How To Become A Sanitary Landfill Operator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a sanitary landfill operator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a sanitary landfill operator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $20.5 an hour? That's $42,639 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 22,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreSanitary Landfill OperatorUS Average

Salary

3.3

Avg. Salary $42,639

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.9

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.88%

Asian 0.94%

Black or African American 7.71%

Hispanic or Latino 18.04%

Unknown 4.33%

White 67.10%

Gender

female 10.84%

male 89.16%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

6.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.6

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a sanitary landfill operator

Explore sanitary landfill operator education requirements

Most common sanitary landfill operator degrees

High School Diploma

31.3 %

Associate

21.9 %

Certificate

18.8 %

Start to develop specific sanitary landfill operator skills

Skills	Percentages
Equipment Operation	25.27%
CDL	23.85%
Landfill Operations	16.86%
Loaders	14.42%
Water Truck	10.87%

Complete relevant sanitary landfill operator training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New sanitary landfill operators learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a sanitary landfill operator based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real sanitary landfill operator resumes.

Research sanitary landfill operator duties and responsibilities

Run heavy equipment including compactor and ATD.
Follow all power equipment rules and regulation including any regulatory agency policies to include OSHA.
Operate knuckle boom as necessary.
Perform preventive maintenance checks and services on designate equipment.

Prepare your sanitary landfill operator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your sanitary landfill operator resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a sanitary landfill operator resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable sanitary landfill operator resume templates

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