HomeMy WebLinkAboutWorkshop 5 Handout 21 | P age
J0726-2022-069-Vikek Community Survey #1 Results
Solid Waste Facility Replacement Planning Project --
HANDOUT #2 for Workshop #5
RESULTS OF COMMUNITY SURVEY #1
Prepared By In association With
23309 100th AVE W
Edmonds, WA 98050
(206) 629-5935
21610 SE 273rd PL
Maple Valley, WA 98038
(206) 715 - 4342
July 21, 2023
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Background
A community survey was hosted on the Jefferson County Solid Waste, Solid Waste Facilities project page. The survey was
live from May 26 to July 11, 2023. The intent of the survey was to learn from community members what was important to
them about services offered at county solid waste facilities, what planning priorities were, and what advice people had for
the county as it pursued plans to rebuild/replace the Solid Waste Transfer and Recycling Facility at Port Townsend.
Survey Promotion
The survey was promoted to Jefferson County residents and businesses in several ways.
• Fliers were included in the Jefferson County PUD June bill mailings. These fliers landed in batches each week of the
month. (See Appendix 1 for copy of flier.)
• Emails were sent to 38 community organizations, companies, and public agencies, with a request to share the
information about the survey with their constituencies. (See Appendix 2 for list of organizations.)
• 1,100 fliers promoting the survey were handed out from May 26 to July 10, 2023, at the Solid Waste Transfer and
Recycling Facility at Port Townsend and the Quilcene Drop Box.
• Hard copies of the promotional flier were distributed to 15 locations with bulletin boards across the county. (See
Appendix 3 for list of bulletin board locations)
Responses Received
Number of survey responses – 319
Response Results
Question #1 – Which facility do you use most frequently.
• Port Townsend – 287
• Quilcene – 27
• No Response – 5
Question #2 - How frequently do you visit the solid waste and recycling facility near Port Townsend?
• Never - 8
• A few times a year – 139
• At least once a month – 130
• Weekly – 41
Question #3 - Do you have any concerns and/or favorable things about the solid waste and recycling facilities you would
like to share?
Themes of Responses to Question #3 (see Appendix 4 for full list of responses)
Wait times.
Many people (25) noted that wait times can be long, especially after holidays, on Tuesdays, and near closing and
opening times. A few respondents (3) acknowledged the long lines but had no concerns about them. Seven (7)
respondents said they had not experienced or observed long lines.
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Ingress/egress issues
The most frequent concern centered around getting into and out of the station, with several suggestions for how
to address the issues. Issues included concern with the intersection at Jacob Miller Road and Discovery Road and
safely accessing the site from the south; vehicles driving in the oncoming lane to reach the recycling area; and
bottlenecked traffic on the inbound lane when the station is busy due to having single lanes for in and outbound
traffic. An often-repeated concern associated with the single access point, was that those who wanted to drop off
recycling or yard waste only, must wait in the same line as those who wanted to drop waste, causing a long wait
due to being stuck in the same single line. Two unique concerns were about the overall length of the scales (too
short for longer truck and trailer to be weighed at one time) and the position of the scale house, necessitating
drivers of garbage trucks and those with truck and trailer having to get out and walk to the scale house to process
payment, etc. One other issue reported was that the cash register/electronic system is too slow or frequently fails
to work properly.
“When the solid waste is being cleaned out, and the waiting area fills up, everyone waits, even the
composting customers, because there is only one lane for the scale booth.”
“Waiting in the line at the scales can waste a lot of time on busy days if you are trying to recycle yard
waste. You have to go through the scales and get weighed, but the line can be very slow due to back-up at
the garbage dump. If you are only picking up City Compost, you should not have to wait in a line for the
scales and the garbage facility. If you are recycling yard waste and picking up compost, you have to go
through the line, go out, and go back through the scale lines twice.”
Suggestions for improvement include separating commercial from residential traffic, separating recycling from
waste traffic, adding lanes on each side of the scale house, and adding a staging area after the scales. Additional
suggestions included adding additional scales and scale house staff. Several people suggested redesigning the entry
so recycle- -only customers could bypass the scales, and yard waste customers did not have to wait behind solid
waste customers to get to their drop-off location. Two respondents suggested reinstating or reinforcing a Jefferson
County residents-only policy to reduce the number of customers.
