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Disposal—Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Today's Reality

Solid waste disposal has become much safer and far more protective of health, habitat, and natural resources than in the past 30 or 40 years. Most landfills are now built with liners to contain leachate, and have gas collection systems. The gas is frequently used for energy. Despite these improvements, landfills can still affect the air with methane or other gases generated by decomposing waste, and can still cause pollution problems in groundwater and surface water.

In 2007, more than 5.7 million tons of municipal solid waste was disposed of in Washington. A small amount (6 percent) was disposed of at one of three energy recovery/incineration facilities, but most municipal solid waste in Washington is disposed in landfills. There are 14 operating landfills in the state, three of which took in more than 4 million tons in 2007. One major landfill takes in waste from 26 of the 39 counties. In addition, nine counties and the state’s largest city send waste to Oregon for disposal. It is important to consider the effects of long-distance transport of wastes, particularly in regards to greenhouse gas emissions.

The price of disposal should incorporate the costs of meeting existing regulatory requirements. For landfills, this includes not only operational costs, but also monies to cover facility closure and post-closure monitoring activities. In addition, charges for disposal are intended to include potential costs of cleanup from environmental degradation that could result from the facility. However, these costs are not always anticipated and included in disposal fees charged today.

Many former landfills and dumps have closed or been abandoned over the years. Hundreds of these sites have not been addressed at all, for a variety of reasons. We need to identify these sites and address their environmental problems.

Goals: What Washington will look like in 30 years (by 2035)

The 30-year goals for the solid waste disposal system in Washington as we strive toward the Beyond Waste vision are:

Closed landfills are addressed.

Yesterday’s landfills no longer pose threats; many are redeveloped and are vital community assets.

Landfills fully meet compliance requirements.

Landfills and other disposal facilities do not cause problems. The few problems that may come up are contained, addressed, and cleaned up to prevent further degradation and to protect human health. The property owners and waste disposers pay costs for needed actions.

Facilities are state of the art.

The very small amount of waste that is not recoverable is disposed of at state-of-the-art facilities, and collection and disposal have minimal impacts. These facilities are sited and operated to pose no threats to human health or the environment.

Disposed materials are recovered.

Disposal facilities have been mined to recover resource materials for recycling. Disposal occurs in such a way that, where feasible, disposed materials can be recovered later.

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