South Side Landfill prices cash customers’ loads by volume, not by weight. On the rates its website listed when we checked on October 12, 2026, a car load costs $21.00, a pickup load costs $37.00 to $72.00 depending on how high it is piled, and loads in flat-bed, dump-bed and box trucks are measured and billed by the cubic yard, at $25.50 per cubic yard for open-top solid waste.
Every transaction also carries a fuel surcharge that changes monthly, and solid waste carries a state fee of $0.60 per ton, so call the landfill at 317-247-6808 for the current surcharge before you load up.
These are South Side Landfill’s published prices, not ours. It is a privately owned landfill at 2561 Kentucky Ave., and its site says it is not owned or operated by the City of Indianapolis or Marion County. The City’s Trash 101 page lists it as where you can take trash yourself if none of the City’s other options work. It is also not the City’s Saturday drop-off, the Citizens’ Transfer Station on South Belmont Avenue, a separate site with its own prices and vehicle rules. For other dumps and transfer stations, see our guide to every place to dump junk around Indianapolis.
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What Does a Pickup Load Cost at South Side Landfill in Indianapolis?
$37.00 to $72.00, before the fuel surcharge and the state fee. South Side’s rates page tells pickup drivers to estimate their charge from a chart, and the 2026 chart prices a load by how high it sits: $37.00 level with the top of the bed, then $42.00, $48.00, $54.00, $60.00 and $66.00 for each higher line drawn above the bed, up to $72.00 at the highest line.
The chart gives no measurements for those lines and no price below a level load, and South Side’s rate calculator page says the final price decision is made at the scale.
As published in October 2026, the rates page prices each kind of vehicle this way:
| Vehicle | How South Side prices the load | Published price |
|---|---|---|
| Car | A flat rate | $21.00 |
| Pickup truck | The 2026 pickup chart, by how high the load sits | $37.00 level with the bed, up to $72.00 |
| Pickup truck loaded with shingles | A separate shingles chart on the same image | $42.00 level with the bed, up to $74.00 |
| SUV or van | As a similarly sized pickup, by how full it is; the attendant sets the actual cost | The pickup chart |
| Flat-bed, dump-bed or box truck | Measured, then charged by the cubic yard | $25.50 per cubic yard for open-top solid waste |
Every one of those adds the fuel surcharge, and solid waste adds the state fee. Tires and Freon appliances carry their own charges, covered below.
How Are Trailer Loads Priced at the Indianapolis Landfill?
By the cubic yard, under the rates page’s rule for loads that do not arrive in a pickup. The page has no trailer line of its own. It says a load in any vehicle other than a pickup truck is measured and charged at the general rates unless you are an established charge customer, and that flat-bed, dump-bed and box trucks are charged by the load’s dimensions as South Side’s staff measure them. Ask how your trailer will be measured when you call about the surcharge.
The FAQ counts household trash, junk and furniture as municipal solid waste, and the rate table lists open-top solid waste at $25.50 per cubic yard. Construction debris and drywall, shingles and clean fill have lines of their own; our guide to what to do with broken concrete in Indianapolis covers the clean-fill and construction-debris lanes.
You can estimate the bill at home the way South Side’s calculator does, from the load’s length, width and height in feet; a cubic yard is 27 cubic feet. A trailer load measuring 10 feet long, 5 feet wide and 2 feet high, for example, is 100 cubic feet, about 3.7 cubic yards, or about $94 at $25.50 a cubic yard before the fuel surcharge and state fee. South Side’s own measurement sets the final number.
Sort the load if you can, because the rates page says a mixed load is always charged by its most restrictive material. Its example is a pickup of garage or basement cleanout debris with chunks of sidewalk concrete in it: everything pays the solid waste rate, though the concrete alone would have qualified for the cheaper clean-fill rate.
Which Fuel and State Fees Get Added to a South Side Landfill Bill?
Two of them. The first is a facility fuel surcharge, which the rates page says applies to all transactions. It is a percentage of your total bill and changes monthly, based on the Department of Energy’s national average price for No. 2 diesel.
How large is it? South Side’s own pages disagree. The rates page says it has typically ranged from 5% to around 10%, while the rate calculator page says it typically ranges from 9% to 20%. On a $72.00 pickup load, 5% adds $3.60 and 20% adds $14.40. Call 317-247-6808 for this month’s surcharge before you go.
The second is the state’s: the rates page says all solid waste disposed of at South Side is assessed mandatory state solid waste fees of $0.60 per ton. A full ton of trash adds 60 cents, so the surcharge is the add-on that moves a household bill.
What Costs Extra or Gets Refused at South Side Landfill in Indianapolis?
Tires and Freon appliances add to the bill, asbestos needs approval first, and liquids, hazardous wastes and infectious wastes get turned away.
- Tires. The rates page lists $16.00 to $200 each, depending on size. The homepage’s price summary shows $17.00 to $205, so ask which applies when you call.
