Miramar Landfill & Greenery

Jump to:

• General Information
• Location and Hours
• Operations
• Facts
• Solid Waste Collection Franchise
• Publications
• NEW Fiscal Year 2022 Fee Schedule and Regulations for the Miramar Landfill

General Information

• Almost 910,000 tons of trash is disposed of yearly at the Miramar Landfill.
• The landfill spans over 1,500 acres and is the City of San Diego's only active landfill.
• The landfill opened on Dec. 7, 1959, and has since operated in three areas: north, south and west.
• The South Miramar Landfill operated from 1959 to 1973. The North Miramar Landfill operated from 1973 to 1983. The West Miramar Landfill, which is still in operation today, opened in 1983.
• At this environmentally secure, lined landfill, the City's trash is covered daily in conformance with regulatory and environmental requirements.
• Closed areas of the landfill are revegetated with native plants cultivated in the Landfill Nursery.
• Methane, a greenhouse gas, produced as a byproduct of the landfill, is captured and used to provide 90 percent of the fuel to power electrical generators at the Metropolitan Biosolids Center and North City Water Reclamation Plant to total 10 megawatts.
• High-quality mulch, compost, and wood chips are made at the Greenery and are available to the public.

Location and Hours

LANDFILL: Self-dumping vehicles accepted until 4:30 p.m. and NO clean fill dirt program trucks after 4 p.m.

GREENERY: City Personnel Tractor Loading "only" until 4:30 p.m. (fees apply)

The Miramar Landfill and Recycling Center is CLOSED on the following holidays: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

Operations

• Miramar Greenery
• Bird Control Program
• Clean Fill Dirt Program
• Goodwill Drop-off Center
• Hazardous Substances Enforcement Team
• Miramar Recycling Center

Facts

• Approximately 275,000 vehicles bring trash to the Miramar Landfill each year.
• About 1,050-1,100 customers bring materials to the landfill each day.
• The landfill is open 306 days a year, rain or shine.
• About 3,900 tons of trash are accepted on weekdays and lesser amounts on Saturdays.
• Customers' vehicles are randomly checked for hazardous materials.
• Approximately 44,000 pounds of hazardous substances are discovered and diverted for proper disposal each year.
• San Diego, with a population of over 1.4 million, disposes approximately 1.58 million tons of trash per year. The Miramar Landfill receives approximately 870,000 tons of trash per year. At this rate of disposal, the only City-run landfill, the Miramar Landfill, will likely be filled to capacity by 2025.
• The City's waste reduction and recycling programs have helped extend the landfill's working life, originally scheduled to close as early as 1995.
• All cities in California are required to reduce, reuse or recycle half of their trash or be subjected to a $10,000 per day fine. In 2004, the City of San Diego met this requirement with a 52 percent diversion rate. Today we are at a 66 percent diversion rate.
• Trash composition studies indicate that 76 percent of San Diego's trash can be recycled.
• San Diegans throw away enough recyclables to
  • energize over 181,000 households for a year;
  • conserve 3,355,937 barrels of oil;
  • fuel over 400 cars for a year (156,610,400 gallons/25 miles per gallon/15,000 miles/year)

Solid Waste Collection Franchises

The City of San Diego operates a non-exclusive Solid Waste Collection System, which consists of companies that provide collection services within the City of San Diego. These companies have franchise agreements with the City and pay franchise and AB939 fees.

The franchise system is governed by the San Diego Municipal Code, Article 6: Collection, Transportation and Disposal of Trash and Solid Waste. These municipal codes include franchise requirements, exclusions and the application process.

For more information contact the Franchise Administrator, Martha Espinola at 858-573-1242.

Publications

• Miramar Complex Odor Complaint Response Protocol
• Common Hazardous Wastes NOT Accepted at Miramar Landfill - English/Spanish
• Franchised Waste Hauler List
• Trash Collection Business Tax
• San Diego Municipal Code, Article 6: Collection, Transportation and Disposal of Trash and Solid Waste
• Impuesto del Recolector de Basura

Contact