The Polk County Transfer Station serves as the collection and consolidation point for the solid waste generated in Western Polk County. The Transfer Station accepts multiple small loads, screens, consolidates, and reloads materials into larger containers for shipment to final disposal markets.

All of the household garbage, whether delivered by a homeowner, business, or by garbage truck, is consolidated and shipped to the Polk County Waste-to-Energy Incinerator location in Fosston, MN. Here the waste is burned in a permitted solid waste incinerator to achieve both volume and toxicity reduction. Ash, the byproduct of solid waste incinerators, is currently being landfilled.

The non-burnable (bypass) MSW and demolition materials are handled in a similar manner. However, the bypass MSW is hauled to the Polk County Sanitary Landfill in Gentilly for disposal. A sanitary landfill differs from a "dump" (which is illegal) in that a sanitary landfill has a liner that prevents contamination from entering ground water and a leachate collection system to remove and treat the leachate. The demolition material is hauled to a separate area of the Gentilly Landfill and is disposed in accordance with State and Federal regulations.