In todays special we will look on more informations about garbage handling in Cities Skylines. If you have “vanilla” game then you could build just landfill sites. But if you had DLC sunset harbor you could be more “creative” and use more detailed garbage processing.
How I manage garbage in mine cities?
Garbage is available after reaching the first milestone. I’m wait for handling garbage until I see icons with garbage cans over mine buildings. When you could see this icon then bins are full and this building is waiting for garbage collection…

… if you click on detail you Factories > Garbage you could see that every building has own status of bins statuses. When garbage isn’t collected in time then buildings could be abandoned. So I wait until mine game looks similar…

… or similar in resident zones …

… and after I see some first problem then I’m build first landfill sites. In mine one landfill site is enough to reach milestone Big Town when is uncocked Incineration Plant which process garbage and generate some power which could boost mine electricity production.
In late games I had some landfill sites to collect garbage and when I could then I’m transport this garbage to Incineration Plant where is burned.
Where to build landfill site?
Choosing landfill site place could be important. In mine first games I was building this building in industry zone but from article about criteria of expansion industry zones I know that pollution is negative factor for upgrading and this landfill sites produces a lot of pollution…

… so I’m building carefully this building far way from other zones. On Image bellow you could see that “negative” purple circle of pollution shows that some buildings could have problems but after start this isn’t problem. In the advanced stages of the game, I wouldn’t chose this place.

About garbage processing in Cities Skylines
In vanilla game you must combine Landfill site and Incineration Plant which burn collected waste. You must process your garbage for remove this garbage from your city. If you don’t burn your waste you must build another and another landfill sites.Both ways (storing / burning) create pollution but it solve your problems with garbage…

… if you have DLC sunset harbor then you could use more detailed garbage processing features which are Waste Processing Complex and Waste Transfer Facility. This new building can’t collect waste from buildings/zones but their could collect waste from landfill sites and process this.
That mean that you could have few landfill sites which will collect waste and generate some small pollution. But you could build Waste Processing Complex which will remove this waste in clear way.
Cost of processing unit in Cities Skylines
If you have all Cities Skylines DLC there is comparison of ways which you could use for processing with cost, processing capacity and cost per one processing units.
Building name | Cost (₡) | Processing / week | Cost per proces one unit |
---|---|---|---|
Eco-Friendly Incinerator Plant | 50 000 | 48 000 units | 1,041 ₡ per unit |
Incineration Plant | 30 000 | 48 000 units | 0,625 ₡ per unit |
Recycling Center | 16 000 | 24 000 units | 0,666 ₡ per unit |
Ultimate Recycling Plant | 750 000 | 480 000 units | 1,562 ₡ per unit |
Waste Disposal Unit | 30 000 | 48 000 units | 0,625 ₡ per unit |
Waste Processing Complex | 100 000 | 192 000 units | 0,520 ₡ per unit |
Best cost per one process unit has Waste Processing Complex around 0,520 ₡. So I’m recommending you building this buildings for waste processing.
How to burn waste collected in landfill sites?
Every landfill site has maximum capacity at 8 000 000 units. And after you reach maximum you must burn collected waste. When you see icon that landfill site is full you must click on building and select emptying option.

After that will start trucks to new roads to your Incineration Plant where will be waste burned.
Is worth building recycle center?
If you have green cities DLC then you could build recycling center which will process 24 000 units per week and which will cost you ₡16 000 the efficiency of this building is ₡0,66 per one processing unit.

But you could see above that I had city which was collecting 30 500 units / week in early phases and this recycle center will not be able to solve the waste problem if it is the only one built.

It has 15 trucks for collecting waste