Recently we wrote a letter to President Biden, urging him to consider phasing out landfilling by 2030, to be replaced by an integrated waste management system. Such a measure would make a substantial contribution to methane reductions, and would provide many other environmental and economic benefits. Here is the letter we received in response. While it says in general terms that climate change is serious and that steps must be taken, there is no mention of methane, and no acknowledgement of our proposal, which has been demonstrated to be successful in many European countries. This is just another example of politicians who ask for the public to get involved and then ignore them when they do. It is frustrating and annoying, and explains why people feel compelled to take more drastic measures.
In short, the landfill is the least desirable, and most expensive, means of waste disposal, a holdover from the past that perpetuates the environmental problems of today and creates new ones for the future. The County Council and the SWD have avoided action for far too long, ignoring scientific evidence and economic analyses. But when your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
On Wednesday evening, April 27th 2022, the King County Solid Waste Division (SWD) held a virtual meeting to provide an update on the expansion and operation of the Cedar Hills landfill, an exercise that can best be described as attempting to put lipstick on a pig. The landfill, originally slated to close decades ago, has been given another 7-10 years via some “sleight of hand” design, but as SWD Director Pat McLaughlin said in response to a question, no alternatives for now or in the future are being considered. The main thrust of SWD’s approach (also stated by Mr. McLaughlin during the meeting) is to “reduce the 70% of what’s being thrown away that could be recycled,” something the agency has been unable to do for the past ten years, by their own admission. On the whole, the SWD’s efforts over the past ten years have amounted to running in place while falling behind. Failure to plan, after all, is planning to fail.
…
Advocates of sustainable energy and waste management have been critical of the King County Solid Waste Division’s apparent push to expand the landfill. In September 2021, the Institute for Energy and Resource Management issued a public statement calling the King County Solid Waste Division’s environmental impact statement a “boondoogle,” and accusing the county of “going through the motions but having the conclusion decided well before hand.”
President of the Institute for Energy and Resource Management, Philipp Schmidt-Pathmann, has been increasingly vocal in his criticism of the King County Solid Waste Division and what he believes has been a lack of investment in recycling infrastructure and systems improvements. He cited stagnate rates of recycling in the region over the years.
Schmidt-Pathmann also has expressed his disbelief in the county’s studies, which claim the possibility of high rates of methane recapture from the landfill. Schmidt-Pathmann believes that the county has overinflated the rates of methane that can be captured as a way of making a landfill look like a more viable and sustainable waste management method than he believes it truly is.
He expressed his skepticism regarding the county’s reported rates of methane capture in a letter to the director of the King County Solid Waste Division in November of 2021.
…
….
Advocates of sustainable energy and waste management have been critical of the King County Solid Waste Division’s apparent push to expand the landfill. In September 2021, the Institute for Energy and Resource Management issued a public statement calling the King County Solid Waste Division’s environmental impact statement a “boondoogle,” and accusing the county of “going through the motions but having the conclusion decided well before hand.”
President of the Institute for Energy and Resource Management, Philipp Schmidt-Pathmann, has been increasingly vocal in his criticism of the King County Solid Waste Division and what he believes has been a lack of investment in recycling infrastructure and systems improvements. He cited stagnate rates of recycling in the region over the years.
Schmidt-Pathmann also has expressed his disbelief in the county’s studies, which claim the possibility of high rates of methane recapture from the landfill. Schmidt-Pathmann believes that the county has overinflated the rates of methane that can be captured as a way of making a landfill look like a more viable and sustainable waste management method than he believes it truly is.
…