Site Assessment & Clean Up

The Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site (DADS) is a regional municipal solid waste landfill owned by the City and County of Denver and operated by Waste Management of Colorado, Inc. (WMC) under contract with the City. DADS is located at 3500 South Gun Club Road, Aurora, CO, just east of the intersection of Hampden Avenue and South Gun Club Road.

The Division of Environmental Quality ensures that DADS operates in a manner consistent with state and federal regulations and the operating agreement between the City and WMC. DADS is fully permitted subtitle D landfill and accepts municipal solid waste, construction & demolition debris, asbestos waste, and some types of industrial wastes such as coal-fired power plant fly ash and petroleum contaminated soils.

DADS is a part of a larger tract of land deeded to the City and County of Denver by the federal government for the purposes of public health. Denver began operating the adjacent landfill, Lowry Landfill, in 1964. In 1990, the Lowry Landfill stopped accepting waste. For more information on the Lowry Landfill click the following link:  Lowry Landfill.

DADS began operation in 1990 and continues to operate today as the largest landfill in Colorado and one of the largest in the country. DADS accepts on average 12,000 tons of waste per day or about 3.7 million tons per year.

The City and County of Denver encourages reduce, reuse, and recycling both within Denver and in the surrounding communities. Denver residents can obtain information concerning recycling and household hazardous waste services at Denver Recycles. The Denver Recycles web page also provides information on a variety of recycling options in surrounding areas.

Recycling efforts at DADS and Lowry Landfill includes the reuse of over 7 million shredded tires, collected during the 1960’s and ‘70’s, as tire-derived fuel for a cement kiln operation and a concrete recycling operation under lease agreement with a private company.

WMC and Denver are dedicated to ensuring that the landfill protects the environment by monitoring groundwater through a network of groundwater monitoring wells, operating a landfill gas collection system, and screening waste received to make sure that no regulated hazardous waste is landfilled. These are just a few of the environmental management efforts undertaken at DADS to protect the environment. For further information contact:

Diane Delillio, Project Manager
720-865-5448
email address: diane.delillio@denvergov.org

For rates, hours, services and more, please see  MORE INFORMATION above.