What We Do

Arbor Hills Landfill has provided effective municipal solid waste management since the early 1970s.  The facility is a highly engineered operation with strict and significant environmental regulatory oversight. It complies with environmental permits including:

• Solid Waste Permit
• Air Permit
• Sewer Discharge Permit
• Stormwater Permit
• Fire Department Conditions

The facility is regularly inspected by various agencies through both announced and unannounced visits.

The compost facility is a specialized site where over 30,000 tons of organic wastes, including leaves and yard trimmings, are processed annually.  Nutrient-rich soil amendments are generated by managing moisture, temperature, and aeration of organic wastes.  These sites divert waste from landfills, and return valuable organic matter to agriculture and landscaping.  The finished compost is either sold, given to the local community, or used as a soil amendment to promote vegetation growth on the landfill.

Material recovery facilities, or MRFs, are what most people commonly refer to as “recycling centers.”  MRFs employ advanced sorting technologies and drive diversion of recyclable waste materials from the landfill, preserve natural resources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and contribute to a lower carbon future.

Since 2020, Arbor Hills has invested over $3 million in the onsite MRF.  That investment has helped increase processing to over 20,000 tons of recyclable material annually.  Continued investments upgrading equipment has improved operational efficiency and increased the processing center’s capacity to yield higher recycling volumes, and diversify acceptable recyclable waste streams.

The initial Washtenaw County’s Household Hazardous Waste collection program was managed at its single collection facility in Ann Arbor.  This was the only community collection center where household generated hazardous wastes were collected and then contracted to be transported safely to properly permitted third-party designated hazardous waste management facilities.

In October 2023, in an effort to expand access to the household hazardous waste program, Arbor Hills Landfill funded and constructed a second collection facility at the Arbor Hills Campus for residents of surrounding communities, including Northville Township.  Arbor Hills Landfill continues to fully fund these operations, including the third-party transportation and hazardous waste management facility costs for the program, which collects on average 170,000 pounds of materials per year.

Arbor Hills Landfill has an extensive system consisting of approximately 450 gas wells that collect and control fugitive gas emissions from the landfill.  As a steward of environmental sustainability, Arbor Hills directs the collected landfill gas to a third-party-operated renewable natural gas (RNG) facility, which processes the gas for injection into the adjacent DTE natural gas pipeline.  RNG is a renewable alternative to fossil fuels.