SWF/LF

ASTM search distance 0.5 mile

Scope State / Tribal

Landfills and other solid waste disposal and management facilities on a state's or tribe's list. The federal inquiry rule names them as permitted or registered; what a state's list holds is set by that state's program, and the federal criteria for landfills say what closure requires of the landfills they cover.

What puts a property on this record

Each state keeps its own list under its own program. Federal regulation sets criteria for some of the landfills such a list may hold, and which criteria apply depends on the kind of landfill.

Part 258 sets minimum national criteria for municipal solid waste landfill units (40 CFR 258.1(a)). Such a unit is "a discrete area of land or an excavation that receives household waste" and is none of four other kinds of unit the definition names (40 CFR 258.2). Other solid waste disposal that subtitle C of RCRA does not regulate comes under part 257, with the exceptions that part lists (40 CFR 258.1(b), 257.1(c)). An open dump is "a facility for the disposal of solid waste which does not comply with this part" (40 CFR 257.2).

Part 258 does not apply to units that stopped receiving waste on or before October 9, 1991, and some units that stopped by later dates are exempt from everything except the final cover requirement, unless the cover was not installed by the date the rule sets (40 CFR 258.1(c), (d)).

After all of a facility's units have closed, the owner or operator must put a notation on the deed, or on another instrument normally examined in a title search, that tells any purchaser the land was used as a landfill and that its use is restricted; it may come off, with an approved state director's permission, if all wastes are removed (40 CFR 258.60(i), (j)). After each unit closes, post-closure care runs 30 years unless an approved state's director changes it (40 CFR 258.61(a), (b)), and post-closure use may not disturb the final cover, liners or monitoring systems unless part 258 requires it or that director approves (40 CFR 258.61(c)(3)).

What a listing shows, and what it does not

Nothing in the regulations makes a listing say which part governs the site. A unit that stopped receiving waste early enough is outside part 258, or exempt from all but the final cover requirement if the cover went on by the date the rule sets, so a deed notation under part 258 does not follow from the listing alone (40 CFR 258.1(c), (d)). The regulations do not say what wastes a listed facility took or whether a release occurred.

In a Phase I ESA

State and tribal landfill and solid waste disposal lists are standard sources, with an approximate minimum search distance of 0.5 mile that the professional may reduce, explaining why in the report (E1527-21, 8.1.2.1, 8.2.2, Table 2). When the subject property or an adjoining property is listed, the pertinent agency file should be reviewed, or the professional reviews alternative sources and gives an opinion on their sufficiency, or explains why no review was warranted (E1527-21, 8.2.3).

For a listing on the subject property, whether closure was certified and whether a deed notation exists are questions for the agency's file and the land title records. Land title records are where the standard says activity and use limitations and environmental liens can ordinarily be found, and it makes their review a user responsibility (E1527-21, 5.4, 6.2). If a notation or use restriction is found, the standard's definition is the test of whether it is an activity and use limitation (E1527-21, 3.2.2). Where a finding is judged a controlled recognized environmental condition, the Findings and Opinions give the rationale and identify the document that provides the control (E1527-21, 3.2.17.1).

For a listing nearby, the search distance exists to judge the likelihood of impact from migrating substances (E1527-21, 8.1.2). The report gives the professional's judgment on each listing's significance (E1527-21, 8.1.10). For a known release off the subject property, the factors in the standard's nonmandatory appendix X4 include where the source lies and the topography, geology and hydrogeology (E1527-21, X4.1). The standard's nonmandatory appendix gives methane as an example of a substance that may not be a federal hazardous substance and then falls outside the practice (E1527-21, 13.1.5.15, X6.10).

See Landfill within the search distance and Activity and use limitations.

What the federal rule says

The inquiry rule lists these records among waste management activities near the subject property:

Records of federally-permitted, tribal-permitted, or state-permitted (or registered) landfills and solid waste management facilities (one-half mile)

40 CFR 312.26(c)(3)(ii), edition revised as of July 1, 2025

For the subject property itself, the rule says the review should include "landfill and other disposal unit location records and permits" (40 CFR 312.26(b)(2)). The standard's table gives the same 0.5 mile for state and tribal landfills (E1527-21, 8.2.2, Table 2). The rule says the procedures of the standard may be used to comply with 312.23 through 312.31 (40 CFR 312.11).

Where the record is kept

State solid waste program databases and permit files. Historical dumps often surface only through old aerials, topo maps, and local agency records.

This page is general reference for environmental professionals. It does not classify any property. ASTM E1527-21 is the standard and is not reproduced here; the judgment of the environmental professional on the facts governs.

Classifying a finding

Situations in which this record type bears on the answer:

In each state

The state programs this handbook covers under this record type: