If you are hauling your own junk in Ada County, the number you actually need is the tipping fee — what the landfill charges you at the scale. It is not complicated, but it is also not published in an obvious place, and the county’s own website has been slow to reflect the most recent increase. Here is the current fee schedule, photographed at the scale house.
What the Ada County Landfill Charges Right Now
General trash (municipal solid waste) is $33 per ton, with a $15 minimum for loads under 1,035 pounds. That rate went up from $32 per ton effective October 1, 2025.
The full posted schedule:
- Municipal solid waste (general trash) — $33.00 per ton
- Minimum fee — $15.00 for loads under 1,035 pounds
- Appliances — $25.00 each
- Tires — $5.00 each
- Construction & demolition — $33.00 per ton
- Clean concrete — $33.00 per ton
- Gravel — $33.00 per ton
- Green waste — $33.00 per ton
- Wood — $33.00 per ton
- Metal — $33.00 per ton
- Leaves — free during the free leaf season, $33.00 per ton outside it
- Out of county waste — $40.25 per ton
- Electronics — free
- Residential cardboard — free
- Residential Christmas trees — free during holiday tree season
The landfill is at 10300 N. Seamans Gulch Road, Boise, ID 83714, up in the foothills northwest of Boise near Garden City.
The $15 Minimum Is the Part Worth Understanding
Most people assume they will be charged by weight. For a typical car or small pickup load, you will not be — you will pay the $15 minimum, because 1,035 pounds is more than it sounds like.
Mixed household junk runs roughly 275 pounds per cubic yard. That means you can bring somewhere around three and a half cubic yards of ordinary furniture, boxes and household clutter and still come in under the minimum-weight threshold. A pickup bed heaped with couch cushions, bagged clothes and cardboard is nowhere near 1,035 pounds.
Where people get caught out is density. Yard waste and brush are light — branches run about 127 pounds per cubic yard, so even a big-looking pile often stays under the minimum. But concrete, dirt, rock and roof shingles are three to seven times heavier per cubic yard than household junk. A modest-looking load of concrete can blow straight past 1,035 pounds and get billed by weight.
Free Is Genuinely Free — Use It
Electronics cost nothing to dispose of. Old TVs, monitors, printers, computers, cables. If you have e-waste mixed into a load, pulling it out and declaring it separately costs you nothing and reduces your weight.
Same with residential cardboard, which is free if deposited on its own. Break down your boxes and drop them in the cardboard area rather than burying them in a general trash load.
Metal is worth a second thought too. The landfill will take it at $33 per ton — but a scrap yard will pay you for it. Boise-area yards pay roughly $100 to $160 per ton for mixed light iron and appliances. For a fridge or a washer, that is the difference between paying a $25 appliance fee and getting a small cheque, though it only makes sense once you have accumulated enough to justify a separate trip.
Should You Haul It Yourself?
Sometimes, honestly, yes. If you have one light load, a truck already, and a free Saturday, the $15 minimum is hard to beat.
The maths change quickly though. The landfill sits at the top of a sustained grade on a two-lane foothills road. From central Meridian it is roughly a 30-mile round trip, and between the drive, the scale queue and the unload you should budget an hour and a half, not thirty minutes. Add fuel, add the wear on your vehicle, add the fact that you are the one carrying the couch down the stairs.
The other thing people underestimate is that one load is rarely one load. Garage cleanouts in particular have a way of turning into three trips over two weekends.
If you want to compare that honestly against hiring it out, our pricing page lists real numbers rather than making you call, and the cost guide breaks down how load sizes translate to price.
A Few Practical Notes for the Scale House
- Hours matter. Check current hours before you drive up — it is closed Sundays, and turning around at the gate after a 30-minute drive is a bad afternoon.
- Tarp your load. Idaho requires loads to be secured, and the road up is windy.
- Separate what is free before you weigh in, not after.
- Declare appliances and tires — they are charged per item on top of weight.
- Hazardous waste is not accepted in general trash. Paint, solvents, pesticides and motor oil go through Ada County’s separate household hazardous waste program.
What We Actually Pay
For transparency, since we are a junk removal company writing about our own cost: these are the exact fees we pay on every job. A full trailer load of mixed household junk weighs around 2,000 pounds and costs us about $33 to dump. That is roughly a fifth of what the job costs us all-in once fuel, vehicle wear and labour are counted — which is why our pricing is based on volume and labour rather than on the dump fee alone.
We would rather you know that than assume the tipping fee is where the money goes.
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We handle the loading, the haul and the tipping fee. Upfront price before we start.
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