North Carolina
Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program
The Pre-Regulatory Landfill Unit of the Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch, in the Superfund Section of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), was created under a 2007 state law to deal with non-industrial landfills and dumps from before 1983. DEQ defines a pre-regulatory landfill as any land, public or private, where municipal solid waste was disposed of before January 1, 1983 and not afterwards, leaving out landfills used mainly for industrial solid waste. The 2007 law taxes municipal solid waste and construction and demolition debris at $2 a ton when it is landfilled in North Carolina or shipped out of state for disposal, and half of that tax goes to the Branch to rank these landfills, assess them and carry out cleanup plans. Unit staff oversee the contracted firms that do the assessment and cleanup.
In a Phase I ESA
The Unit's inventory is the North Carolina form, for landfills that stopped taking municipal waste before 1983, 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. Permitted facilities are a separate record, on the Solid Waste Section page; search both.
Three North Carolina details shape the search.
- Two lists, two dates. The program page links Pre-Regulatory Landfills by Risk Priority, which ranks the sites by risk priority score, in an April 2026 edition and an April 2025 edition. The Inactive Hazardous Sites Program page links a Pre-Regulatory Landfill Inventory dated December 2023. This handbook did not open them.
- Local governments may act first. A local government may on its own assess a pre-1983 landfill and act on an imminent hazard, and can be reimbursed if the Unit approved the assessment in advance and it meets G.S. 130A-310.6(f).
- Two guidance documents. The Unit posts Guidelines for Addressing Pre-Regulatory Landfills and Dumps, which DEQ says sets out how the Unit completes assessments and carries out cleanup plans and covers the local government reimbursement program, and Guidelines for Optional Property Owner Suspension of Site Remedial Action and Assumption of Risk, which DEQ ties to G.S. 130A-310.6(c). For a listed landfill on or next to the property, ask whether the file holds the Unit's assessment, and whether the owner suspended remedial action under the second guideline.
Where to look a site up
- DEQ says DWM's Site Locator Tool can find pre-1983 landfills in the state.
- The lists on the Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program page, which this handbook did not open.
- The program page lists named staff as its contacts. DEQ's Division of Waste Management takes general inquiries at 919-707-8200.
Getting the file
The Unit is part of the Superfund Section. DWM's file room page says the Superfund Section File Room takes requests by letter, phone or email, at Mail Service Center 1646, Raleigh, NC 27699-1646, and shows files only by appointment, and DWM's documents are in its Laserfiche WebLink. DEQ's online request form is the department's general route; see Requesting Public Records.
Sources
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown: