Facilities

The Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County has six transfer facilities strategically located throughout Palm Beach County. These facilities serve as centralized locations for the efficient transfer of waste and recyclables from small collection vehicles to larger SWA transfer vehicles. All SWA transfer stations»

The transfer stations reduce overall collection costs by decreasing the distance from the collection route to the disposal facilities. They also dramatically reduce the total number of miles driven on Palm Beach County’s roads, decrease fuel consumption, decrease vehicle emissions and reduce congestion around the Authority’s disposal facilities.

Disposal at the Transfer Station

The Authority's transfer stations serve as convenient one-stop drop-off sites for both your home chemicals and regular recyclable items.

Palm Beach County residents may drop off plastic containers that are smaller than five gallons (except Styrofoam), glass bottles and jars, aluminum cans, milk and juice cartons, drink boxes, newspapers, cardboard, magazines, catalogs, brown paper bags and school/office paper. Learn more about what is recyclable in Palm Beach County»

Home chemicals and other household hazardous waste may be dropped off, as well. Materials accepted at the SWA's Home Chemical and Recycling Centers» 

What is a Transfer Station?

Waste transfer stations are facilities where municipal solid waste (residential and commercial) and recyclables are unloaded from smaller capacity collection vehicles and briefly held while being "transferred" into larger, more efficient, long-distance transport vehicles for shipment to further processing and disposal facilities.

By combining the loads of several smaller waste collection trucks into a larger capacity tractor trailer, communities save money on the labor, and capital and operating costs of collecting waste from within their community. Transfer stations reduce the total number of vehicular trips traveling to and from the processing or disposal site. Waste transfer stations reduce hauling costs by enabling collection crews to spend less time traveling to distant facilities and more time collecting waste. Transfer stations ultimately result in the reduction of gross miles driven, fuel consumed, traffic congestion, road wear and overall air emissions, improving waste system efficiency and resulting in lower overall collection costs. 

Typically, a modern transfer station is an enclosed building approximately 50 feet high, allowing sufficient height for collection vehicles to tip the truck to unload their waste onto a concrete tipping floor. Equipment inside the building loads the waste into much larger-capacity trailers parked below on the first floor of the transfer station where the waste is weighed and then safely transported to the final processing site.

At the end of the day, to keep conditions sanitary, all garbage is removed from the floor. Floors are washed on a routine basis. Waste water from transfer stations is generally collected and treated at publicly-owned wastewater treatment facilities. All waste is removed on a first-in, first-out basis, which mitigates potential odor. It's important to note that a transfer station is not a "disposal" facility, but a "collection" point designed for the efficient transfer of waste and recyclables to the next processing area.

The SWA Waste Transfer System

The Authority’s transfer stations process about 1,300,000 tons of waste per year, about 75 percent of the MSW that arrives at the Authority’s Renewable Energy Facilities or landfill. The Authority’s transfer stations receive about 5.9 incoming loads of waste for every one outgoing load in an Authority tractor trailer. The Authority’s transfer station truck drivers drove 2.65 million miles in Fiscal Year 2013-2014.

The Authority has developed one of the most state-of-the-art and sophisticated transfer systems recognized in the waste industry. Our award-winning transfer system incorporates aesthetic elements, utilizing different architectural elements to allow the facilities to blend into the surrounding community. All Authority transfer stations are landscaped with native Florida vegetation. The Authority strives to blend in with surrounding communities with no adverse impacts to our neighbors.