Research snapshot · Waste · 13 September 2026

Solid waste operations across the country: 345 towns on the record, the pace easing

This page is a snapshot, cut 13 September 2026, of a topic that moves. Below is the shape of the movement, read from the towns' own meeting records, and the way to get a view of it that stays current.

Municipal solid waste: transfer stations, hauling and disposal contracts, tipping fees, and the operating and capacity decisions behind them.Our definition of the class.

Snapshot taken 13 September 2026, based on 572 dated municipal records flagged as solid waste operations, spanning 345 municipalities across 45 states. The topic moves; a later cut supersedes this page.

What this page is for one topic at state or national scope, told as a story: how it arrived, the shape of its movement, a dated snapshot of a moving record, and the door to a view of it that stays current. If it does not, write to us; that is what changes the next edition.

Source documents 3 of 4 on this page link straight to the town's own record. The rest are available on request. Ask for access.

The story so far

The record starts in Maine, 3 January 1970. Since then 345 municipalities in 45 states have put the topic on a meeting record, at very different speeds: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts hold 59% of the dated events between them.

The last 90 days put 31 meetings on the record, well down from 130 in the 90 days before. 1 more is already on posted agendas.

It runs through the rooms where budgets and ordinances are made: City Council, Town Council and Board of Selectmen.

The shape of the movement

Dated meetings on the record at this scope, quarter by quarter, and the same 90-day count as a rolling line, whose right-hand point is that number. Counts of documents, never a reading of what they decided.
QuarterMeetingsTownsStates
Sep 2025 to Nov 2025463515
Dec 2025 to Feb 20261329726
Mar 2026 to May 202614110321
Jun 2026 to Sep 2026 (current)323012

a rolling 90-day total, so the right-hand point is that same 90-day count. The busiest stretch was Mar 2026 to May 2026, with 141 meetings.

Where it is moving45 states

The same topic at different speeds in different states. A state's name opens its own page where one exists.
StateTowns on the recordMeetings, 90 daysLatest
Maine6514 ▼ -30.0%2026-08-28
New Hampshire5332026-07-22
Massachusetts4012026-06-24
Connecticut183 ▼ -40.0%2026-08-12
Vermont1412026-06-25
California1402026-05-26
New York142 ▬ +0.0%2026-08-12
Illinois1102026-05-12
Pennsylvania1102026-05-06
Kentucky1102026-06-01
New Jersey512026-07-02
Missouri502026-05-04
Idaho502026-03-06
Texas502025-11-04
Utah502026-03-10

And 30 more states on the record, in an account view.

From the record

The most recent documents behind this page, one per town. Each link opens the town's own file.

28 August 2026 · Bowdoin, Maine

the document, on the town's own site Hazardous Waste Flyer Fall 2026

19 August 2026 · Biddeford, Maine Recycling and Waste Management Commission

the meeting packet, on the town's own site Recycling and Solid Waste Management Commission 2026-08-19 — Recycling & Solid Waste Management

19 August 2026 · Laramie, Wyoming

the agenda, on the town's own site Agenda — 2026-08-19

12 August 2026 · North Yarmouth, Maine

the agenda, on the town's own site Agenda — 2026-08-12

Companies on this record1391 companies, 444 documents

Named in the same documents that carry this topic, read from the record itself: the firms designing, building and advising the work, each with where the record places them:
ComcastAndover, Bellefonte, Brunswick and 7 more
CasellaBrewer, Deerfield, Durham and 5 more
NHDESAtkinson, Barrington, Belmont and 5 more
MassDEPAcushnet, Brookline, Hudson and 4 more
ecomaineCape Elizabeth, Falmouth, Kennebunk and 2 more
EversourceBarrington, Burlington, Danville and 2 more
AmazonCarteret, Fort Wright, Plano and 1 more
GPCOGFalmouth, Harrison, Portland and 1 more
Republic ServicesBattle Creek, Hartford, Manchester and 1 more
Maine DEPBrunswick, South Portland, Yarmouth
Falmouth Land TrustFalmouth
American Water WorksGunnison County, Hartford, Plano and 1 more
AT&TDelmar, Denison, Plano and 1 more
Casella Waste SystemsColchester, Hampstead, Hartford and 1 more
LibraryBurlington, Sanbornton, Trumbull
VerizonClarendon Hills, Mansfield, Medford
UMaineOrland, South Portland
CAPERS NORTH AMERICA, LLCPlano
AECOMEpping, Madison County, Sanbornton
CaltransLos Altos Hills, Pinole, Placer County
CliftonLarsonAllen LLPCoventry, Granby, Newington
ComEdPingree Grove, Riverside, Skokie
Community Development DepartmentFalmouth, Gunnison County, Libertyville
Garbage to GardenNorth Yarmouth, Portland, South Portland
PaintCareAvon, Rumford, Skokie
PennDOTBellefonte, Lansdale, Murrysville
Wal-MartMexico, Rumford, Sanford
Amazon Capital ServicesNorwell, Plano
VLCTDerby, Hartford
ADP, INCPlano

And 1361 more companies.

The documents naming each, and the threads they sit in, are the account view. If one of these is you, those are your projects on the record. Ask and we will show you every one, and the towns around them, as they move.

A snapshot of a moving record

Everything above is frozen at 13 September 2026; the topic is not. 134 more events on this topic carry no usable date and are counted, never dated. The counts follow where we read most: a town or a state absent here was not read at depth, and absence is not evidence the topic is absent there. A lighter-read state is not a ceiling; where you care about a region, pointing the system there is the first thing an account changes. How coverage is built, and its known limits: municipalalpha.com/methodology.

How we can tell you about it ongoing

We track this topic continuously; this page is one cut of it, taken 13 September 2026. An account turns the snapshot into a working view: every town and every document behind these counts, the thread on each matter as it develops, word of new meetings as they land on the record, your own states and topics side by side, and the data itself when you want it in a table. The towns above are the taste; what each is actually deciding, funding or stalling is the read an account carries.

Each state's name above opens its own page. Counts and dates are computed from the documents on the record; the topic and its definition are ours. This page carries no subscriber content.

Solid waste operations, across the country

from the towns' own meeting records

Scope

Across the country

Area

Waste

every topic in this area

Towns on the record

345

with a dated document on this topic

States on the record

45

counted from the record

Earliest

3 January 1970

the documents' dates

Meetings, last 90 days

31 against 130 before

dated documents

Snapshot cut

13 September 2026

this page's date

A view that stays current

ask for yours