Task force recommends landfill fee increase

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- The Landfill Task Force approved a recommendation Tuesday to increase St. Joseph Sanitary Landfill rates.

The group, made up of local trash haulers, citizens and a City Council member, approved on a recommendation developed by city staff to raise the landfill’s tipping fee from $40 a ton to $50 a ton, effective Jan. 1, 2026. The fee would increase to $60 a ton on Jan. 1, 2027, if it is adopted.

The recommendation will go to City Council for final approval, with an ordinance on the fee increase set for a first reading on June 9. The council could vote on the issue at its meeting on June 23.

The increase comes after tipping fees at the landfill remained mostly unchanged over the last two decades. The rate was set at $30 a ton in 2007, rising to $34 a ton in 2013, before being lowered to $32 a ton in 2018. The current $40 a ton rate was set in August 2024.

The landfill has seen a sharp increase in usage in the past decade, with the amount of trash received there doubling from almost 105,000 tons in 2015 to over 215,000 tons in 2024.

The City of St. Joseph operates one of the few municipal landfills in the region.