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Idaho

Solid waste facilities

Agency Idaho Department of Environmental Quality
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Idaho solid waste facilities

The Solid Waste Program of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) oversees the siting, design and operation of many types of solid waste facilities. DEQ says that it, the counties and Idaho's public health districts all play a role in regulating and managing solid waste facilities in the state. DEQ cites the Idaho Solid Waste Facilities Act (Idaho Code § 39-74), passed in 1993, and the Solid Waste Management Rules (IDAPA 58.01.06).

In a Phase I ESA

DEQ's solid waste facility records are the Idaho form of the state landfill and solid waste disposal site records that ASTM E1527-21 lists as a standard source. The general reading of a landfill listing is on the landfills and solid waste page.

Four Idaho details shape the search.

  • Two bodies oversee a landfill. Landfills accepting municipal waste must obtain DEQ approval of the facility location and design. Once a landfill is approved, the public health districts perform operational oversight and regular inspections. DEQ says responsibility for regulating municipal and nonmunicipal landfills is shared between DEQ and the seven public health districts, and that it authorizes and inspects solid waste facilities. Ask both for their records.
  • Many municipal landfills are unlined. DEQ says Idaho currently has six lined municipal landfills and approximately 17 unlined municipal landfills. It also says some requirements, such as groundwater monitoring, are based on the volume of waste managed. Check whether a landfill near the property is lined and whether it monitors groundwater.
  • The facility types go well past landfills. Waste transfer stations are regulated as Tier II facilities. Construction and demolition landfills, industrial waste landfills and other specialty disposal facilities that do not accept municipal waste are nonmunicipal landfills, classified as Tier I, II or III by the volume and characteristics of the waste. DEQ also names composting and other waste processing facilities, waste incinerators, nonhazardous solid waste impoundments where liquids and sludges are managed, facilities managing wood and mill yard debris, and facilities that manage waste from very small quantity generators.
  • Petroleum-contaminated soil has its own facilities. DEQ says petroleum contaminated soil landfarms are regulated under the Solid Waste Management Rules, and that one-time disposal events are managed by the local health district. Its page links a directory of landfarms.

Old landfills also turn up outside this program. DEQ's Preliminary Assessment Program names old landfills among the abandoned facilities it assesses, and its Brownfields Program names landfills among eligible sites. Dumping at sites that were never approved is on the open dumping and waste tires page.

Where to look a site up

  • DEQ's Facility Mapper page links a map tool that has a Solid waste (SW) program category. DEQ says sites involved in a permitted activity or requiring remediation are included in the tool.
  • DEQ's Solid Waste Facility Information page describes each facility type and links guidance for nonmunicipal and composting facilities. The pages read do not carry a list of facilities.
  • For help with a solid waste question, DEQ points to its regional offices. Its Commercial Industrial Waste page links the public health districts.

Getting the file

DEQ takes requests under the Idaho Public Records Act through its Public Records Request page, which carries buttons to submit a request online, track its status and search the request archives. The pages read do not say how the public health districts take records requests for their inspection records.

Sources

Idaho Department of Environmental Quality pages, read October 1, 2026:

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