Know Before You Go

Download our Alpha Ridge Landfill brochure. Printed copies are available for pick up at our office (9801 Broken Land Parkway).

Download our current Landfill Usage Rules.

Download our current Landfill Fees & Charges.

All commercial vehicles delivering solid waste to the landfill are required to purchase a nontransferable commercial landfill permit at an annual charge and follow all landfill rules; no commercial vehicles will be permitted to use the landfill without a permit. 

Residents may apply for a Special Exception permit for unusually high volumes of household trash.

The following items are PROHIBITED for disposal at Alpha Ridge Landfill:

• ammunition
• automobiles
• chemical or petroleum cleanup material unless pre-approved by the landfill supervisor
• controlled hazardous substances as defined in COMAR 26.13.02.03
• dead animals
• drums or tanks, unless empty and flattened or crushed with ends removed; containers previously containing hazardous waste must be emptied properly in accordance with COMAR 26.13.02.07
• engine blocks (over 2')
• explosives
• hot ashes
• infectious waste
• liquid waste except small containers contained in household waste       
• pathological waste       
• radioactive waste
• radiological waste    
• septage waste  
• surgical hospital waste 

This is not an exhaustive list. Please refer any questions concerning disposal of special wastes to a landfill supervisor.

Holidays

County offices and Alpha Ridge Landfill will be CLOSED on these holidays:

• New Year's Day
• Labor Day
• Memorial Day
• Thanksgiving Day
• Independence Day
• Christmas Day

Inclement Weather

The Bureau strives to make a swift decision regarding the Alpha Ridge Landfill operations during inclement weather. Once a decision has been made, the Bureau shares this information on its voicemail system, through its email list serve (click HERE to sign-up), on the County’s main social media pages (Facebook and X), on the Bureau’s X page and on the County’s website.

Schedule a tour of the Residents' Convenience Center, our state-of-the-art Composting Facility or both! Bureau staff will guide your group and discuss what is collected and what happens to all those items. Tours are typically scheduled Monday-Friday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Contact us to schedule.

Alpha Ridge Landfill is Howard County's third public landfill, and the only public landfill open to accept waste. Alpha Ridge landfill was opened in 1980, and is located on a 550 acre site, of which 190 acres is permitted for landfilling.

Although all household trash collected from Howard County homes is currently being exported to a private landfill located in King George County, Virginia, residential and commercial trash is still being accepted at Alpha Ridge Landfill. A small portion of Howard County trash continues to be buried at the Alpha Ridge Landfill.

• Howard County's existing landfill opened in May 1980 at a cost of $5.25 million, including 590 acres of land costing $1.2 million.
• From 1980-1993, the initial unlined area of 68 acres received 2.3 million tons of waste.
• In January 1993, a 38 acre lined cell (4-10 acre sub-cells) was finished at a cost of $7.6 million, including a leachate handling system. Current landfilling averages less than 30 tons per day.
• Peak year for filling was 1989 at 287,000 tons.
• Another 80 acres can be used to construct lined landfill cells in addition to the 110 acres currently developed.
• The 68 acre unlined cell has been capped, which includes landfill gas extraction and groundwater remediation systems.
• Current annual operating cost is $10.0 million (not including debt service). This includes groundwater monitoring and treatment.
• From Alpha Ridge Landfill, 60,678.70 tons of waste were exported to King George County Landfill in Virginia in 2021.
• From Alpha Ridge Landfill, outgoing recyclables totaled 28,012.99 tons in 2021.
• In addition, residential curbside single-stream recycling totaled 26,736.92 tons in 2021.
• In 2021, Howard County achieved a 57.12% diversion rate.