When Metro South opened to the public on April 11, 1983, the facility was literally jaw-dropping. One customer was so excited to use the station, he briefly lost his set of false teeth into the garbage pit. The incident was the only operation stoppage on an otherwise productive day, which marked the beginning of a 40-year service to provide a temporary place to hold waste and recycling before transporting materials elsewhere.
The facility located in Oregon City, then called the Clackamas Transfer and Recycling center, was expected to handle up to 800 tons of waste every day. By December of 1983, it would handle over 1,000 tons on its busiest days. Metro South superintendent Matt Tracy said plans for the site started back in August 1977, when the Oregon City Planning Commission amended their comprehensive plan to allow for resource recovery facilities, such as garbage incinerators.
In 1982, Metro started construction on the facility which was to include a transfer center, incinerator and steam pipeline to power the Publishers Paper Company at Willamette Falls. In November of that year, voters in Oregon City, Gladstone and West Linn all approved city charter amendments blocking a garbage burning plant. “We basically built the transfer station with the intent of burning garbage on site that was canceled by a vote of the public,” Tracy said. With only the garbage pit complete, Metro focused on turning the site solely into a transfer and recycling center.