work, check the circuit breaker or fuse to make sure it is not tripped. If that doesn’t work? It may be time to go shopping.

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