Hours of operation - Two main themes emerged regarding hours of operation – extend hours of the entire facility
and extend hours of recycling center, even when the rest of the site is closed.
Several people suggested extending the hours and/or days the site is open. Several others suggested keeping the
recycling center open when the rest of the facility is closed. It was clear people did not understand or appreciate
the Monday closure of the transfer station. (5) Another suggestion was to increase the time when compost sales
are open. One specific suggestion was to extend the hours the station is open longer and reserve later times for
garbage trucks only.
“Monday closure is bad for landscapers/gardeners who need to have access to green waste recycling
Monday through Saturday.”
Overall Station Comments – Many commenters (24) noted the station was clean/organized/very well operated.
Others (3) noted that except for wait lines, they were very satisfied with the facility/services. Eight respondents
expressed gratitude for the public service. (8) Several people noted the station needs more capacity (7).
“Beyond wait times I am well satisfied with the service.”
“The station is being overwhelmed”
“The garbage facility needs more capacity and a different staging area.”
“The facility is clearly undersized and near the end of its functionality.”
“I get a flat tire almost every time I go there.”
“I like that I can recycle and dispose of yard waste or trash on one trip. I like that I can buy compost at the
same nearby location.“
Location – This topic was brought up by many respondents. While quite a few (9) noted the convenience of the
current location, several others (5) noted the need for a more centrally located facility, especially given the growth
in other parts of the county away from Port Townsend. Equity of location and services was also brought up. Some
suggested keeping the Port Townsend facility and establishing additional waste or recycling drop spots at more
central locations. A couple of respondents noted there was room for expansion at the existing facility, mentioning
seeing a lot of unused area.
“Wait times seem reasonable to me. If a new facility is built, say, near the Port Ludlow area, the increased
drive times from Port Townsend would far outweigh any wait time at the current facility. Costs to transport
the waste materials would also increase greatly.”
“Equitable access to solid waste facilities is an issue. With closure of Brinnon recycling drop, limited
schedule of Quilcene (3 of 7 days), many residents in rural areas are forced to drive 25 miles to the transfer
center, one way. Residents in Port Townsend whose laws require everyone to subscribe to curbside pickup,
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drive 5 miles. This results in many central and southern county residents finding other means to dispose of
rubbish, or they pay a disproportionate cost to do so.”
“I would recommend that you build a new facility closer to the tri-area UGA. If you really want to serve the
whole county, then you should think about the rest of the county that doesn’t have a Port Townsend
address.”
Staff – More comments were received about the staff than any other topic. And 54 of them were positive, using
superlatives such as friendly, helpful, superb, fantastic, amazing, etc. A couple of commentors asked for more
clarity and assistance when assigning dumping spots. Several respondents noted a need for more staff support at
the toll booth and at the tipping floor. One respondent commented that it appeared disabled folks that sort
recycling were being taken advantage of.
“I fear workers at the transfer station are being overworked. Deeply appreciate all that they are doing for
the community.
“The current configuration exposes staff to a tremendous amount of noise and pollution from vehicles
waiting at the scales, I don’t have the answer to this problem, but I hope that the health of the attendants
is considered in the process.”
Environmental concerns – Specific concerns such as emissions during idling and long-term concerns regarding
environmental impact and sustainability were mentioned, including water use, carbon footprint, and use of
renewable energy.
“Water use and carbon footprint ought to be a primary consideration in the facility design - taking into
account vehicle idling while users are waiting in line, and water involved in preparing items for recycling,
etc. If possible, integrating solar/wind and/or methane cogeneration into the design as a power source
would be even better, to ensure the facility could operate even when the power in the local grid is
compromised.”
Hazardous waste – There was a fairly strong desire for additional hazardous waste collection, either at the site (4)
or via events (2). A couple of respondents lamented the closing of the Port hazardous waste facility.
“Would be especially nice if there was hazardous waste disposal contiguous.”
“The closure of the Port of Port Townsend facility is almost certainly causing more hazardous waste to get
into our environment.”
