FindLandfill

California Landfills, Dumps & Transfer Stations

Where to dump across California — with the real hours, fees and resident rules that are hard to dig out of city and county websites. 540 sites from CalRecycle's Solid Waste Information System: 104 landfills, 267 transfer stations, 113 small rural transfer stations and container sites, and construction-debris, compost and hazardous waste sites.

California cities

How disposal works in California

In California, who runs the dump depends on where you live. The City of San Diego runs its own Miramar Landfill; Sacramento and Kern counties run theirs; private companies run many others. Prices vary as much as anywhere in the country: Kern County residents dump household trash free, while a carload at Miramar is $75. Nearly every site charges extra for an uncovered load, and some, like Miramar, no longer take cash.

Batteries, electronics and other universal waste can't go in a California landfill, so sort them out and take them to a hazardous waste drop-off first.

Outside the cities, counties run rural transfer stations, and private haulers run many of the rest, each with its own prices. These are the counties with the most sites in our data:

We're writing California up city by city — twenty are live, with more on the way. Statewide, our guide to what it costs to dump in California compares fourteen areas' rates and covers what state law keeps out of California landfills.