Small rural landfills must often be developed and operated to the same standards as large regional landfills. Because of their small size, rural landfills are disadvantaged because they lose the economies of a larger scale, and their cost per tonne of disposal may be relatively higher than that of a large regional facility. An alternative for small communities is to long-haul their waste to a large facility that has a lower tipping fee, but the transfer and transportation costs must be accounted for. The offsetting costs may show that the total cost is not significantly different between maintaining local operations versus long hauling the waste. In the end, other factors may influence the final decision, such as keeping the money and jobs circulating in the local economy, complimentary public works operations, carbon footprint, and long-term cost stability. This paper presents preliminary analyses for two rural landfills in the State of Wyoming in the USA.