PORT ANGELES — When the Port Angeles Landfill closes in 2006, something must be done with the 52,000 tons of garbage dumped annually.
The landfill is scheduled to close Dec. 31, 2006, because it will be full and is located too close to William R. Fairchild International Airport, where scavenger birds pose a danger to aircraft.
Rather than expand the current landfill or build a new one elsewhere, the city has proposed closing it. Then the city would build a transfer station and truck or barge garbage to an as-yet unnamed regional landfill.
The Clallam County Solid Waste Advisory Committee endorsed the transfer proposal at its December meeting. Now that recommendation must go before county commissioners for their endorsement, said Port Angeles Public Works Director Glenn Cutler.
Although the city’s landfill handles virtually all garbage in the county, the county technically is responsible for garbage disposal.
Once the commissioners endorse the city’s proposal, city officials will begin working with Solid Waste Advisory Committee Chairman Joe Ciarlo on intergovernmental agreements and set a format for public input, Cutler said.
The nine-member Solid Waste Advisory Committee represents the general public, each of the county’s three cities, the county, the solid waste industry, American Indian tribes, federal government agencies and a garbage hauler.
The rest of this story appears in today’s Peninsula Daily News Clallam County edition. Click on “Subscribe” to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.