Cerro Colorado Landfill
The Solid Waste Management Department operates the Cerro Colorado Landfill from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily.
Delivering Scrap Tires to Cerro Colorado Landfill
The appropriate State approved manifest must be used when delivering scrap tires to Cerro Colorado Landfill:
The City of Albuquerque’s Cerro Colorado Landfill is operated under the authority of the New Mexico Environmental Department approved Operating Permits #SWM-010221 and #SWM010221(SP). The Landfill uses modern technologies and stringent oversight of its operations to ensure Albuquerque residents that their landfill is cost-efficient and environmentally safe.
Located at 18000 Cerro Colorado SW, Albuquerque NM 87121, the landfill has a 20-year operating permit for 180 acres of waste disposal. Cerro Colorado is regulated and monitored by the State of New Mexico’s Environment Department. The landfill takes in approximately 525,000 tons of residential and commercial trash per year.
What happens to trash at the landfill
Trash is logged at the landfill weigh station and transported to the disposal area. Each day, the trash is compacted and buried under a layer of soil in sectioned off cells. Cells are lined with heavy duty plastic designed to protect the water table that lies beneath the landfill. Depending on the local environment conditions, much of the trash in a landfill can remain virtually intact for hundreds or thousands of years.
Prohibited Items
- Construction and demolition debris
- Hazardous waste
- Infectious waste
- Liquid waste
- Radioactive waste
- Unpermitted solid waste
- Unpermitted special waste
- Petroleum waste
- Septage and sewage
- Lead-acid batteries
- Lithium batteries
- PCB’s/ TSCA waste
- Oil industry-related waste
Special Waste
The following items are allowed if pre-approved by Landfill staff.
- Dewatered sludge
- Petroleum-contaminated soil
- Industrial solid waste
- Treated formerly characteristic hazardous waste
- Packing and killing plant offal
- Non-hazardous spill-related material
- Special waste not otherwise specified
Appropriate documentation, and in most cases, laboratory data are required.
For more information please contact 311 to route your request or call Solid Waste at (505)761-8100.
Gas-To-Energy Project
The Solid Waste Management Department has partnered with Bernalillo County to divert Methane Gas from the Cerro Colorado Landfill to the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC). The diverted gas is used to fuel a boiler that preheats water for domestic hot water use at the MDC. Methane gas that is produced from decomposing garbage travels the two mile distance to the jail where it may be used as an energy source and replace fossil fuels.