Residential waste containers along a street in Los Angeles County. Photo by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works.
According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, in 2023, county residents and businesses disposed of a grand total 31,887,647 tons of solid waste, averaging 102,204 tons per day. Approximately 65 percent of that, however, is reused, recycled or diverted from landfills. Only about 11.3 million tons of solid waste actually ended up in landfills or transformation facilities, inside or outside the county. About 44 percent of Los Angeles County solid waste, destined for landfills (about 4.9 million tons), went to landfills outside of the county. Most of L.A. County solid waste exported from the county ended up at landfills in Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, and Kern Counties. A small fraction ended up in Imperial, Madera, Monterey, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, Solano, Stanislaus, and Yolo Counties. Additionally, in 2023, Los Angeles County received 129,715 tons of solid waste imported from outside the county.
-- Source: L.A. County DPW Solid Waste Information Management System
According to California's CalRecycle, California households, on average and depending on size, generate from 4 to 12 pounds of solid waste per day.
| Landfill | 2023 Disposal Quantity (Tons) | Remaining Capacity (Tons)* | Remaining Capacity (Years)* | Location | Operator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antelope Valley Recycling & Disposal Facility | 700,601 | 7,787,757 | 7 | 1200 W City Ranch Rd, Palmdale 93551 | Waste Management, Inc.(1) |
| Azusa Land Reclamation(2) | 377,775 | 44,799,573 | 22 | 1211 W Gladstone St, Azusa 91702 | Azusa Land Reclamation, Inc.(1) |
| Burbank Landfill #3 | 35,663 | 3,935,761 | 30 | 1600 Lockheed View Dr, Burbank 91504 | City of Burbank DPW |
| Calabasas Landfill | 258,150 | 4,000,000 | 6 | 5300 Lost Hills Road, Agoura 91301 | LA County Sanitation District No. 2 |
| Chiquita Canyon Landfill | 2,130,943 | 46,940,807 | 24 | 29201 Henry Mayo Dr, Castaic 91384 | Waste Connections Inc.(1) |
| Landfill | 2023 Disposal Quantity (Tons) | Remaining Capacity (Tons)* | Remaining Capacity (Years)* | Location | Operator |
| Lancaster Landfill & Recycling Center | 112,304 | 10,791,738 | 18 | 600 East Avenue F, Lancaster 93535 | Waste Management, Inc.(1) |
| Pebbly Beach | 3,495 | 13,963 | 5 | 1 Dump Rd, Avalon 90704 | Avalon Environmental Services(1) |
| Mesquite Regional Landfill(3) (Located in Imperial County) | --- | 660,000,000 | 109 | 6502 E Hwy 78, Brawley 92227 | LA County Sanitation District No. 2 |
| San Clemente Landfill | 198 | 34,730 | 9 | San Clemente Island, 92674 | U.S. Navy |
| Savage Canyon Landfill | 86,577 | 3,427,372 | 32 | 13919 Penn St, Whittier, 90602 | City of Whittier DPW |
| Landfill | 2023 Disposal Quantity (Tons) | Remaining Capacity (Tons)* | Remaining Capacity (Years)* | Location | Operator |
| Scholl Canyon Landfill | 335,981 | 1,200,000 | 4 | 7721 N Figueroa St, Los Angeles 90041 | LA County Sanitation District No. 2 |
| Southeast Resource Recovery Facility (SERRF)(4) | 262,548 | Closed | 0 | 120 Henry Ford Ave, Long Beach 90802 | City of Long Beach |
| Sunshine Canyon Landfill | 2,358,829 | 53,011,095 | 14 | 14747 San Fernando Rd, Sylmar 91344 | Republic Services, Inc.(1) |
* Based on 2023 average daily disposal or maximum permitted capacity as of Dec. 31, 2023.
(1) Private, non-government operator.
(2) The Azusa Land Reclamation facility is an inert waste facility. Inert waste cannot disintegrate naturally, either biologically or chemically, such as glass, tires, contaminated soil, plaster, or many building construction materials. The Azusa facility is the only inert waste landfill in Los Angeles County with a full solid waste facility permit.
(3) Mesquite Regional Landfill, a 4,250-acre property in Imperial County, purchased by the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County in 2000, is being engineered to receive 20,000 tons of municipal solid waste per day by rail or truck from Southern California counties. Up to 1,000 tons per day of that is reserved for Imperial County.
(4) Southeast Resource Recovery Facility (SERRF) closed in 2024 and is no longer operational. See comment box below.
Source: County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works
Sunshine Canyon Landfill takes in, by far, the most solid waste of any of the landfills in Los Angeles County. In 2023, it took in 2.4 million tons of solid waster (6,560 tons per day) or 35 percent of all solid waste delivered to Los Angeles County landfills.
The Southeast Resource Recovery Facility (SERRF) in Long Beach had operated since 1988 and was jointly owned by L.A. Sanitation District No. 2 and the City of Long Beach. It was operated by a private contractor. The facility continued to operate past its originally-designed 2018 expiration. In 2024, however, the facility closed when the contractor could no longer able operate profitably and the public agency owners could not come up with sufficient capital investments and another contractor to step in.
In 2013, Puente Hills Landfill, once the largest landfill in the United States, received its final 2.2 million tons of solid waste and finally closed to acceptance of any new waste. The landfill had risen to 500 feet high and covered 700 acres. At its peak in 2005, it received four million tons of waste.
The largest landfill gas-to-energy facility in the U.S. is located at the now-closed Puente Hills Landfill. The facility produces more than 40 megawatts of power each day, which meets the energy requirements of about 70,000 homes. Edison International buys most of the facility’s energy output.
Closed Los Angeles County Landfills are Chiquita Canyon (closed Jan. 2025), Puente Hills (closed Oct. 2013), Mission Canyon and Palos Verdes (both closed Dec. 1980), and Spadra (closed Apr. 2000). Privately-owned Bradley West Landfill is also closed (closed Apr. 2007).
The Commerce Refuse-to-Energy Facility, once located in the City of Commerce, was closed by the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts in 2018. The facility processed about 350 tons of waste per day, converting it into energy. The facility had faced opposition by local advocacy groups complaining of its environmental impact on the surrounding community. The facility was closed for being unable to generate sufficient revenue.
In 1947, there were more than 300,000 backyard trash incinerators throughout Los Angeles County - the primary means of waste disposal for many homes. These had come to be seen, however, as significant contributors to the increasing serious problem of air pollution in the region. Efforts to ban backyard incinerators, however, were met with fierce opposition by homeowners. Incinerator owners believed that oil refineries were the true polluters and little had been done to curtail these. Cities nevertheless began establishing residential trash collection operations and, by 1958, backyard incinerators were completely banned.
In 1961, Sam Yorty ran for mayor of Los Angeles with the promise to end the inconvenience of separating refuse. After his election, a Los Angeles city ordinance was passed that eliminated the requirement to sort recyclables. Decades later, in 1990, the city reintroduced sorting when Mayor Tom Bradley, in response to a 1989 state mandate, signed an ordinance for a city recycling program.
During the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, in just 22 days, event participants, including athletes, trainers, coaches and spectators, produced 6.5 million pounds of trash - more than six pounds per person per day.
