Where to Dump in Temecula

The closest places to dump

What it costs

County landfills charge by weight, in tons, and rates run on the fiscal year. Current rates hold through June 30, 2027. Riverside County publishes them at rcwaste.org, and the number changes depending on what you are dumping. Routine refuse is one rate. Green waste is another. Anything the county calls "hard to handle" costs more.

What surprises people is which bucket their load falls in. Construction and demolition debris counts as routine refuse only if at least 75 percent of the load is pieces under 300 pounds. Break that threshold and it reprices as hard to handle. Tree trunks and rootballs over 200 pounds land there too, as do vehicles, boats, and trailers.

El Sobrante is privately operated. Call Waste Management for their rates, because county pricing does not apply there.

The uncovered load surcharge

This one costs people money more than anything else on this page. Riverside County charges a surcharge on any vehicle entering a landfill with an uncovered or unsecured load. It applies at every site, during all operating hours, and the call belongs to the gate attendant. Their judgment, not yours.

Tarp and strap before you leave the house. A ratchet strap and a cheap tarp cost less than the surcharge, and the debris on Winchester Road is somebody's windshield.

What landfills will not take

No landfill in Riverside County accepts hazardous waste. Paint, solvents, motor oil, pesticides, pool chemicals, batteries, fluorescent tubes, electronics with screens. Show up with those mixed into your load and you will be sorting it in the gate lane.

The county runs free household hazardous waste collection and ABOP facilities, and there are free PaintCare drop-offs and free sharps kiosks. Free is the operative word. There is no reason to pay to dispose of paint in this county, and no reason to put it in a landfill load.

Two things Temecula residents forget

You get two free bulky item pickups a year

City residents get two free bulky item pickups a year from CR&R, two items per call. Schedule in advance at 800-755-8112. For a couch, a mattress, or a single appliance that is the cheapest option available, and most people never use it. We break down where that free option stops covering the job on our junk removal pricing page.

Food scraps go in the green cart

Temecula green carts take food scraps, not just yard waste. It goes to an anaerobic digester in Perris rather than a landfill.

When the dump run stops making sense

Do the arithmetic honestly. A round trip to Corona or Beaumont is most of a morning once you count loading, the drive, the scale line, and unloading by hand. Add fuel, add the gate fee, add the surcharge if you did not tarp it. If your truck holds less than the pile, add a second trip.

For one mattress or a broken dryer, the free bulky pickup wins, so long as you are inside the two-item limit. For a pickup bed of green waste, the drive is usually worth it. Past that — a full garage, a tenant turnover, anything with an appliance or a hot tub in it — you are spending a Saturday and a tank of gas to save less than you think.

That is where we come in. We are licensed haulers working Temecula, Murrieta, and Menifee. We sort recyclables and donatable items out before anything hits a landfill, we handle the tarping and the scale and the sorting, and you keep your Saturday. Our pricing is by load size, quoted up front, and we have a list of what we take.

Frequently Asked Questions