Recycling – Many people supported the current recycling opportunities at the site (5) and many more wanted to
see additional materials collected, especially plastics (11). A few respondents commented on crowding at the
recycling site both in traffic and overflowing containers. Some respondents believed more education would
improve the quality of materials being collected.
“Concerned about lack of knowledge surrounding proper recycling. Don’t think people pay any attention to
fliers. I would like to figure out a way to get across how to properly recycle.
“I would like more information on electronics recycling.”
“Limited recycling capacity concerns me.”
“Ridwell takes Styrofoam, corks, clothes, batteries, lights. Any way to join forces?”
Reuse – Several respondents (5) mentioned reuse as a positive addition to the recycling services provided at the
site. People were concerned with the number of usable items ending up in the waste stream and saw reuse as an
answer.
“One waste facility I know of has a side area for depositing and purchasing usable items, sort of like a
Goodwill, but more selective.”
“Remarkable and frustrating how many virtually new or still very usable items I see getting dropped at the
transfer station. Allowing patrons, the option of recycling those items and passing them on to others would
be an environmental win. A drop and take spot would be great and a huge environmental win.”
Composting and Yard Waste – There was a lack of clarification in responses as to whether people were talking
about yard waste drop-off or the City of Port Townsend’s composting operation. Several people expressed support
for retaining the compost operation. Several others expressed a desire to be able to compost food scraps. (7) One
participant desired a program to allow people to dispose of yard waste for chipping and reuse, free of charge.
“A place to compost food scraps would be nice.”
“We love the compost operation!”
“Love that the green waste we bring is turned into useable compost.”
Quilcene Drop Box and Port Ludlow and Port Hadlock Recycling Drop Off – Respondents expressed support for
the Quilcene station (8), with one request for it to be expanded. One respondent asked for more open days/hours
and another asked for the site to remain open during lunchtime. Others expressed appreciation for the recycling
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drop boxes at Port Hadlock and Port Ludlow (3), noting the containers sometimes need to be emptied more
frequently.
Usage and curbside collection – Several respondents commented that they do not use the facility frequently,
either due to curbside waste collection, desire to not have to have curbside collection or its lack of availability.
“We don’t need these services often but especially use the yard waste especially seasonally. We also
appreciate the convenience of recycling fluorescent tubes, latex paint, oil, etc.”
“Due to our location, no easy way to get garbage and recycling curbside pickup. Prefer to bring our garbage
and recycling regularly to the County location.”
“I love that I don’t have to contract for garbage pickup, since with recycling and handling my own compost,
I only need to visit once every 9-12 months, so it’s very affordable. I’m more than willing to pay more for
each visit.”
“Don’t force us into home service which doesn’t accommodate large items.”
“Yard waste pickup services for a fee would greatly reduce the amount of waste dumped in our landfill.”
Affordability – This was a very important topic and mentioned by many. Some commented on how affordable the
services are (4) and others expressed a desire to keep it affordable (4). Others noted that raising rates would
encourage roadside dumping. (4) Minimum charge increases, and yard waste fee increases were also mentioned as
concerns by several people.
“Do not encourage roadside dumping with higher rates.”
“I do not want the fees to go up for yard waste to be as high at the trash/dump fee increase. It is not fair.”
Miscellaneous – A few comments were not specific to the solid waste facilities but might be of interest.
“If we don’t have the infrastructure to support the current population then why are we developing more
and more land and allowing the population to increase? This kind of growth is not sustainable. Port
Townsend has an opportunity to stop this madness and be a leader in sustainable community
development.”
“Compost payment should accept credit / debit cards. If not in person, at least online with a voucher.”
“Fewer recyclable products are contributing to the waste stream, re: plastics.”
“I’m working on a proposal for a biomass digester /power plant for our county. The goals are energy
independence / disaster resilience; waste stream reduction ; pollution reduction proximal to Hood Canal
using composting toilets; energy security for food hub cold storage / production.”
Question #4 - As the County thinks about how to address challenges of population growth, lack of capacity, and aging
buildings and facilities, which of the following elements of the planning process are important to you? Pick all that apply:
Responses are listed in order of quantity of elements that were important to people.
