Im thinking about hauling waste to landfills.....Any Advice???

So I've done the landfill game as a company driver and owner operator. Expect flat tires, nine times out of ten it's not the landfill it's the transfer station where you pick up all the nails. Most of the landfills I went in and out of where good to keep the driving areas free of the worst of the tire destroying items. Your definitely going to want full lockers and a good tow hook, your going to end up getting dragged in and out of the landfill when it's muddy. Your going to work Monday through Friday but spend all day Saturday greasing and washing the truck, and fixing what ever might be broken. If you got a typical otr truck it's not going to last long.

 

Expect to get DOT'd often, they tend to camp out on main roads to landfills

 

#### landfills for life

What area are you in? drive slow, avoid what you can, make sure you have 2 tow hooks front and rear,

a lot of them will put you off to the side for an hour or three in “time out” if you roll in heavy (I spent a lot of time in time out)

never come within the length of a bucket +10 feet when it’s up In the air

 

Chicken haulin don’t look so bad now!

 

OP, here are a few more reasons why you wouldn't wanna do the landfill number with your own truck: you're gonna track stanky mud into your cab on your boots, no matter how hard you try to keep from doing this. The boots themselves will be ruined in short order, at least for anything besides landfill work. You'll need an entirely separate wardrobe for work, and you'll have to wash those clothes separately, due to the funk factor. Sure, the wage may seem worthwhile at first, but then all the little expenses add up and start making the wage look like peanuts. And of course, you'll be breathing funky air that could gag a maggot, especially in the heat of summer... IMHO, you'd be better off hauling palletized hazardous waste to registered treatment facilities, the money is usually pretty good and you're not dealing with all the funky crap one deals with at landfills. Just my $.02 on this subject, and I've seen every side of that equation, lol.

 

Usually is the important part though. Talked to a driver a couple years ago, we were talking about the covid panic wage increases, he had a buddy with a septic tank business who couldnt believe he had to give his drivers a raise to something like $35/hr... i couldnt believe those guys were getting anything less than that when you see all sorts of class A home daily type postings at $30 in the area. $5 pay cut is cheap to not handle literal #### every day.

 

Hope you don’t have wheel to wheel farings ? Deep lug tires and a good tow hook are nice to have too

 

I hauled trash to a landfill in the late 80's, as a company driver. Two things stand out, getting a LOT of flats, and it was rough on equipment. I personally would avoid it. Hauling from a transfer station to a trash to steam plant probably won't be as bad.