Insufficient Analysis Conducted by SWD to Support Building New $167 Million Northeast Transfer Station

The service times and queue lengths described in the report represent conditions for less than two percent of customers. However, even using these assumptions, SWD’s report concludes that available mitigation strategies could reduce demand during peak times to acceptable levels without a new northeast transfer station. --Diversion of tonnage and transactions from the Houghton Transfer Station are key to whether worst-case scenarios will actually occur. SWD’s report assumes that 90 percent of current Houghton customers will go to the Factoria Transfer Station. Directing customers to closer stations with greater capacity or keeping Houghton open at least for weekend self-haul customers could reduce the service times and queue lengths assumed in the report. --More precise impact and cost analysis of mitigation strategies could provide policy-makers with additional options to avoid the predicted “worst-case scenarios.” There is significant risk associated with building a new transfer station now, as it would obligate the County to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build and operate a facility that may not be needed. Although the current forecast appears reasonably reliable, SWD has overestimated long-range tonnage in its past forecasts. This uncertainty around future tonnage reiterates why it makes sense to pursue alternatives to building a new transfer station as decisions about how to implement mitigation strategies can be made closer to the projected peak year when there will be greater certainty about tonnage.

While the report includes analysis of several mitigation strategies, some were evaluated using limited data, and other options were not evaluated; therefore, we make a recommendation for SWD to test the impact and reassess the costs of some strategies.

The King County Transfer Station System processes hundreds of thousands of waste and recycling every year through eight transfer stations and two drop boxes. Based on the interest by the County Council and as a continuation of our work on King County’s Transfer Station System, this review evaluates the analysis done by the Solid Waste Division in its 2015 Transfer Plan Report.