Maine
Solid Waste Management
The solid waste programs of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) include solid waste facilities management, sludge and residuals management, scrap tire management, electronic waste and mercury product management, and the non-hazardous waste transporter program. DEP says they offer education and technical assistance and carry out licensing, compliance and enforcement of the state's solid waste laws. Solid waste applications filed with DEP's Bureau of Remediation and Waste Management should be submitted electronically through the Maine Enterprise Licensing System (MELS), and the solid waste page links a May 2026 notice of a new solid waste licensing system.
In a Phase I ESA
DEP's licensed solid waste facility records are 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. Closed municipal landfills are a separate DEP program, the Municipal Landfill Closure and Remediation Program. DEP's page on that program says operating landfills are not included; the Solid Waste Landfills, Licensing and Compliance Program oversees them. Three Maine details help.
- A landfill's license sets what it takes. DEP's PDF map of solid waste landfills, whose file is named for 2018, shows both closed and active landfills. DEP says the active ones include municipal and regional landfills as well as private and commercial landfills, and that the type of waste each landfill accepts is set by its license; many are licensed to accept only construction and demolition debris and wood waste. Read the license before describing what a nearby landfill holds.
- Landfills must now test leachate for PFAS. DEP's PFAS page says Public Law 2025, Chapter 172, effective September 24, 2025, requires any solid waste landfill that collects and manages leachate to sample it for PFAS and report the results to DEP. DEP says sampling will begin in 2026 and that it will post the results annually from 2027. The owner of a private water supply on property that abuts such a landfill may ask DEP in writing to require the landfill to sample that water once for PFAS. DEP counts a property as abutting if it is contiguous to the landfill property, including directly across a public or private right-of-way, and within one mile of it.
- The licensing files were on paper until December 2022. DEP says it is scanning its historic solid waste licenses, and that a limited but expanding set can be searched online.
The rules DEP lists include Chapter 401 of its solid waste management rules, on landfill siting, design and operation, and Chapter 402, on transfer stations and storage sites for solid waste.
Where to look a site up
- The Solid Waste Management page links PDF lists of active transfer stations (by town), active landfills and active processing facilities, and the PDF map of solid waste landfills.
- DEP's GIS Maps and Other Data Files page maps Solid Waste - Active Licensed Landfills and Solid Waste - Closed Municipal Landfills.
- This handbook did not open the lists or the maps. The solid waste page lists its staff by regional office; DEP's main line, in the footer of its pages, is 207-287-7688.
Getting the file
DEP's File Room, Reports and Lists page links the online Solid Waste Licensing Files. Files not yet scanned are reviewed at the file room by appointment, at (207) 287-7843; its paper files include Landfills, Solid Waste Facilities (Licensed & Closed), and Sludge & Residuals Facilities. See File Room, Reports and Lists.
Sources
Maine Department of Environmental Protection pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown: