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Cedar Hills Regional Landfill

Learn about King County’s only remaining active landfill. Find information on landfill operations, community meetings, the gas-to-energy facility, and more.

Cedar Hills Regional Landfill

Aerial photo of the 920-acre Cedar Hills Regional Landfill in Maple Valley. Currently 31 acres is active landfill, the rest is closed landfill space and natural area.

The Cedar Hills Regional Landfill is not open to the public.

Cedar Hills NOT open to the public

The Cedar Hills Regional Landfill is not open to the public. Visit solid waste facilities to find a location for recycling and waste disposal.

About the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill

The Cedar Hills Regional Landfill is the only active landfill in the county. Located on a 920-acre site in Maple Valley, Cedar Hills has been in operation since 1965. It provides safe and efficient waste disposal for all of King County, except for the cities of Seattle and Milton.

Over 800,000 tons of waste goes to Cedar Hills each year. Most of that waste comes from King County businesses and households. Commercial companies or self-haulers collects and transports waste to a King County transfer station or rural drop box. From these locations, we consolidate the waste for efficiency, then truck it to Cedar Hills for final disposal.

Download our Cedar Hills fact sheet to learn more about the landfill.

Cedar Hills is currently flaring residual landfill gas. Read our FAQ to learn more.

Operations and monitoring

Visit Cedar Hills Regional Landfill Monitoring to read our most recent annual reports and environmental monitoring reports.

Landfill gas-to-energy facility

When waste is buried in the landfill it decomposes and produces landfill gas. At Cedar Hills, a network of pipes captures that gas and routes it to an onsite gas-to-energy facility operated by Bio Energy Washington (BEW). The BEW plant processes the gas into pipeline-quality biogas and electric power.

If you have questions or comments on BEW’s landfill gas processing facility, call the BEW comment line at 425-392-3918 or visit BEW’s website.

Planning for the future

The 2019 Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan sets strategies for managing solid waste over the next six to 20 years in King County. The plan recommends further development of Cedar Hills to maximize capacity and meet regional disposal needs. Visit the Cedar Hills development project to learn more about our plans for landfill development.

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Want to stay informed?

Sign up to receive updates about Cedar Hills Regional Landfill.

Community meetings

We host two community meetings a year as part of our ongoing communication with households living near the landfill. Visit Cedar Hills Regional Landfill community meetings to learn more.

Odor management

Our staff are trained and certified in industry best practices for mitigating landfill odors. To effectively prevent odors, we use strategies such as covering active parts of the landfill at the end of each working day. We also perform regular odor checks. Read more about Cedar Hills odor management and reporting:

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