- Freon appliances. The rates page lists white goods with Freon at $157.50 each and white goods without Freon at $73.50 each, and the landfill’s FAQ explains which rate applies: a refrigerator, freezer, air conditioner or dehumidifier is charged the higher rate if it still holds Freon, or if the Freon was removed but the unit has not been tagged and certified. The FAQ reserves the lower rate for units that have been evacuated, tagged and certified, and charges other appliances, such as stoves, washers and dryers, at its normal rates.
- Asbestos. Regulated asbestos-containing material needs prior approval, per the FAQ.
The FAQ says South Side is prohibited from accepting liquids, hazardous wastes or infectious wastes, and it counts old paint as a liquid unless the paint has been solidified first. The FAQ names old chemicals, cleaners, solvents, car batteries, used motor oil and pesticides as household hazardous waste and sends you to Indy ToxDrop or NuGenesis (800-487-1010) for them. ToxDrop is the City’s Saturday drop-off program for household hazardous waste, and its list on indy.gov includes paint. The same City page says ToxDrop is only for Marion County residents, so a Greenwood household, for one, falls outside it. Our Indy ToxDrop guide has more on the program.
Electronics are their own case: indy.gov says Indiana’s electronic waste law prohibits households from disposing of electronic waste in the trash, and ToxDrop events take electronics from Marion County residents too. Mattresses are not named on the FAQ or the rates page, so call 317-247-6808 before you load one.
When Is the Landfill Open for Indianapolis Homeowners, and How Do You Pay?
Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m.; it is closed Sunday, according to its homepage and FAQ. Its holiday page covers only Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day and asks you to call 317-247-6808 for updated holiday hours, so call before any holiday-week trip.
You pay at the booth, and the FAQ lists cash, checks and debit or credit cards, but not American Express.
On a first visit, the landfill’s First Trip page walks you through six steps:
- Find the entrance off Kentucky Avenue. Signs mark the turn from the north and from the south.
- Follow the signs down the hill and turn left at the bottom.
- If you need the office, turn left at the sign and go to the blue building. Customers turn right to the booths, where attendants check what you brought and collect payment.
- Check that you are at the right stop: the office and the pay booths are separate.
- After the booth, follow the signs to your unloading area. Brush, construction debris and household waste turn left; dirt and clean fill follow the signs to Area 5.
- Unload at the Cash Customer Unloading Area, called the Slab, or at the Clean-Fill Unloading Area, Area 5.
The site publishes no tarp rule, minimum charge or wait times, though the First Trip page warns that the landfill can be busy, with large equipment at work, so ask about anything that matters for your load when you call.
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Is a Self Haul Worth It Over an Indianapolis Junk Crew?
For one load you can lift, usually yes. If you own a pickup, the junk fits in one trip and you can unload it yourself, a self haul at $37.00 to $72.00 plus the surcharge and state fee is the sensible route.
The math changes as the job grows:
- No truck or trailer. Renting one adds its own cost to every trip.
- More than one trip. Each load pays the chart or the cubic-yard rate again, plus the surcharge, and costs another drive to Kentucky Avenue.
- Heavy items. A refrigerator, a sleeper sofa or a solid-wood dresser has to be lifted into the truck at home and back out at the landfill.
- Mixed debris. Old cabinets with broken concrete in the load pay the solid waste rate for all of it, under the mixed-load rule above.
A crew takes the lifting and the trips off your hands. Like the landfill, we price by volume: the crew sizes up how much of the truck your load fills and any special items, then gives you the price on site from twelve price points. There is no obligation, and you pay when the job is done. Tires, Freon items and stairs cost extra with us too, and we do not haul paint, chemicals, fuel or oil, so those still go to ToxDrop or NuGenesis.
For a remodel, an old deck or a garage of torn-out cabinets and drywall, see our construction debris removal service. South Side counts Greenwood among the communities it serves, and so do we: if you are south of the city, see junk removal in Greenwood.
The Bottom Line
- South Side Landfill prices cash customers by volume, not weight: $21.00 for a car and $37.00 to $72.00 on its 2026 pickup chart, as published in October 2026.
- Flat-bed, dump-bed and box trucks are measured and charged by the cubic yard, $25.50 for open-top solid waste. The rates page names no trailer price, so ask how your trailer will be measured.
- Every transaction adds a fuel surcharge that changes monthly, typically 5% to around 10% on the rates page and 9% to 20% on the calculator page, so call 317-247-6808 for this month’s surcharge. Solid waste also carries a state fee of $0.60 per ton.
- Tires run $16.00 to $200 each on the rates page and $17.00 to $205 on the homepage. The rates page lists white goods at $157.50 each with Freon and $73.50 each without, and the FAQ reserves the lower rate for Freon appliances that have been evacuated, tagged and certified.
- Liquids, hazardous wastes and infectious wastes are refused. The FAQ sends household hazardous waste to Indy ToxDrop or to NuGenesis, and indy.gov limits ToxDrop to Marion County residents.
- It is open Monday to Friday from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m., closed Sunday; call for holiday hours. It takes cash, checks and debit or credit cards, but not American Express.
- One load you can lift and unload yourself suits a self haul. No truck, several trips, heavy items or mixed debris tip the math toward a crew, which prices the load on site with no obligation.
