St. Louis County trash bills to rise as landfill closes

St. Louis County households should expect their trash pickup bills to rise by about $20 to $30 a year as the region’s waste system reroutes garbage away from the City of Superior landfill and toward the St. Louis County Regional Landfill in Virginia.

The pressure comes from logistics, not just disposal fees. Resource Renew, the public brand of the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District, serves a 530-square-mile area around Duluth and handles wastewater and solid waste services for Duluth, Cloquet, Hermantown, Proctor, Rice Lake, Carlton, Scanlon, Thomson, Wrenshall and nearby townships. Once the Superior landfill on Moccasin Mike Road closes June 30, waste will have to travel about 65 miles to Virginia, and hauling costs are expected to jump from about $17 a ton to roughly $35 a ton beginning July 1.

Brandon Kohlts, who directs planning and technical services for Resource Renew, said the transportation increase is the main reason the bill is going up. Kohlts oversees the district’s capital budget, environmental compliance, engineering and planning, and operations for its solid-waste facilities. The higher cost is flowing straight down to local bills because the county’s trash system depends on moving thousands of tons of waste every year, and every extra mile adds expense.

The Superior landfill has long been part of that regional system. County and city records show the landfill had already been preparing for closure and long-term care costs for years, including the escrows tied to shutting it down. Its closure now forces a new hauling pattern for the waste stream that has gone there for two decades.

St. Louis County and Resource Renew have already locked in a longer-term fix. County commissioners approved a 10-year contract on May 6, 2025, and Resource Renew’s board discussed the agreement on May 19, 2025. The deal is set to begin in July 2026 and aims to hold disposal costs steady for the next decade, even as the near-term increase lands on households.

The county is also looking beyond the Virginia landfill. Its legislative priorities describe an Integrated Solid Waste Management Campus in Canyon, with an advanced leachate treatment facility intended to address PFAS. State-bonding materials have put a $6 million request behind that campus. County officials have said the Regional Landfill in Virginia, which has operated since 1993 and is the only municipal solid-waste landfill in Northeast Minnesota, could see its usable life extend from about 20 years to more than 70 years with planned expansions.

For residents, the message is blunt: the cheapest trash system is the one that moves the least garbage the shortest distance. With Superior closing and the hauling line shifting to Virginia, St. Louis County’s waste bills are now tied directly to the region’s next round of landfill planning.