Beyond Waste home > Navigate to a plan section > Disposal—Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow-Today's Reality

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 years. Some wastes are disposed of at energy recovery/incineration facilities. Three waste-to-energy facilities/incinerators burned more than 300,000 tons of solid waste in Washington during 2002. Most municipal solid waste in Washington is disposed in landfills, most of which are lined. Despite these improvements, landfills still affect the air with methane gas or other hazardous gases that are generated as the waste decomposes. Many landfills also have liners and/or leachate collections systems, but we still see groundwater and surface water pollution.

In 2002, nine of the state’s municipal solid waste landfills received 2 million tons (out of a total of 4.7 million tons) of waste from counties other than the one they are located in, and sometimes from other states and countries. It is important to consider the effects of long-distance transportation and storage of wastes.

The price of disposal today should incorporate the costs of meeting the existing broad range of regulatory requirements. For landfills, this should include 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 have been abandoned over the years. For a variety of reasons, hundreds of these sites have not been addressed at all. These sites need to be identified and environmental problems need to be addressed.

<-- Back              Next -->