Wisconsin's Waste Imports and Exports

One of the most common questions about Wisconsin's landfills has been how much waste they receive from other states each year. This amount changes from year to year due to a variety of factors, including the overall cost of landfilling in neighboring states versus Wisconsin, fuel prices, general economic conditions, competition for contracts among private waste haulers and ongoing consolidation in the waste management industry.

This page provides basic background information on Wisconsin's waste imports and exports (commonly referred to as "out-of-state waste"), including the types of materials involved, recent trends and basic policy issues.

• Waste Materials in the Global Marketplace
• How Much Waste Does Wisconsin Import and Export?
• Where Does the Waste Imported Into Wisconsin Come From?
• Are Waste Imports Into Wisconsin Increasing?
• Do Other States Import Large Amounts of Waste for Disposal?
• Which Wisconsin Landfills Receive the Most Waste From Out of State?
• Does the Waste From Other States Contain a Lot of Recyclables?
• What Does it Cost to Landfill Waste in Wisconsin Compared to Surrounding States?
• Why Can't We Just Ban Waste Imports From Other States?

Waste Materials in the Global Marketplace

Many "waste" materials are valuable resources that can be reused or turned into new products. Recyclables such as paper and plastic are in high demand and bought and sold on a global scale. The DNR does not track data on imports and exports of these materials.

Materials that cannot be reused or recycled are also part of the national and global economies, and are frequently transported across state and national boundaries to be disposed of at appropriate solid waste facilities.

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How Much Waste Does Wisconsin Import and Export?

Wisconsin imports and exports significant amounts of municipal solid waste (MSW), industrial solid waste and hazardous waste each year. The tables below provide a snapshot of municipal and industrial solid waste imports and exports in 2005.

Notes: Illinois figures reported in gate cubic yards, converted to tons using the Illinois EPA conversion factor of 3.3 gate cubic yards per ton. Michigan figures reported in cubic yards, converted to tons using the Michigan DEQ conversion factor of 3 cubic yards per ton. Michigan reports its figures in a fiscal year of 10/1 to 9/30. The 2005 figures are a weighted average consisting of .75 * (10/1/04-9/30/05 figures) + .25 * (10/1/05-9/30/06 figures). Exports to Minnesota estimated based on 2006 figures.

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Where Does the Waste Imported Into Wisconsin Come From?

Most of Wisconsin's waste imports come from Illinois and Minnesota, with smaller amounts (generally about 1 percent of the total) coming from Michigan and Iowa.

The graph below shows trends in Wisconsin's waste imports from 1997 through 2006. The graph shows a generally upward trend in waste imports, with most waste coming from Illinois (about two-thirds of the total) and Minnesota (about one-third of the total) in 2006, when the overall total was nearly 2 million tons. Imports from Michigan, Iowa and other states combine have consistently made up about 1 percent of the total. There was a significant jump in imports from 2003 to 2004, and a slight decline from 2005 to 2006.

Full-size version: Total out-of-state solid waste (municipal and industrial) disposed of in WI landfills [PDF 14KB]

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Are Waste Imports Into Wisconsin Increasing?

In general, the amount of municipal and industrial solid waste entering Wisconsin each year has increased over the past decade, although annual fluctuations do occur. The majority of waste imports (around three-fourths) are municipal solid waste.

Since 2000, out-of-state waste has made up between 14 and 19 percent of the total waste landfilled in Wisconsin each year. MSW imports have ranged from 17 to 26 percent of the total MSW landfilled, while non-MSW (industrial) imports have ranged from 8 to 10 percent of the total non-MSW landfilled.

The graph below shows the overall trends in the tons of MSW and non-MSW landfilled in Wisconsin from 1994 through 2006. The total amount of waste landfilled has remained fairly steady, though it has been higher since 2003, with a total of 11.3 million tons in 2006. In general, the percentage of the waste that comes from other states has significantly increased since 1997, to 17 percent of the total.

Full-size version: Origin of Municipal and Non-municipal Solid Waste in WI Landfills [PDF 11KB]

The graph below is similar to the previous one but shows only MSW totals. In general, the amount of MSW disposed of annually in Wisconsin landfills has increased significantly since 1994, from 4.3 to 6.6 million tons. A large part of this increase has been due to increased MSW imports, which have risen from approximately 500,000 to 1.3 million tons over the same time period and made up 23 percent of the total in 2006.

Full-size version: Origin of Municipal Solid Waste in WI Landfills [PDF 11KB]

You can view all data on tons of waste landfilled each year in Wisconsin by visiting our landfill tonnage reports page.

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Do Other States Import Large Amounts of Waste for Disposal?

Most states import as well as export solid waste for disposal. In 2003, 23 states had net imports of MSW, according to the Congressional Research Service [PDF exit DNR]. That year, Wisconsin ranked seventh among all states in net MSW imports, Michigan ranked third in net MSW imports, and Illinois and Minnesota were net exporters of MSW.

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