How Close Do You Live To America's Largest Landfills?

The 1937 opening of the Fresno Municipal Sanitary Landfill marked the birth of the modern landfill.

Today, transporting and burying garbage is a $50 billion annual business with an estimated 3,000 landfills in operation across the country, plus an additional 10,000 municipal "dump" sites.

A recent article by Forbes detailed the nation's 10 largest landfills, collectively profiling the structures as technology-driven, environmentally-responsible, and mostly odor-free.

The 10 largest landfills, according to Forbes:

1. Apex Regional (Las Vegas, NV)
2. Puente Hills (Whittier, CA)
3. Newton County Landfill Partnership (Brook, IN)
4. Okeechobee (Okeechobee, FL)
5. Atlantic Waste (Waverly, VA)
6. Rumpke Sanitary (Colerain Township, OH)
7. Pine Tree Acres (Lenox, MI)
8. El Sobrante (Corona, CA)
9. Veolia Orchard Hills (Davis Junction, IL)
10. Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site (Aurora, CO)

Landfill sites are often "hidden"; blended in to their surroundings. Because of this, when you're shopping for a home, you may not know just how close you're buying to an landfill or dump.

Therefore, be sure to ask your real estate agent about it, and consider following up with the county to learn what materials can be safely disposed at the local site.