Members of the Solid Waste Facilities Task Force have been discussing what is important to them to add to an improved or
new solid waste and recycling facility. They developed a list of ideas to consider. These ideas have not yet been studied or
analyzed to understand how much they would cost or how much space they would take. Also, these ideas would be in
addition to changes that need to be made to improve overall functionality and capacity of the facility.
We would like to hear from you what your level of interest is in this list of ideas that the Task Force has created. For the
first question, we have provided the ideas that were most important to the Task Force members. Please check the box that
best describes your level of interest in the ideas listed below.
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Question #5 – These are the ideas that were of most interest to the Solid Waste Facilities Task Force. How important are
they to you to be considered?
Solid Waste Facilities Task Force’s Most Important
Additional Service Ideas for a New Transfer Station
I Really
Want It
It Would
Be Nice
Happy to
Live
Without It
Limited household hazardous waste disposal for items
such as paint and solvents
132 144 29
Food waste / organics composting 98 94 114
Construction and demolition debris recycling 81 157 61
Drop and take spot, where people can drop useable but
unwanted items and those items are available for others
to take
103 113 88
Question #6 – These are other ideas that were suggested. How important are they to you to be considered?
Additional Service Ideas for a New Transfer Station I Really
Want It
It Would
Be Nice
Happy to
Live
Without It
Space to divert edible food 25 90 188
Repair café for fixable items 58 151 95
Space for recycling for specialty items such as polystyrene
(ex: Styrofoam)
151 114 41
Space to recycle agricultural plastics 84 133 82
Space to collect debris in the event of a disaster 42 153 107
Facility to manage asbestos 21 116 160
A way to showcase the transfer station workers 27 104 168
Viewing area of the working floor for educational purposes 14 77 209
Artists’ exhibit space (especially for the artist in residence
program)
11 52 237
Space for the artist in residence program 12 54 230
Space for volunteers 26 161 111
Classroom for educational purposes 11 76 208
Community meeting / use space 12 32 254
A food hub for agricultural storage and distribution 33 105 165
Asphalt shingle recycling 40 173 82
Question #7 – What advice do you have for the County and the Task Force as they continue to discuss plans to improve or
replace the solid waste and recycling facility at Port Townsend?
Themes of Question #7 responses (see Appendix 5 for full list of responses)
Scope of the project – The most frequently mentioned advice was to avoid “mission creep”, to focus on waste and
recycling as that is the core mission. From the many comments, it seemed apparent that several people did not
understand that the suggested services were in addition to core services, nor did they understand the additional
services were suggestions from the Solid Waste Facilities Task Force.
“Do not waste a single penny on anything that isn’t for the efficient flow of dumping refuse.”
“Focus on the basics, add food recycling and composting.”
“Just concentrate on an efficient facility to handle the growth of the next 30 years.”
Affordability – several people commented on the need to keep rates low; yet a few noted they were willing to pay
for increased services / more open hours.
“Please keep the service affordable and accessible to private citizens.”
“Raising the yard waste fee to $20 is just going to encourage illegal dumping.”
“Really don’t want to see the minimum amounts increased to reduce trips. I fill my car twice a month. It
can’t hold more, nor can I store garbage at home for longer.”
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Rates - As in Question #3, a number of people were opposed to what they had heard about proposed rate
increases for self-haulers and for yard waste.
“Please do not make your facility less viable as an option for waste by doubling your minimum charge. A
change like this seems to punish those who do not overproduce waste, while allowing those who do to
continue unabated.”
“Do not raise the fees for yard waste as high as the trash/dump fees.”
Location – There were mixed responses regarding where the station should be, with quite a few mentioning the
need to be more convenient for the whole county.
“It would be an extraordinary inconvenience and waste of gas to drive all the way out to Hwy 104, or
somewhere else “more central”. Some transfer capability should remain at the current facility.”
“If you’re going to build a new facility, then why not put it closer to everyone else? Wouldn’t it make more
sense to put it somewhere more convenient for everyone?”
“Add a facility in Port Ludlow or Hadlock.”
“Expand Quilcene or add a new station in Chimacum.”
