San Juan County offers free dumpster weekend for spring cleanup

San Juan County residents with County Road addresses, along with households in Bloomfield and Kirtland, were able to haul normal tarped loads to most county transfer stations April 11 and 12 without paying the usual disposal fee.

The county’s spring cleanup weekend covered its transfer-station network, including Blanco, Cedar Hill, Hilltop, Huerfano, Kirtland, La Plata, Lake Valley, Lee Acres, Sand Springs, Shiprock, Upper Fruitland and Waterflow. County officials said most stations accepted the loads during regular hours, turning the weekend into a practical reset for yard waste, broken materials and other household debris left over from winter projects.

Farmington ran a separate cleanup event at Berg Park the same weekend. The city’s event, held April 11 and 12 from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., was open only to city residents and required two forms of proof of residency, including a valid photo ID and a current paper utility bill dated within 60 days. Farmington said load-size restrictions were strictly enforced, and it accepted large household trash items and yard trimmings for free.

The county framed the weekend as more than a convenience. San Juan County says dumping trash on public lands is illegal and can bring a $1,000 fine, and the Solid Waste Department has launched an app to make reporting illegal dumping easier. Public Works also uses trustee labor for roadside litter pickup and roadside vegetation removal, while code compliance says the county no longer provides roll-off dumpsters.

The cleanup push sits inside a larger solid-waste system that is partly financed by a 1/8 of 1 percent sales tax in unincorporated areas. County officials have said falling tax revenues forced the introduction of solid-waste fees in 2011, which makes the free-dumpster weekend a limited break from a fee-based system. The county also says its Regional Landfill covers 160 acres, has an estimated 50-year life span and operates under contract with Waste Management.

San Juan County used a similar Fall Dumpster Days event in October 2024, showing that the county has been using these free weekends as a tool to steer waste away from roadsides and public land and into the formal disposal system.