Sitting on 135 acres just outside the southeastern edge of Bend, Knott Landfill has received Deschutes County鈥檚 garbage for 45 years. However, the landfill is inching toward the end of its useful life, leaving county officials to determine what comes next.
Timm Schimke, director of Deschutes County鈥檚 department of solid waste, said the landfill is projected to be filled to capacity by 2029, based on population projections and expectations about how much trash the region will generate going forward. That might sound like a long time in the future, but Schimke said it will take at least seven years to locate, acquire and dig out the land for a new landfill. He added that he expects the process of determining whether a new landfill is the right path forward for waste disposal in Deschutes County could take at least another three years.
鈥淚 think we鈥檝e got plenty of time to deal with it,鈥� Schimke said, before adding, 鈥淭he garbage won鈥檛 stop while we鈥檙e making up our minds.鈥�
Knott Landfill opened in 1972, and has been growing ever since. The amount of waste in the county fluctuates along with the county鈥檚 population and the amount of construction activity, and Schimke said the landfill took in 161,000 tons of waste in 2016, its highest total since before the Great Recession.
鈥淚f we grow really, really fast, the (closure) will come sooner than 2029,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f we slow down, that will get pushed back out.鈥�
The landfill is still growing, but it鈥檚 starting to run out of room. Schimke said it currently has six 鈥渃ells鈥� 鈥� self-contained parcels with a liner across the bottom to contain waste 鈥� with three more slated for future construction. Schimke said the department builds a new cell roughly every three years. The cost varies depending on the size of the cell, but Cell 6 cost $3.1 million to construct.
As it stands now, the county has a variety of options, ranging from constructing a new landfill to focusing on different technology. However, each choice has its own drawbacks.
鈥淲hen we move to the next disposal option, it鈥檚 going to be more expensive than it is now,鈥� Schimke said. 鈥淚 would say considerably.鈥�
The most straightforward option would be to begin looking for sites in Deschutes County that could house another landfill, but Schimke said it won鈥檛 be cheap or easy. Few homeowners want a landfill near their backyard, and any potential site would likely be farther away from the county鈥檚 population centers than Knott is, adding transportation costs that would get passed onto residents and businesses.
Schimke added that a new landfill, and the additional infrastructure needed to accommodate it, could cost up to $25 million.
Tony DeBone, Deschutes County commissioner, said one option for the county would be to look at technologies that use waste to generate energy. DeBone said the county signed a contract in 2014 with a California-based company that would covert methane gas generated in the landfill into fuel, but the project never got off the ground.
DeBone said that burning trash for energy before it reaches the landfill could reduce the amount of waste processed by the county. If the process begins before 2029, it could dramatically prolong the lifespan of the landfill.
鈥淚f we figure out some sort of combustion (process), that could add 10, 15, 20 years,鈥� he said.
A greater emphasis on recycling could help as well. In 2015, Deschutes County recovered 鈥� through composting, recycling and converting waste to energy 鈥� 36.7 percent of its waste, according to a report from the Department of Environmental Quality. While the percentage is the highest among Central Oregon鈥檚 three counties, it is below the state鈥檚 average of 46.5 percent.
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