WIH Resource Group, Tetra Tech to study options after landfill closure in King County, Washington

WIH Resource Group, Scottsdale, Arizona, and Tetra Tech have been awarded a contract to provide professional and technical consulting services for King County, Washington, to evaluate its long-term waste disposal options.

Working closely with the county, WIH and Pasadena, California-based Tetra Tech will help the county assess waste conversion technology alternatives and the feasibility of waste export by rail (WEBR) for its municipal solid waste (MSW). 

The contract is worth up to $500,000. The county says it expects the findings to be completed by the end of 2023 with the report going out by early 2024.

The project includes a review of available waste conversion technologies and WEBR options to replace the county’s regional landfill when it closes. The landfill is currently projected to close in early 2038, based on the preferred alternative for the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill (CHRL) site development plan.

“We are proud and pleased to be teamed with Tetra Tech and to have been selected by King County to conduct this important project work for the county and its 37 jurisdictions,” WIH Resource Group President Bob Wallace says. “King County has been an outstanding customer of WIH Resource Group over the past decade on other project engagements and we are very honored to have been selected by them for this important project. We are very excited to have them as a repeat client again.”

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WIH says the firms will evaluate environmental, social, economic, contract and operational requirements as factors, as well as the county’s operating and disposal history.  

The King County Solid Waste Division operates six transfer stations in the urban area, two rural transfer stations, two rural drop boxes and the CHRL. Cities and private hauling companies, through franchises issued by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC), are responsible for collection. Roughly 900,000 to 1 million tons of waste is disposed of at the Cedar Hills Landfill annually.

The county’s 2019 Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan discusses the progress made in achieving zero waste of resources goals by 2030. The solid waste district is working with stakeholders on a plan to achieve those goals and has rebranded this effort as Re+. The Re+ Plan will lay out initial actions to divert useful materials from the landfill. These materials, such as paper, plastic and food, have better uses, such as being recycled into new products, repaired for reuse or used as compost to renew natural systems. Successful implementation of Re+ will result in considerably less waste and dramatically change what is in the waste stream, which will impact which disposal options make sense for the region.

The long-term disposal options study will build on past studies in 2017 and 2019 that looked at waste-to-energy and waste export as potential options. Disposal options being considered will be evaluated for low, medium and high tonnage scenarios, depending on the success of landfill diversion activities developed as part of Re+.