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Milam Landfill is the municipal landfill over on Madison Road in East St. Louis, where household and commercial trash ends up being buried. Locals and haulers use it for final disposal rather than recycling or transfer. It's a larger, no-frills site typical of city-area landfills.
Drive up to an entrance booth and a scale - tipping fees are charged by weight, so vehicles stop twice: once in and again out. Pull up to the working face where trucks dump; the site looks like a big dirt and compacted cover area rather than tidy bays or recycling centers. Expect industrial smells, heavy equipment moving around, and piles of compacted material and cover soil. Commercial loads are accepted, so there will often be roll-offs and dump trucks alongside smaller personal pickups.
Facility Information
Before You Go
- Secure tarps and tie down loose items before leaving - wind can turn an open load into a mess on the road.
- Plan for backup: weekends and spring cleanup times get busiest, and there can be a line at the scale.
- Bring paperwork or load manifests if hauling commercially; stack material so unloading is quick and safe.
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