King County has only one active landfill, where the rubbish produced by more than 1.4 million people is hauled, dumped, compacted and layered into a modest trash mountain lorded over by a fleet of semi-trucks, bulldozers and bald eagles. But the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill, located in South King County, between Renton and Maple Valley, is (sort of) filling up. The landfill has, in fact, been (sort of) filling up for decades.
In 2001, the last time the county produced a comprehensive plan for how to handle its garbage, the landfill was going to be full by 2012. In 2006, the landfill’s estimated capacity was pushed back to 2016. In 2013, the landfill’s death date got pushed to 2025. Currently, the closing date is estimated at 2028. But that could change soon.
On April 1, the Metropolitan King County Council will consider passing a new Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan, the first full update to our garbage storage tactics since 2001. The plan proposed by King County Executive Dow Constantine would push the closing date back to 2040 by making up to $270 million of modifications — building a new dumping ground at the landfill site and allowing garbage to be stacked 30 feet higher than is currently permitted.
On the one hand, this forestalls a costlier decision — what to do with the trash when the landfill does fill up.