Hamilton County, Ohio – Waste Disposal Surcharges

Ohio levies several statewide disposal surcharges in addition to facility tipping fees to fund statewide waste reduction, materials management, and environmental programs. In addition to the statewide surcharges, local waste disposal fees for Solid Waste Management Districts (SWMD) were also authorized by Ohio House Bill 592 in 1988 (now coded in Section 3734.57, Division B of the Ohio Code). 

County Fees on Waste Disposal

Currently, every SWMD with a landfill assesses disposal fees (a surcharge on top of the tipping fees) within the set range of $1-4 per ton of material disposed. SWMDs without landfills assess a “Generation fee” or “Contract fee”. 

Hamilton County, comprising one of Ohio’s 52 SWMDs, collects $1-$2 per ton in surcharge fees on municipal solid waste disposed at the landfill located within the county. The fee amount is determined based on the disposed material’s origin, as follows:

• $1 per ton on waste originating within Hamilton County
• $2 per ton on waste originating in other Ohio counties
• $1 per ton on waste originating outside the state

The fee rates were set as part of the solid waste planning process for the first Solid Waste Plan passed in 1991. The rates can be adjusted either by adoption of a resolution or by amendment or adoption of a new solid waste management plan. Since their implementation in [insert year], the surcharge rates in Hamilton County have not changed.

Funding for Waste Reduction

In 2024, the disposal surcharge fees generated $3.6 million in revenue. This revenue fully funds Hamilton County ReSource, which runs the County’s waste reduction programs, including 8 full-time employees plus 1.7 FTE shared staff, grants for waste reduction, and the wide range of waste reduction activities conducted by the county. Activities include the County’s backyard composting program, household hazardous waste program, yard trimming drop-off sites, technical assistance to businesses, providing recycling collection containers to businesses and multi-family housing units, pollution prevention, illegal dumping monitoring and enforcement, and facility health inspections.¹

The disposal fee revenue also covers ReSource’s work on education and behavior change campaigns to shift public habits around disposal, recycling, and composting. The Wasted Food Stops With Us program aims to stop food waste through a variety of initiatives, providing information and tools for county residents.

With these efforts, Hamilton County achieved a 53% diversion rate in 2023.

Waste Reduction Grants

Annually, approximately $1 million is allocated to competitive and non-competitive grants. Of the $1 million, $800,000 is distributed to the 48 political jurisdictions within the county to help offset the costs of their various waste reduction programs. These grants are allocated based on diversion rates and tons recycled. 

Additional funds are awarded via smaller grants (up to $15,000 each) on a non-competitive basis to a variety of entities, including nonprofits, businesses, churches, and community groups for waste reduction projects. Occasionally, funds that roll over from the previous budget year are awarded via a larger, competitive grant program, though this program is available on an irregular basis.² Through these grants, over $1.1 million has been awarded between 2019 and 2025 to reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost materials. 

For compost-related projects alone, these grants have provided schools with compost bins and waste sorting stations, supported cities and towns in providing public composting and collection services, funded composting equipment for the Cincinnati Zoo, and allowed many others to invest in infrastructure, including in-vessel composters, shredders, and vehicles.

Local members of our Community Composter Coalition that have received recent grants from Hamilton County to support their composting operations include Queen City Commons and Better Bin Compost/CompostNow.

Home Composting Program

Hamilton County ReSource’s programming also includes a longstanding effort on home composting, including backyard and vermicomposting. Every spring, the program conducts between 5 and 10 backyard composting seminars free of charge, providing participants with kitchen food scrap collection containers.³

County staffers also run the “Confessions of a Composter” blog, which explores various topics related to composting in monthly blog posts.

More Information

• Composting – Hamilton County ReSource
• Community Composters – Hamilton County ReSource
• Wasted Food Stops With Us Behavior Change Campaign – Hamilton County
• “Confessions of a Composter” Blog – Hamilton County
• Ohio — Waste Disposal Surcharges – ILSR
• Organics Processing Feasibility Study – Hamilton County ReSource

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Original post from July 22, 2025