What it costs to dump in Tennessee: 2026 fees by city
In most of Tennessee you never pay at a landfill gate. County convenience centers take household trash free, or on a small fee billed with the household, and you only pay once a load outgrows them — at a transfer station or landfill scale, where the rates we've verified run from $40 a ton at Chattanooga's City Landfill to $104.50 in Murfreesboro.
2026 cost to dump in Tennessee, city by city
| City | Residents pay | Standard gate rate | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clarksville | Covered by Bi-County's $5-a-month user fee — convenience centers, and landfill loads up to 500 lbs | $20 for 501–1,000 lbs, $30 to 2,500 lbs, then $48 a ton | Mattresses and Freon appliances $10 each, cash or check, at the Dover Road landfill only. Most centers closed Tuesdays and Thursdays |
| Knoxville | Free at Knox County's 7 convenience centers, one 5×8 pickup load a day; City residents dump free on the first Saturday of each month | $85 a ton at the City's Elm Street transfer station ($95 with shingles), $1 minimum | Card only, no cash. County centers closed Wednesdays and Sundays, and take no brush or refrigerant appliances |
| Murfreesboro | Free at Rutherford County's 14 convenience centers, one pickup load and 3 bulk items a day | $50 flat under 1,000 lbs, $104.50 to 1,999 lbs, then $104.50 a ton | Hard hat and hi-vis required at the transfer station. Mattresses $25 each. Centers closed Mondays and Thursdays |
| Nashville | 3 bags of trash and 1 bulk item free a day at Metro's 4 convenience centers | $10 under 1 cubic yard, then $20 a cubic yard up to 8; mattresses $12 | Open Tuesday to Saturday only. Card payments add 2.8% (minimum $1.95); no cash at Omohundro. Construction debris only at Omohundro |
| Smyrna | Free at Rutherford County's Smyrna Convenience Center on G Street | County transfer station in Murfreesboro: $50 flat under 1,000 lbs, then $104.50 a ton | Closed Mondays and Thursdays. One of three centers that take mattresses ($25 each) and electronics |
| Chattanooga | City residents: household garbage free at the City Landfill; bulky items at 3 refuse centers, 12 visits a year | Non-city residents $2 a bag up to 15, then $40 a ton ($30.50 minimum) | Refuse centers take no garbage or brush. The landfill takes no cash, and every load must be tarped |
| Kingsport | City residents: 12,000 lbs a year free at the City demolition landfill | $70 a ton for construction debris, $35 under 1,000 lbs; the county transfer stations don't post fees | The City landfill takes no household garbage. Transfer stations are weekdays only |
| Johnson City | No charge at Washington County's convenience centers, up to 20 bags a day | Iris Glen doesn't publish its rates — call first | Centers closed Sundays and Mondays. No construction debris or rental-property waste. Tires go to the county tire center only |
Rates verified from each operator's own published fee schedule, September 2026. Tires, appliances, mattresses and construction debris are often billed separately from household trash. Confirm with the facility before a big load.
Find a landfill near you
Enter your city or ZIP for the nearest disposal sites across Tennessee, then open your city's page for its exact hours, fees and what it accepts.
In Tennessee, the convenience center is the dump
Most Tennesseans never pay at a landfill gate. Counties run convenience centers — staffed drop-off sites with compactors for bagged trash, open-top bins for bulky items and containers for recycling — and residents use them free, or on a small fee billed with the household. There are 515 of them in our Tennessee data, far outnumbering landfills and transfer stations.
State law also makes every county provide at least one site that takes waste tires, used motor oil and fluids, and lead-acid batteries (Tenn. Code § 68-211-866). In practice that is usually the convenience centers.
The limits are what to watch. Knox County allows one standard 5×8 pickup load of trash per household per day; Rutherford County allows one visit a day of up to a pickup load, with no more than three bulk items. Nashville's four Metro centers take 3 bags of trash and 1 bulk item free per visit, one visit a day. All of them turn away business and contractor waste.
When you pay: transfer stations and landfill scales
You pay once a load is too big, too commercial or the wrong kind for a center — construction debris is the usual one. Then the price depends on the county:
- Clarksville charges in weight bands at the Bi-County landfill: nothing up to 500 lbs, $20 to 1,000 lbs, $30 to 2,500 lbs, then $48 a ton.
- Knoxville charges $85 a ton at the City's Solid Waste Facility on Elm Street, up from $70 on September 1, 2026, with a $1 minimum. Loads over four tons are no longer accepted.
- Nashville charges by volume at its convenience centers once you pass the free allowance: $10 for less than a cubic yard, then $20 a cubic yard up to 8 — plus a 2.8% card fee.
- Murfreesboro charges walk-up customers at the Rutherford County transfer station a flat $50 for anything under 1,000 lbs, a flat $104.50 up to 1,999 lbs, and $104.50 a ton above that, from July 1, 2026.
The cheapest and most expensive places to dump in Tennessee
Cheapest: a county convenience center, which is free in Knox, Rutherford and Washington counties and covered by the $5 monthly fee in Montgomery County. For a load that has to be weighed, Chattanooga's City Landfill has the lowest rate we've verified, at $40 a ton (and free for city residents' household garbage); Clarksville's Bi-County is next at $48, with the first 500 lbs covered.
Most expensive: the Rutherford County transfer station, at $104.50 a ton. Its $50 flat charge also makes a small load there pricier than it looks — a 300-lb trip costs the same as a 900-lb one.
The catches that cost people money
- Closed days. Most Bi-County centers are closed Tuesdays and Thursdays, Knox County centers Wednesdays and Sundays, Rutherford County centers Mondays and Thursdays, Nashville's Metro centers and Washington County's centers Sundays and Mondays, and Chattanooga's refuse centers Mondays.
- No cash in Knoxville. The City transfer station takes credit or debit cards only, and not every card.
- Safety gear in Murfreesboro. A hard hat and high-visibility clothing are required inside the Rutherford County transfer station.
- Mattresses cost extra. $10 each at Bi-County (cash or check), $12 each at Nashville's centers, $25 each in Rutherford County since August 1, 2026, and up to four a day at Knoxville's transfer station.
- Brush and fridges have their own rules. Knox County centers take neither; Bi-County takes limbs only up to 4 feet long and 3 inches across at Highway Drive, and Freon appliances only at its Dover Road landfill.
What Tennessee landfills can't take at any price
State law keeps three things out of Tennessee's municipal landfills: whole waste tires, lead-acid batteries and used oil (Tenn. Code § 68-211-866). A landfill may not accept whole, unshredded tires at all, and shredded tires can only be landfilled when no cheaper recycling use is available (§ 68-211-867). It's illegal for any landfill or incinerator to accept automobile batteries, and a store that sells lead-acid batteries must take your old one as a trade-in (§ 68-211-608).
TDEC's landfill rule adds liquids, regulated hazardous waste, PCBs and medical waste (Rule 0400-11-01-.04). Appliances and electronics aren't banned statewide, so local policy decides — Knox County's centers refuse anything with refrigerant, for example, while Rutherford County takes electronics free at three centers.
Construction debris goes to separately permitted landfills: Class IV sites take construction and demolition waste and shredded tires, and Class III sites also take brush and land-clearing waste.