Landfills and Transfer Stations — Brevard County, Florida

Brevard County runs two active landfills, the Sarno Landfill at 3379 Sarno Road in Melbourne and the Central Disposal Facility on Adamson Road in Cocoa, plus transfer stations at Sarno and in Titusville and a mulching site on South Street in Titusville.

The county's Solid Waste Management Department says it manages landfills, transfer stations, a mulching facility and household hazardous waste collection centers, and oversees curbside collection for residents of unincorporated Brevard County. The department is run from 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Building A, Suite 118, in Viera, phone (321) 633-2042. Public radio station WFIT summarized the same system in 2020 as two landfills, Central Disposal in Cocoa and Sarno in Melbourne, and two transfer stations, Sarno and Titusville.

For South Brevard, Sarno is the working site. The county's other sites are in Cocoa and Titusville, so for Palm Bay, Malabar, Grant-Valkaria and Micco the Sarno Road gate in Melbourne is the nearest, and its facility page lists a landfill, a transfer station and a household hazardous waste collection center at the one address. The Cocoa site matters to South Brevard haulers too, because some materials Sarno refuses are taken only at Central Disposal. The Central Disposal Facility page gives the address as 2060 Adamson Road, while a notice on the same page names 2260 Adamson Road; both point to the Cocoa landfill.

The Sarno Landfill in Melbourne takes construction and demolition debris, yard waste, whole tires, white goods and similar bulky material, while household garbage goes to the Sarno transfer station on the same site rather than into the landfill.

The county's Sarno page lists landfill accepted wastes as asphalt, boats with no motors, fuel or tanks, brick, cardboard, carpet, concrete, drywall, land clearing debris, lumber, metal scraps, empty paint cans, paper, piping, plastics, rock, steel, whole tires, white goods such as refrigerators and washers, wood pallets and yard waste. Its prohibited list for the Sarno landfill includes household and commercial garbage, treated wood (CCA), manure, asbestos, batteries, electronics, liquid waste, propane tanks, sharps, sludge and petroleum contaminated soil.

The Sarno transfer station has a narrower job. It accepts household and commercial garbage and cardboard only, and the page says no construction and demolition debris, white goods, motor vehicles, yard trash, sludge, hazardous waste or manure. Because the Sarno landfill and the Sarno transfer station take different materials, a mixed truckload from a South Brevard cleanout may need to be split between the two operations on Sarno Road.

Palm Bay's household trash follows that route. The City of Palm Bay says city trash collected by Republic Services is taken to the Brevard County Sarno Transfer Station, and that treated wood is excluded from curbside pickup because the Sarno Transfer Station treats it as prohibited waste. Palm Bay's contract with Republic Services began October 1, 2020, with twice-a-week garbage collection and unlimited curbside bulk and yard waste pickup.

Loads that Sarno refuses, such as treated wood, manure or rear projection televisions, go to the Brevard County Central Disposal Facility landfill on Adamson Road in Cocoa, open Monday to Saturday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The Central Disposal Facility page lists a broader accepted-waste list than Sarno's: household and commercial garbage, manure, rear projection TVs and treated wood (CCA) are all accepted in Cocoa, along with the debris, tires, white goods and yard waste Sarno also takes. Containers larger than 20 gallons are special wastes that require pre-disposal approval. Ammunition and flares, auto and lithium batteries, electronics, liquid waste, motor vehicles, propane tanks and untreated biomedical waste are prohibited.

The county defines treated wood (CCA) on both facility pages as wood treated with chemicals against rot, typically decks, docks, fences, playground and landscaping timbers, utility poles and railroad ties. That makes Cocoa the destination when a Barefoot Bay or Malabar owner tears out an old dock or fence. The Central Disposal page also carries a notice that the Mockingbird Way Mulching Facility in Titusville stopped taking vegetative waste, wood, metals, white goods, concrete and tires effective July 19, 2024, during construction of a replacement transfer station, and that those items were redirected to Cocoa.

Brevard County residents can drop household hazardous waste free of charge at three collection centers, at Sarno Road in Melbourne, Adamson Road in Cocoa and South Street in Titusville, Monday to Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The Household Hazardous Waste page says the Solid Waste Management Department runs three permanent collection centers for chemicals and electronics from non-business activities at no cost, and that staff may ask for proof of residency such as a driver's license, tax bill or utility bill. The Sarno center's own list includes aerosols, automotive and boat batteries, antifreeze and motor oil, cleaners, electronics, fertilizers, intact fluorescent lamps, pesticides, gasoline, oil filters, paints, stains, sealers and solvents.

Limits apply per Brevard household. Up to twenty-five gallons of liquid waste is accepted per household per year, containers larger than five gallons are refused, and electronics are capped at 10 large items a year. The Drop and Swap shelf, where residents can take usable cleaners, automotive fluids and paint for free, operates only at the Cocoa and Sarno centers, and used vegetable oil recycling is also offered only at Central Disposal and the Sarno Road Landfill.

Some items need other routes. The page says alkaline batteries, empty paint cans and CRT televisions can go in regular trash, and it sends explosives to the Brevard County Sheriff's Office Bomb Squad at (321) 633-7141. Small businesses that generate under 25 gallons or 220 pounds of chemical waste a month can use Enviro Business collection days, held every 90 days, with 2026 dates of January 29, April 30, July 30 and October 29.

Brevard County landfills are funded through the Solid Waste Disposal assessment on property tax bills countywide, and Brevard County Code limits the county's landfills to waste generated inside Brevard, in cities and unincorporated areas alike.

The Brevard County Tax Collector says the Solid Waste Disposal assessment was implemented in 1977 to operate the County's landfill facilities that are used to accommodate all trash and garbage generated by property owners throughout the County. A separate Solid Waste Collection assessment, implemented in 1982, pays for curbside pickup by a franchise collector in unincorporated Brevard, and State Mandated Recycling, added in 1989, funds the county recycling program for the same areas. The Tax Collector notes that the county must achieve and maintain a 30-percent reduction goal in the amount of materials being landfilled, and that cities run their own recycling programs.

Ordinance sets who may dump. Brevard County Code Sec. 94-166 says only solid waste generated within incorporated and unincorporated Brevard County shall be disposed of in the county's facilities, and anyone bringing special solid waste needs the director's approval before disposal. Commercial haulers face an extra step under Sec. 94-277: a landfill gate account with the Solid Waste Management Department and a security deposit equal to two months of estimated disposal fees, with handling of waste not covered by the annual assessment billed under the board's special rates resolution. The department page posts the Gate Application form for opening a landfill account.

In South Brevard, Palm Bay contracts its own hauler, Malabar runs its own solid waste department, and unincorporated addresses get curbside service overseen by the Brevard County Solid Waste Management Department.

Palm Bay's arrangement is set out on the city trash and recycling page: Republic Services of Florida collects residential garbage twice a week and recycling once a week, and the city's trash is taken to the Brevard County Sarno Transfer Station. The Town of Malabar departments page lists Solid Waste among the town's own departments, alongside Building, Public Works and Stormwater, with Town Hall at 2725 Malabar Road. The Tax Collector's assessment list shows a separate Solid Waste line for the Town of Grant-Valkaria, at (321) 951-1380.

Outside the cities, the county's solid waste collection assessment pays for curbside pickup by a franchise collector, and questions about collection, disposal or the one-time Solid Waste Impact Fee on newly improved property go to Solid Waste Management at (321) 633-2042, the Tax Collector says. Whatever the hauler, residents of any Brevard city or unincorporated area may bring household hazardous waste to the Sarno Road center in Melbourne. Last verified: October 11, 2026, on the Brevard County Solid Waste Management Department website.