Solid waste facilities

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) regulates the construction, operation and closure of facilities and projects that manage, process and dispose of solid waste. DNR says the landfills it regulates are usually managed by cities and counties.

In a Phase I ESA

DNR's solid waste records are the Iowa 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. Three Iowa details shape the search.

• Closed landfills and dumps are mapped. DNR describes its interactive landfill map as showing all operating or active and closed landfills, including waste limits and property boundaries when available, and says it also includes unpermitted dumps.
• Oversight runs past closure. DNR says its Solid Waste Section engineers work with operating and closed sanitary landfills, overseeing siting, design, operating, monitoring, corrective action, reporting, record-keeping, closure and post-closure requirements.
• More than landfills. DNR lists solid waste handling and disposal facilities as landfills, transfer stations, appliance and electronics demanufacturers, composting, household hazardous waste and regional collection centers, incinerators, land application, petroleum contaminated soil landfarms, waste processing and material recovery, and tire processing and hauling. DNR's landfarming rules cover the remediation and disposal of petroleum contaminated soil through landfarming, at single use and multi-use landfarms.

What the record shows

DNR's Solid Waste Permitting Web Application tracks permit amendments, renewals and report submittals for solid waste facilities, and holds basic facility information such as permit numbers, facility contacts, project locations and permit expiration dates. DNR says all incoming and outgoing documents are converted to an electronic format and are available for public viewing through its Electronic Document Retrieval Report.

DNR says that clicking a facility on the landfill map opens information on the facility, including facility snapshots through the same application, and that the map carries publicly available data layers related to solid waste, such as topography, public and private wells, and geology.

Where to look a site up

• DNR's interactive landfill map, linked from its solid waste Permitting page.
• The Active Landfills & Transfer Stations Map Experience, linked from DNR's Solid Waste page.
• The Solid Waste Permitting Web Application above. DNR's Document Search also lists Land Quality - Solid Waste Permitting among its programs.

Getting the file

Start with the Electronic Document Retrieval Report. For anything it does not hold, DNR's Records Center, at 6200 Park Ave, Suite 200, Des Moines, is open 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except state holidays. DNR's Open Records Request page says requests to inspect public records go to the Office of the Chief Information Officer through the Iowa Information and Public Records Request Portal, and may also be made in person at a record center, by email to dnr.records.request@dnr.iowa.gov, or by mail.

Sources

Iowa Department of Natural Resources pages, read October 12, 2026:

• Solid Waste, last modified July 22, 2026.
• Permitting, last modified September 10, 2025.
• Solid Waste Programs, last modified October 7, 2026.
• Open Records Request, last modified March 13, 2026.