The Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF) maintains a database of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) landfills across the United States, which it uses to draw a sample of active facilities for analysis of MSW landfill (MSWLF) tipping fees. Small, medium and large landfill owners were contacted and asked to provide gate rate information for MSW disposal. That data was supplemented by current website information on fees. MSWLF tip fee data were compiled by geographic region and state and basic statistical data were computed. For 2020, the national MSW landfill tip fee average was $53.72/ton. Regional MSW tip fees ranged from $39.66/ton in the South Central region to $72.03/ton in the Pacific. Connecticut is the one state without any landfill activity.

Based on previous EREF analyses (2019), the national average tip fee decreased 3.0% from 2019 to 2020 ($55.36/ton to $53.72). Average regional tip fees increased in the Northeast by 3.25% (+$2.16) to $68.69/ton, and in the Southeast by 2.2% (+$1.01) to $46.26/ton. Tip fees decreased in the Pacific (-1.4%, -$1.00), the Mountains/Plains (-5.7%, -$2.88), South Central (-3.1%, -$1.26) and Midwest (-2.1%, -$1.02) regions. Tip fees in the Northeast and Pacific remain notably higher than the rest of the U.S., with the Pacific region having the highest tip fees ($72.03/ton in 2020) for the third year in a row. The South Central region (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas) have the lowest average tip fees ($39.66/ton); the average in Arkansas is $30.53/ton. The lowest tip fee in the nation is in Mississippi, beating Arkansas by 17 cents ($30.36/ton), according to EREF data. The free report can be downloaded at the EREF website.