WASTE IMPORT AND EXPORT

7.4.1 Existing Conditions

Existing Waste Import Activities

There are currently no shipments of solid waste into Jefferson County, although the City’s Compost Facility periodically receives biosolids from Kitsap County and septage from Clallam County.

Existing Waste Export Activities

Many counties have adopted the waste export option because of its lower cost and greater

of handling wastes from several areas. For many counties, these landfills provide a less expensive and more convenient means of disposal than an in-county landfill.

Jefferson County began exporting solid waste in 1993 when the County entered into a five-year contract with Regional Disposal Company (RDC). This contract was to transport waste from the Jefferson County Waste Management Facility and dispose of it at RDC’s landfill in Klickitat County, Washington. The initial term of this contract was five years, with up to three five-year renewals allowed.

In 1998, the waste export contract was re-bid. Starting in August 1998, Jefferson County’s waste was shipped to the Port Angeles Landfill under a six-month contract to allow time for new bids to be received and evaluated. Jefferson County received two bids in September 1998 in response to the Request for Proposals (RFP) for waste export services. The cost figures shown for both of the bids are for “acceptable waste”, and higher costs are charged for asbestos-containing waste. Both of the bids are 1999 costs and would be adjusted annually for inflation. These bids are further summarized below:

➤ RDC/Murrey’s Disposal: The bid from this group was $25.33 per ton for transportation and $18.96 per ton for disposal, or $44.29 per ton total. Like most proposals of this nature, the private companies proposed to provide the trailers, chassis, rigs, landfill capacity and labor for transporting and landfilling the waste, while Jefferson County would still be responsible for operating the Transfer Station. Waste would be transported by truck to a rail-loading facility in Tacoma and then shipped to RDC’s landfill in Klickitat County, Washington.

➤ Waste Management: The bid from Waste Management was $26.72 per ton for transportation and $18.53 per ton for disposal, or $45.25 per ton total. Waste Management also proposed to provide the equipment and labor for transporting and landfilling the waste, while Jefferson County would again be responsible for operating the Transfer Station. Waste would be

transported by truck to a proposed rail-loading facility in Bremerton and then brought to Waste Management’s Columbia Ridge Landfill in Gilliam County, Oregon.

The County accepted the bid from RDC and a contract was approved in April 1999. The contract is for a 20-year period with buy-out options every five years, and it provides for an annual escalation of 90% of the CPI. Another provision allows flexibility if a regional approach with a neighboring county is proposed.

Waste export is also occurring from the west end of the County through separate, private efforts of the two haulers active in that area. Waste collected from that area by West Waste is brought to their transfer station in Forks, placed in shipping containers, and then transported back through the County to Grays Harbor County and eventually disposed in the same regional landfill that the bulk of the County’s waste is disposed at (RDC’s landfill in Klickitat County). Waste collected by the other franchise hauler, Olympic Disposal, is brought to the Port Angeles Landfill.

The only other waste export systems in use in the County are for small quantities of special wastes (such as biomedical waste, see Chapter 9) that are sent to special facilities outside of the County. The Jefferson County Waste Management Facility is the designated disposal facility for all municipal solid waste generated in Jefferson County, except for waste from the west end of the County.

7.4.2 Needs and Opportunities

Waste Import Needs and Opportunities

Importing the amount of waste into Jefferson County that would provide additional economies of scale would also require a significant investment in capital improvements for the Transfer Station and other costs. A substantial amount of solid waste import is not considered feasible at this time, although this may occur if a neighboring county suffered an emergency situation.

A feasibility study may be proposed by Kitsap County and the City of Port Townsend to examine the possibility of delivering additional amounts of biosolids to the City’s Compost Facility.

Waste Export Needs and Opportunities

Neighboring counties (Clallam and Kitsap) are currently examining their waste disposal systems and there may be an opportunity to implement a regional disposal system involving one or both of these counties. One of the more feasible opportunities may be the use of a north-south route to handle the waste generated in the western portions of both Clallam and Jefferson Counties. The west ends of these counties are currently not easily served by the main disposal systems of each county because of the transportation barrier presented by the Olympic Mountains, although these areas are currently being served through the private efforts of the two haulers with franchises in those areas. The west end of Clallam County is currently being partially served by a waste export system.

7.4.3 Alternative Methods

Waste Import Alternatives

Options for importing solid waste into Jefferson County include importing waste to the Jefferson County Waste Management Facility and variations on service arrangements for the west end of the County.

Importing waste to the County’s primary waste management facility near Port Townsend, the Jefferson County Waste Management Facility, is not considered to be feasible or cost-effective. Clallam County is the only source that could feasibly do this, and the distance from the center of their waste generation area (i.e., the Port Angeles-Sequim area) would make it uneconomical to transport the garbage in collection vehicles. Instead, solid waste from Clallam County would need to be put in larger containers to be transported, and at that point it would be easier and more cost- effective to send the garbage south for disposal instead of bringing it up to the Port Townsend area. Other areas would need to transport waste to Port Townsend using ferries or, in the case of Kitsap County, transport their waste north only to have it shipped south again over the same route. Neither of these options would appear to be cost-effective.

Another alternative for waste import might be to use a site in the Clearwater area to handle waste from Clallam County’s west end. The Clearwater Drop Box Station has been closed, however, so any future operations in that area would require a new facility.

Waste Export Alternatives

As previously mentioned, there are several provisions in the current waste export contract that allow flexibility in future arrangements. One of these would allow Clallam County to become party to this contract. This would not require waste to be physically brought to Jefferson County or combined at another site, but could be accomplished through other arrangements.

Another alternative is to export waste from western Jefferson County through a different system (see above discussion of the “north-south corridor”).

7.4.4 Recommendations

Waste Import

No recommendations are being made for waste import.

Waste Export

The following recommendation is being made for waste export:

WE1) The implementation of a “north-south corridor” to serve the western ends of both Jefferson and Clallam Counties is recommended, although further discussions will be needed to determine implementation details.

7.4.5 Implementation Schedules and Costs

Waste Import Not applicable.

Waste Export

Further discussions of the feasibility of a north-south corridor to serve the western portions of Jefferson and Clallam Counties should occur over the next two years, involving representatives of the two counties, both private haulers active in those area, the Solid Waste Advisory Committees of both counties and possibly others. Interlocal agreements would likely be necessary to implement this approach.