Illinois
Landfills
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) permits and inspects landfills through its Bureau of Land, whose permitting programs cover municipal and landscape waste, compost, hazardous waste, building and demolition debris, and potentially infectious medical waste. Illinois EPA keeps an interactive map of permitted landfills and of landfills in two of its programs' databases.
In a Phase I ESA
Illinois EPA's landfill records are the Illinois 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.
What the record shows
Illinois EPA's Landfill Locations Map page sorts permitted landfills by where they stand in a landfill's life:
| Stage | What Illinois EPA's page says it means |
|---|---|
| Active | Permitted to take waste for disposal |
| In post-closure care | Filled to the permitted capacity, closed and covered, and being stabilized under a post-closure care plan |
| Certified post closure | Stabilized, with post-closure care finished and the permit process ended |
The map shows landfills in all three stages. It also shows landfills that appear in the databases of two programs, the Voluntary Sites Program and the State Sites Program, and the page says some of those fall in none of the three stages. This handbook reads these as the Site Remediation Program (SRP) and the State Response Action Program. The page says a landfill's symbol, when clicked, gives identifying information about it. It does not say the map shows dumps that never had a permit. Illinois EPA's inspections page calls open dumping, waste left at places with no permit, a continuing problem in Illinois, and asks that open dumps be reported to an Illinois EPA field office or the local delegated agency.
Inspection is split. Illinois EPA's Field Operations Section inspects waste treatment, storage and disposal facilities from seven regional offices: Champaign, Collinsville, Des Plaines, Marion, Peoria, Rockford and Springfield. In some places Illinois EPA has handed solid waste inspection to local bodies, which its page names as the City of Chicago, the Ambraw Valley Solid Waste Agency (covering Crawford, Lawrence and Richland Counties) and separate county agencies. Those bodies inspect permitted landfills, transfer stations and compost facilities and look into open dumping within their bounds. The pages read do not say where those bodies' inspection records are kept.
Where to look a site up
- Illinois EPA's interactive map of Landfills in Illinois, linked from its Landfill Locations Map page. This handbook did not open the map.
- The Bureau of Land Databases page links Solid Waste Permit Activities, which it describes as telling the public about applications made to the Bureau of Land and permits it has issued. This handbook did not open it.
- The Bureau of Land's switchboard is (217) 524-3300.
Getting the file
Illinois EPA takes requests under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act through its online FOIA Request Web Form, which needs an account, or by fax, U.S. mail or special carrier. Give the facility name, address, permit number and any Agency or Bureau ID number. Its Compliance and Enforcement page says permits, reports and inspections can all be had through such a request. Fees, reply times and the options for large files are on the FOIA requests page.
Sources
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency pages, read October 13, 2026:
- Landfill Locations Map, last modified March 9, 2023.
- Landfill Inspections, last modified January 18, 2023.
- Bureau of Land, last modified June 16, 2026.
- Bureau of Land Databases, last modified December 13, 2023.
- Bureau of Land Contacts, last modified September 29, 2025.
- Compliance & Enforcement, last modified September 18, 2024.
- Freedom of Information Act, last modified May 2, 2024.