Collier County approves eastward landfill expansion plan

After 50 years of operation, Collier County commissioners approved plans to expand the county’s 311-acre landfill eastward and acquire additional land to accommodate future growth. 

The landfill at 3730 White Lake Blvd. currently uses 184 acres for disposal. Last year, more than 105,000 customers were serviced, with 500,000 tons of garbage managed by Texas-based Waste Management Inc., though about 272,000 tons were ultimately landfilled, County Solid & Hazardous Waste Management Division Director Kari Ann Hodgson told commissioners May 12. 

The landfill is one of several solid-waste options in Collier County, which also operates recycling and disposal sites and a former landfill at 700 Stockade Road in Immokalee that now serves as a transfer station. There, waste and recyclables are unloaded from smaller trucks, temporarily stored and reloaded onto larger vehicles for transport to disposal sites. 

“As our county continues to grow, the demand increases, and the landfill options, not just in Collier County, but all over Florida, continue to diminish, resulting in increased vulnerability to escalating costs for disposal demand,” Hodgson said. “In just under 15 years, the Collier County landfill will begin its vertical expansion from elevation 100 to 200, which was permitted in 2011. Policy direction is needed to secure disposal capacity within the county.” 

Hodgson said the division operates as an enterprise fund, with about $30 million in tipping-fee revenue supporting the county’s integrated solid-waste system. In 2025, Collier diverted more than 1,000 tons of household hazardous waste and has met the state’s 75% recycling goal for the past four years. 

The county’s 2025 Annual Update and Inventory Report estimates the landfill has 35 years of remaining capacity, potentially exhausted by 2060. An eastward expansion would extend that life by 80 years. 

“Disposal capacity at our existing landfill continues to be exhausted a little more each year,” Hodgson said, adding that delaying action could jeopardize future capacity. 

To evaluate options, the county engaged Stearns, Conrad, Schmidt Consulting Engineers Inc., which has served as engineer of record for more than 25 years. The firm analyzed three expansion scenarios: eastward to adjacent property, southward into preserve areas or northward toward the Collier County Resource Recovery Business Park, which manages and recycles waste to extend landfill life. 

A fourth option — hauling waste to another county — was the most expensive. Hodgson recommended expanding eastward and said the county continues to monitor waste-minimization technologies, including bioreactors. 

The landfill opened in 1976 with a permitted height of 108 feet, later increased to 200 feet in 2011. Some areas have yet to reach the original height, and one cell remains to be lined before the base is fully complete. 

Commissioners raised questions about long-term decomposition and reclamation. Public Utilities Department Head Jim DeLony said small-scale reclamation has been successful, but larger efforts would require additional space and further evaluation. 

They also expressed concerns about increasing the landfill’s height and visual impact. Hodgson said the county follows best management practices and aims to remain a good neighbor. 

Brad Cornell, speaking on behalf of Audubon Western Everglades, said the group supports expansion and improved management but encouraged continued recycling efforts, landfill mining and regional recovery facilities. 

“It’s really difficult to site a landfill,” Cornell said. “Nobody really wants to have one near them.” 

Commissioners unanimously approved the plan to move eastward. To do that will require Land Development Code and Growth Management Plan amendments to allow uses to be transitioned to lawful status, rather than nonconforming, and future land would be considered through the conditional-use process to compatibility with surrounding uses. There are several solid waste parcels east of the landfill, industrial and business parcels, that are part of a larger Master Planned Unit Development.