Operational and facility improvements – very similar suggestions to what was heard in Question #3
“More days and longer hours”
“Split access to yard waste from garbage.”
“Improve credit card processing time.”
“Possibly two people in the toll both.”
“Separate facility for commercial and residential”
“Change lane configuration or add lanes to reduce stoppage behind waste lines for recycling and yard
waste customers.”
Curbside collection – a few people suggested expanding curbside collection to reduce small load traffic at the
transfer station.
“Push customers towards curb side collection to reduce small self-haul loads that clog up the queue.”
“Try to work with the solid waste code and the commercial haulers to increase the curbside pickup in the
county and decrease small load self- haulers. A good example would be to require curbside pickup for any
planned development (such as Port Ludlow), ideally in the permitting phase.”
Make it bigger
“Enlarge the entire facility to make sure that there are no shutdowns while compacting garbage. Make
scale house bigger for 2 lanes both directions. Do NOT allow Kitsap County residents to dump here.”
“The facility could be expanded to accommodate growing population, but no need to expand the services
offered at this time.”
Additional services – while most commentors suggested sticking with basic services – waste disposal and recycling
and composting services - there were quite a few who supported the idea of a “Drop and Take” facility, and two or
three people liked adding food waste composting.
“Expanding opportunities for having volunteers fix/retrieve reusable items is great.”
“I like the idea of Drop and Spot of items that can still be used instead of being thrown away.”
Listen to the community – a number of people were appreciative of the opportunity to provide their thoughts.
“Listen to the whole community.”
“Thanks for requesting user input!”
“Listen to the community but have a clear and transparent decision-making process and timeline and stick
to it.”
Increase recycling – like with Question #4, there were many responses requesting more recycling options.
“I wish the county could accept more types of plastics for recycling.”
More education – a few people mentioned that education is necessary to address increases in trash generation
and manage waste into the future.
“Encourage more citizen involvement/education in order to reduce the waste flow and re-purpose more
items that are currently part of the waste flow.”
“I think planning ahead is imperative, but anything that can be done to encourage people to use less, and
reuse and recycle more will become more and more important. “
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Learn from others – several suggested the county talk with other facility owners to learn from them.
“What are other similar rural counties doing across the USA or in other countries? Don’t waste time and
money‚ reinventing the wheel.”
Expand hours/days – there were many suggestions to expand either hours or days open.
“The existing site is only open 5 days a week for 7.5 hours a day (23% of a 7-day week). The other 78% of
the time it’s closed to the public. The first step should be to expand hours open to the public, especially in
the summer. In the summer the transfer station should be open 7 days a week (except holidays), from 8 AM
until 8 or 9 PM.”
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Question #8 – What is your zip code?
98320 - 10
98325 - 20
98339 - 14
98358 - 12
98362 - 2
98365 - 31
98368 - 192
98370 - 2
98376 - 24
98382 - 4
98383 - 1
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Appendix 1 - Copy of promotional flier announcing survey availability.
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Appendix 2 - Organizations to whom emails were sent announcing the flier and asking for help with distributing the
information.
Organization
Rotary Club of East Jefferson County
Port Townsend Main Street Program
StryroCyclers
Jefferson County Immigrant Rights Advocates
YMCA of Jefferson County
OlyCAP
Homebuilders Association
Pt Townsend Marine Trades Association
Lazy C Homeowner's Association
Seamont Homeowner's Association
Quilcene Food Bank
Brinnon Food Bank
Tri-Area Food Bank
Port Townsend Food Bank
Port Townsend Farmers Market
Chimacum Corner Farmstand
Elk Meadows Farm
Count Me In For Quilcene
Quilcene Community Center
Chimacum Grange
Peninsula College at Pt Townsend
Peninsula Housing Authority
Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Local 20/20
Local 20/20 -- Beyond Waste
The Production Alliance
Disability Awareness Starts Here (DASH)
Jefferson County Council of the Blind
Accessible Communities Advisory Committee
Jefferson County Conservation District
Jefferson Land Trust
Red Dog Farm
Midori Farms
Finnriver Farm and Cidery
Spring Rain Farm
Housing Solutions Network
St Vincent de Paul
Artists in Residency and Education (AIRE) at
the transfer station
Jefferson Community Foundation
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Appendix 3 - List of Community Bulletin Boards where promotional fliers were posted.
