Maine
Municipal Landfill Closure and Remediation Program
The Landfill Closure and Remediation Program of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) oversees the closure and long-term maintenance and monitoring of landfills that municipalities own or operate, and the remediation of problems that develop after a landfill closes. It also administers the cost share program, which reimburses municipalities for eligible closure and remediation projects. DEP says Maine has over 400 closed municipally owned or operated landfills, most of them unlicensed sites that threatened ground and surface water through poor siting, design or operation; the page gives no date for that count. The Legislature created the program in 1988, under 38 MRS ยงยง 1310-C to 1310-H-1. It is one program within DEP's Division of Remediation.
In a Phase I ESA
Closed municipal landfills are part of the Maine 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. Licensed and operating landfills are on the Solid Waste Management page. Four Maine details shape the search.
- Old dumps may be missing. DEP's page says: "Old abandoned landfill sites that ceased operation prior to 1976 which did not pass through the Landfill Closure Program may not be listed." DEP says to contact the program for information. Where a town dump older than that is suspected near the property, ask.
- No structures within 100 feet. DEP says its rules, Chapter 401 (5)(B)(5)(a), prohibit establishing structures within 100 feet of a landfill's solid waste boundary, though it encourages appropriate reuse such as solar panels and recreational fields and has permitted a sand and salt shed within 100 feet where conditions warrant. For a property that adjoins a closed landfill, find where that boundary lies.
- Some landfills are monitored. DEP requires environmental monitoring programs at landfills that impact, or could impact, water supply wells, nearby adjacent property or sensitive environments. Remediation can include leachate collection and treatment, replacement water supplies, water line extensions, home filtering systems and gas ventilation or gas migration systems, and the municipality that operated the landfill is responsible for running them. For an adjoining property, ask whether the landfill has a monitoring program and read its results.
- Maintenance is the town's duty. DEP says municipalities must maintain and monitor their landfills, that program staff inspect closed landfills periodically, and that each inspection is followed by a letter to the municipality noting any deficiencies.
Where to look a site up
- DEP says the closed landfills under the program are listed in the Division of Remediation's Sites List, linked from the File Room, Reports and Lists page, and mapped with the other remediation sites on DEP's GIS Maps and Other Data Files page under the Remediation Sites (Institutional Controls) Database. The GIS page also maps Solid Waste - Closed Municipal Landfills, dated May 27, 2025.
- DEP says operating landfills are not included; the Solid Waste Landfills, Licensing and Compliance Program oversees them.
- This handbook did not open the list or the maps.
Getting the file
DEP's Administrative Record for remediation sites was on paper until February 2021. Converted files are in DEP's online remediation documents portal, which includes Closed Municipal Landfills, linked from the File Room, Reports and Lists page. Paper Landfills files are reviewed at the file room by appointment, at (207) 287-7843. See File Room, Reports and Lists.
Sources
Maine Department of Environmental Protection pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown: