Tipping Fees

A tipping fee is the charge levied upon a given quantity of waste received at a waste processing facility. In the case of a landfill it is generally levied to offset the cost of opening, maintaining and eventually closing the site. Landfill tipping fees usually include fixed and variable costs, along with special taxes or fees assessed by the jurisdiction in which the landfill is located.

Eligible tipping fee costs are limited to the variable and fixed costs directly related to landfill operations, such as recycling tax. The components of tipping fees not directly related to landfill operations, such as special taxes or fees related to other government services or public infrastructure, are not eligible as part of the tipping fee. When providing Public Assistance funding for tipping fees, FEMA removes any ineligible components.

The Applicant may use a significant portion of the available capacity of a landfill to dispose of incident-related debris. Although FEMA provides Public Assistance funding for tipping fees, it cannot provide funding for the value of the loss of landfill capacity due to incident-related debris.