Community Bulletin Boards
Post Offices:
Brinnon
Quilcene
Chimacum
Port Hadlock
Port Ludlow
Port Townsend
Brinnon:
Half-way House Restaurant
Brinnon General Store
Quilcene:
Henery Hardware
Quilcene Village Store
Chimacum:
Cenex
Port Hadlock:
Carl’s Lumber
Hadlock Building Supply
Port Townsend:
Henery Hardware
Blue Moose Café
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Appendix 4 - Full responses to Question #3
Question #3 - Do you have any concerns and/or favorable things about the solid waste and recycling facilities you would
like to share?
• Long lines
• Wait times can be long. Commercial traffic should be separated from residential traffic. Intersection at Jacob
Miller is problematic. Staff is great.
• I’m very happy the facility is there for public use. I deliver garbage every 6 weeks and bring all my recycling also.
• Wait times are too long. Facility seems to be aging. Single access point is a problem. Commercial traffic should be
separated. Staff is friendly.
• Traffic at the Port Townsend location is bad up to the scales. Once the line gets long, cars start driving in the
oncoming lane to reach the recycling area.
• I like the current format of dumping on a slab under cover. If there was a more efficient way to push the refuse to
the containers (other than a front-end loader with an old mattress), that could speed up the process. I often find
myself waiting for the area to be cleared by the loader. Two attendants in the weigh out booth could also make
things more efficient, as it takes too long for the attendant to service both windows. Otherwise, it’s a good
process.
• Like the people who work there
• Hate that you keep shortening days and hours.
• Very slow process to “clean” the area where garbage is dumped."
• I feel it works fine, but room for more vehicles would be nice.
• The scales overall length is too short for longer truck and trailer. Having to weigh truck and trailer separately takes
time and adds to wait time. Additionally, the scale house window is only positioned for normal passenger vehicles,
drivers of garbage trucks and vehicles with trailers attached must get out and walk back to the scale house window
to process payment etc.
• I have been happy with the services at the Port Townsend facility.
• Cash register never works.
• Cashiers are very professional.
• Two people needed at checking/checkout."
• Should be open on Mondays. Should expand Quilcene.
• It is a great facility. Very clean and organized. Staff is so helpful and friendly.
• Helpful attendant. Would like more options for recycling or reuse donations.
• Lack of separate food waste facility.
• Lack of Sunday hours compresses weekend drop off drives more traffic to weekday hours conflicting with
commercial users.
• We appreciate it greatly. I have been impressed with staff and services. We don’t need these services often but
especially use the yard waste especially seasonally. We also appreciate the convenience of recycling fluorescent
tubes, latex paint, oil etc.
• We pay for pickup service, but also travel to the waste facility almost weekly as our pickup site is far from our
home. We really appreciate the facility and the employees. Everyone is kind and helpful.
• Addressing the line time would be helpful.
• The staff are friendly and helpful.
• The staff have always been fantastic. So helpful, so patient. Thank you.
• Staff always courteous and helpful.
• Wait time seems highly impacted by the time it takes to clear the trash out of the bays, and this is done frequently,
before the bays are full. Is there a way to improve this? Or is it faster or safer to clear a half-full bay than to wait
until it’s full or nearly so?
• I see that moving the facility might be under consideration. I don’t have an issue with making it more central, but
coming in from outside of PT the choice is going the long way around or that nasty crossing of Jacob Miller and
Discovery, where the acute angle makes it hard to see traffic from the side. I’m surprised there aren’t more
accidents there.
• Employees have ALWAYS been nice as I am not a good backer upper. They have lots of patience and I appreciate
them. The folks in the booth have also been great.
• The ability to recycle so many items without paying is such a huge benefit. We are always grateful that this exists in
our small town. We also bring our green waste and love that it is turned into usable compost. These efforts are
really worth it so we hope these can continue.
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• Quilcene is great station please don’t change it. It’s a godsend not to have to go all the way to Port Townsend,
especially since we live 15 minutes south of Quilcene.
