Ohio
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Landfills
Ohio Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) landfills
Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills in Ohio are permitted by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA), and its Division of Materials and Waste Management (DMWM) publishes the list of licensed facilities. Ohio EPA describes municipal solid waste as solid waste from community, commercial and agricultural operations, including waste from households, offices, stores and other non-manufacturing activities.
In a Phase I ESA
Ohio EPA's licensed landfill records are the Ohio 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. Four Ohio details shape the search.
- The list shows current licenses only. Ohio EPA says its Licensed Facility List shows only currently licensed facilities. It is not a list of closed or former landfills. For old sites, see OLDSWLF and Developing On or Near a Landfill.
- The license may be local. Ohio EPA says that in 2021, 65 of Ohio's 113 local health districts were approved to issue licenses to solid waste facilities, inspect them and start enforcement, and that Ohio EPA does the same in the districts that are not approved. Ask the health district as well as Ohio EPA.
- Closed landfills still report. Ohio EPA requires an Annual Operational Report by April 1 of each year from each landfill and transfer facility, and names closed landfills among them.
- The waste accepted is broader than the name. An MSW landfill can accept municipal solid waste, all other solid waste, and exempt wastes such as spent nontoxic foundry sand, nontoxic fly ash and bottom ash, and construction and demolition debris. It cannot accept hazardous waste, regulated PCB wastes, bulk liquids or wastes containing free liquids, untreated infectious waste from a large generator, scrap tires or yard waste.
Ohio EPA says modern MSW landfills must meet design, siting, operating, closure and post-closure requirements. The design standards cover a composite liner, a leachate management system, a multilayer cap and surface water management, and each facility's design is reviewed against current standards every 10 years. A landfill's final contours, including its maximum height, are set in a Permit-to-Install issued by Ohio EPA.
Where to look a site up
- Ohio EPA's Licensed Solid Waste and C&DD Facilities page carries the Licensed Facility List, which is filtered by facility type. DMWM describes it as a dashboard of landfills, transfer, construction and demolition debris, compost and scrap tire facilities and transporters, updated nightly.
- DMWM is at 614-644-2621.
Getting the file
Ohio EPA has no central repository: each division and district office stores its own files. Many records are in the agency's eDocument search. For others, use the online file review request form. Ohio EPA says the best first contact is the district office where the facility is located. The pages read do not say how to request a health district's records.
Sources
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency pages, read October 7, 2026, no modified date shown: