EREF research indicates tipping fees rising

The Raleigh, North Carolina-based Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF) has released a five-page report entitled “Analysis of MSW Landfill Tipping Fees: April 2018.” The report can be downloaded and accessed through the EREF website.

Data within the report includes a finding that 11 percent of nearly 400 municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills surveyed within the United States are considered by EREF as large, in that they accept more than 390,000 tons of MSW per year.

EREF divides all surveyed landfills into six geographic zones and has found that in 2018 the average tipping fee rose in three of those zones but declined in three others. Nationally, the tipping fee average rose by $3.29 per ton between EREF’s 2017 survey and April 2018.

The biggest climb in rates by far was in EREF’s Pacific region (Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington), where MSW tipping fees rose by an average of $8.26 per ton.

In the Midwest region (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin), meanwhile, the average tip fee in April 2018 was actually $3.38 lower compared to one year earlier.

On a state-by-state basis, Alaska’s average $151.19 tipping fee is the highest in the U.S., followed by Hawaii at $96.33. Massachusetts places third with an average fee of $95.00 per ton.

On the low end of the scale, the average MSW landfill in Mississippi charges just $24.75 per ton, followed by Louisiana at $29.21 per ton and Utah at $30.19 per ton.