Landfill hopes to avoid becoming waste-full

YAKIMA, WASH. -- Soon, rural customers in Yakima County may be required to sort yard waste from the rest of their trash as the Terrace Heights Landfill is looking to get into the composting business.

In an effort to cut down on the volume of garbage being dumped at landfills, a state law set a goal to rid all landfills of yard waste by 2012.

Although it's only a goal and not a defined deadline, Yakima County is taking a proactive approach. It recently began a feasibility study to determine whether it would be cheaper to build and operate a composting facility or partner with a private composting company. The study, funded by a $37,000 grant from the state Department of Ecology, will also look at whether there's a market for compost in the area and what the cost of trucking yard waste to another facility would be.

Landfills are filling up everywhere, and a projected closure date of 2015 looms over the Terrace Heights operation at 7151 Roza Hill Drive.

But the landfill may still have a few more years of operation, said Yakima County Assistant Director of Public Services Don Gatchalian.

"There's really more capacity," he said. "I think we can get a couple more years. Based on what we're seeing, we're doing a pretty good job of compacting garbage."

A long-term plan is under way to determine what to do with garbage once the landfill is closed. Meanwhile, the county has set a goal of composting all yard waste by 2012. Cities like Yakima already have a voluntary yard-waste program.

"We don't want to be the only county that's not participating," said Terrace Heights Landfill program director Mikal Heintz.

Most of the roughly 235,000 tons of garbage the county accepts annually also ends up at the Terrace Heights facility, which will become a transfer station once it's full, Heintz said.

In addition to that figure, more than 12,000 tons of yard waste a year is brought to the facility as well, where it's chipped and spread over the 480-acre landfill as a cover.

Once the study is complete, the county will begin efforts to change that.

"We're pretty excited," Gatchalian said. "Instead of just chipping it and putting it back into the landfill, I want to have something more productive. Maybe process it and sell it back to the public."

First, the county has to decide the best route to take in the compost business.

It could build a compost yard at its Lower Valley landfill just north of Zillah on Cheyne Road, at the Terrace Heights facility or somewhere else, Gatchalian said.

If the county builds a facility in the Lower Valley, where there's more room, it will have to consider the cost of trucking the yard waste, he said.

There's also the commercial haulers and self haulers to contend with. Commercial haulers dump municipal trash from large trucks, while self haulers consist of residents usually dumping from the back of a pickup. The two groups are kept separate at the Terrace Heights Landfill for safety reasons.

Another route would be to contract with a private composting company. There are two in the Lower Valley -- Soil Conditioners in Granger and Natural Selection Farms in Sunnyside.

Soil Conditioners owner Gary Clark -- also mayor of Zillah -- said his 28 acres of land would be more than enough to handle what the county would compost annually.

"We've got property in which they could just bring the yard waste to and we'd compost it," he said. "They could leave it on their site and we could pick it up. There's a lot of variables."

Yakima County's study is expected to be complete sometime in July.

Elsewhere, Kittitas County is building a 31/2-acre composting facility in Ellensburg using $1.28 million in grants from the state Department of Ecology.

It's expected to be finished by July 1, said Kittitas County Solid Waste Director Patti Johnson.

"We're moving right along," she said. "We will be composting the yard material and have a product to sell back to people."

Soil Conditioners' owner Clark said there's a demand for compost in Yakima County given the huge agricultural base.

"Once you have a secure supply, more of a guaranteed supply coming in, you can go out and market it and get rid of it," he said. "It's a win-win. Save the county money and give us a reliable source."

* Phil Ferolito can be reached at 509-577-7749 or pferolito@yakimaherald.com.

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