Kentucky
Solid Waste Branch facilities
The Solid Waste Branch of the Division of Waste Management, in the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection (DEP), processes permit applications, reporting documents and fees for various types of waste management and disposal facilities. The requirements for each type are in Kentucky Revised Statutes Chapter 224 and Title 401 of the Kentucky Administrative Regulations, Chapters 30, 45, 46, 47 and 48. The branch posts a Solid Waste Branch Facility Report, which it describes as a list of sites regulated by the branch, including merchant electric generating facilities, solid waste and special waste sites.
In a Phase I ESA
The branch's facility records are the Kentucky 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
DEP sorts waste into three types: construction and demolition debris, solid waste, and special waste, which state law defines as waste of high volume and low hazard designated by the Cabinet. DEP describes four kinds of landfill that the branch permits.
| Landfill | What DEP says it takes |
|---|---|
| Contained | All nonhazardous solid waste, including household, commercial and industrial waste; often special waste as well |
| Construction/demolition debris | Waste from building, remodeling, repairing and demolishing structures and roads, and vegetation from land clearing and cleanup; subdivided by size, less than or greater than one acre |
| Residual | A limited number of fully characterizable nonhazardous wastes from manufacturing or industrial processes; many are on the same property as the plant that generates the waste |
| Special waste | A limited number of characterizable special wastes; many accept coal ash |
For an industrial property, check the property itself against the facility report, not only its neighbors.
Old town dumps
DEP says that before solid waste management was regulated in Kentucky, most towns or cities had a common location where household waste and many other materials were disposed. These old town dumps were rarely operated to current standards and in most cases were not properly capped. According to Division of Waste Management records, more than 600 of these sites are scattered across the state. The Closure Section of the Solid Waste Branch addresses their closure and remediation, and DEP says that work is ongoing at several sites. The pages read do not link a list of these sites or say whether they are in the facility report. Ask the branch about any historic dump near the property.
Where to look a site up
- The branch's Solid Waste Branch Public Documents page, which it calls its commonly requested public documents, links the Solid Waste Branch Facility Report, dated July 27, 2026 on that page. The same page links maps of active construction and demolition debris landfills over one acre and of active contained landfills (both dated November 14, 2019), of active residual landfills (February 21, 2025), and of electric utilities' permitted ash disposal units (March 13, 2020). This handbook did not open the files.
- The Division of Waste Management takes general questions at waste@ky.gov or 502-564-6716.
Getting the file
The Cabinet takes open records requests by email to EEC.KORA@ky.gov, with as much detail as possible about the records sought. Only residents of the Commonwealth, as the Open Records page defines them, may request to inspect public records.
Sources
Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet pages, read October 12, 2026, no modified date shown: