Municipal waste transfer plants are intermediate facilities between collection points and the waste management plants. The purpose of these facilities is to reduce the costs of transporting waste to its final destination using high-capacity storage, compacting and transport equipment.

Municipal waste transfer plants must be adapted to the following basic requirements:

• Accesses and manoeuvre platforms for high-tonnage vehicles.
• Control and weighing area.
• Dumping area where trucks drop off waste into the reception hopper.
• Loading dock, preferably in a closed system (compactor containers). The compactor consists of a hydraulic cylinder presses and forces the waste into high-capacity containers. The volume of these containers varies between 25 and 40 m3.
• Closure of the area by fence.
• Collection of wastewater for treatment.