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2020 Landfill Capacity Report
Reporting Period: Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2020
How to use Illinois EPA's Landfill Capacity Report
Illinois Landfill Disposal Capacity Report is Illinois EPA’s annual report regarding the expected disposal capacity available for municipal waste at active Illinois landfills. (Active landfills are those that accepted waste during the reporting period.) The report includes data on each of Illinois EPA’s administrative regions. Region 1 includes Northwestern Illinois counties; Region 2 includes Chicago Metropolitan counties; Region 3 includes Peoria/Quad Cities area counties; Region 4 includes East/Central Illinois counties; Region 5 includes West/Central Illinois counties; Region 6 includes Metropolitan East St. Louis counties; and Region 7 includes Southern Illinois counties.
Each regional section includes a summary for each landfill. Provided are: A map with locations of each landfill in the region, the landfill name, the volume of solid waste accepted by the landfill during the calendar year, the remaining disposal capacity of the landfill as of January 1, 2021, and life expectancy. In all, this report includes details of 36 landfills.
Permitted landfills report capacity in terms of historic permitting data and the remaining capacity based on the volume of waste currently in place at the facility. Previous reports used historic permitting data when determining landfill life expectancy. However, this report uses the in-place capacity, which is the landfill capacity after accepted waste has compacted. This figure is a more accurate reflection of existing conditions at each facility.
These figures are submitted to the Agency in “gate cubic yards,” or the volume of waste entering the landfill’s gate. Remaining capacities are expressed as certified gate cubic yards, meaning that calculations have been certified as true and accurate by a licensed professional engineer. These figures are found on landfill specification pages in each of seven regional sections in this report. Gate cubic yards can be difficult to visualize. To aid the reader, we have divided gate cubic yards by an industry standard of 3.3 to achieve approximate tons. In other words, 3.3 gate cubic yards = one gate ton.
During 2020, 36 landfills reported receiving more than 47 million cubic yards of waste at the gate. This equates to 19,261,579 in-place cubic yards after compaction.
As of Jan. 1, 2021, 36 active landfills had a combined remaining capacity of 450,418,561 in-place cubic yards.
At the average in-place disposal rate over the past five years, these landfills will have a cumulative life expectancy of approximately 24 years. However, cumulative landfill capacity and life expectancy may vary year-to-year based on a number of factors, including waste disposal rates, landfill expansion, and the construction of new landfills.