Fort Myers Landfill, Dump & Recycling — Hours, Fees & What They Take

Disposal sites in Fort Myers

Fort Myers dump hours — and the 30-minute rule

The Buckingham campus runs Monday to Friday, 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Saturday 6:00 a.m. to noon. Closed Sunday. That 6 a.m. weekday opening is genuinely early — useful if you want a load gone before work.

Two deadlines, not one. Lee County requires you to be inside the gate 30 minutes before closing. And if you're still in the unloading area after the posted closing time, the county charges $10.00 for every five minutes the facility has to stay open for you. An hour late is $120 — more than eight times the flat rate you came to pay.

The practical read: for a Saturday run, be through the gate by 11:30 a.m., not noon. Hand-unloading a truck bed takes longer than people expect.

What it costs to dump in Fort Myers

These are Lee County's adopted FY2026 rates. They apply at both the Buckingham campus and the Lee/Hendry landfill unless noted:

Rates from Lee County's adopted FY26 Solid Waste Rates schedule. Confirm on (239) 533-8000 before a large or unusual load.

The flat rate is the headline. A resident bringing a normal load to the Buckingham drop-off area pays $15.00, flat. You still stop at the scale house first, where everything is logged, but the price doesn't depend on the weight. At $69.83 a ton, you'd need well over 400 lbs before weighing would have been cheaper — so for a garage clear-out or a couple of pieces of furniture, the flat rate is simply the price.

Separate the yard waste. Horticulture is $43.92/ton against $69.83 for mixed garbage — a 37% difference on every pound of palm fronds and branches you pull out of the load.

Out-of-county waste is refused, not surcharged. Lee County states plainly that garbage and debris generated outside Lee County is not accepted. That's stricter than Palm Beach County, which simply charges outsiders $156/ton. Here there's no price that gets you in.

See how the county compares statewide in our guide to what it costs to dump in Florida.

Roofing a house? Shingles have their own rule

This one catches contractors and homeowners equally. Lee County no longer accepts asphalt shingles at the Buckingham campus. The county's instruction is to take them to the Lee/Hendry Regional Landfill, or to an approved private construction and demolition company.

The good news is the rate: shingles at the regional landfill are $35.00 a ton — half what construction debris costs, and cheaper than yard waste. A typical residential tear-off runs two to three tons, so you're looking at roughly $70–$105 in tipping fees.

The bad news is the drive. Felda is about 35 miles east of Fort Myers on Church Road, well past Lehigh Acres. Factor a round trip of well over an hour into the job, and don't discover the policy at the Buckingham scale house with a loaded trailer.

More on the wider picture in our construction debris guide.

Free paint, free mulch

Two things Lee County gives away that most counties don't:

• The Reuse Center, at the Household Chemical Waste and Electronics Facility, hands usable latex paint and household chemicals back to residents free of charge. Stock changes daily, and you can take up to 10 items a visit. If you need a gallon of primer or some deck stain, it's worth a look before the hardware store.
• Five free mulch locations around the county for residents, plus compost and mulch sold cheaply at the horticulture site — $10.00 a cubic yard for mulch or fine compost, and bagged compost at $2.82.

The chemical facility is also where paint disposal happens — Buckingham won't take it, and no landfill anywhere will. Our paint disposal guide explains why.

Haul it yourself, or hire junk removal? — Fort Myers

With a $15 flat rate and a 6 a.m. opening, self-hauling is genuinely cheap here for anything you can lift. The case for help is about volume, the Felda drive, or a deadline:

• Haul it yourself — cheapest by a long way if you have a vehicle and can lift it. The gate rates above are the whole cost.
• Junk-removal crew — they carry it out and haul it off. Usually the call for hurricane cleanups, snowbird turnovers, estate clearances, or anything where the 30-minute gate rule and a full truck don't mix.