• It is quick and easy, hardly ever any wait. One of the premise of this survey is long lines, which I have never
experienced, not sure where this perception is coming from.
• The staff are friendly.
• The only thing I would recommend is to support Tap To Pay (Apple/Google Pay) to speed up the checkout.
• The Quilcene Transfer Stations is a vital part of the local infrastructure and is heavily used. This is the only facility in
South County and the service is valued highly.
• Employees are always polite and friendly!!!!
• Open Monday.
• Open the Hazmat drop at the harbor at least one day a week.
• Make access for recycling and yard waste separate from garbage.
• Duplicate the existing garbage drop area. The area has plenty of room to do so.
• Equitable access to solid waste facilities is an issue. With the closure of the Brinnon recycling drop due to recycling
being “too expensive” to maintain (while all central and north county recycling centers remain open 24x7), the
limited schedule (3 of 7 days) Quilcene, many residents in rural areas are forced to drive 25 miles to the transfer
center, one way.
• Residents in Port Townsend whose laws require everyone to subscribe to curbside pickup” drive “5 miles. This
results is many central and southern county residents finding other means to dispose of rubbish, or they pay a
disproportionate cost to do so. The City of PT has enough power (and money) to resolve its waste management
issues. The county must focus on equitable access to safe, affordable, solid waste facilities.
• I believe Jefferson County needs to retain the Port Townsend waste site and build another elsewhere. We do not
need more traffic on Beaver Valley or Center Road or Hwy 20 flowing out of Port Townsend to haul their garbage.
Additionally, we live on Port Lane, an out-of-town community with a no turn around dead end and a small, fragile
asphalt paved lane. We do not want waste trucks breaking down our land or trying to turn around.
• We live along a private dead-end street that connects to a dead-end public road. There is no road surface durable
on this bluff for garbage trucks or area for a garbage vehicle to turn around or for people to leave garbage cans,
recycling cans and more for pick up by a contracted service. We prefer to bring our garbage and recycling regularly
to the current county location.
• If you were to move the location, more people near Port Townsend but not within the city pick up zone would
dump garbage on roadsides.
• Additionally, if you moved the location farther from the outskirts of Port Townsend, the congestion along the roads
and highways to the facility would further increase. Beaver Valley Road and other roads are already congested.
• Consider opening an additional facility and have open hours at each different days of the weeks.
• The population will always be increasing. We do not need to add more vehicles traveling longer distances to
dispose of waste. We already have roadways that do not meet the current needs of tourists and locals.
• I really wish we could recycle more types of plastics. I HATE that I have to throw away so much into the garbage.
When I lived in Tacoma, I could recycle almost every kind of plastic. Not so here. Here in PT, it’s only plastic bottles
and jugs. It’s shameful how much plastic we are not able to recycle here.
• It is working great for me. I generally go mid-week and avoid near opening and closing.
• Would like to have greater breadth of plastics recycled.
• Expand the hours for recyclable drop-off.
• Big mistakes were made in August 2022 when the type of recyclables were reduced.
• No classrooms are needed. Not the place. The county has many meeting rooms already, most go unused.
• It would be good to have 2 lanes on each side of the weigh station to weigh in and out.
• The staff has always been great to work with.
• Need to accept more types of plastics into the recycling program.
• Great to have the facility available to the individual resident! Would be especially nice if there was hazardous
waste disposal contiguous.
• A place to compost food scraps would be nice.
• We are recyclers. We compact solid waste. We visit the recycling facility one week, and the waste facility twice a
year.
• Signage and visibility has been improved over last 3 years. I don’t see any real safety hazard if people follow the
signs.
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• Quality and consistency of the “floor” staff signaling to drivers vary. Some are good at making eye contact with
drivers waiting their turn; some are not. Staff needs to make it clear by pointing to the lane the incoming driver is
supposed to use; some staff seem to just stand there and driver has to figure out which lane to use.
• In terms of waiting in line, perhaps reinstating the Jefferson County Residents only policy used for a time during
Pandemic would cut down on some customers.
• I learned more in a brief conversation with a Floor worker (while waiting at Stop for the floor to be cleared) about
why Mondays are reserved now for commercial haulers than I learned from any Press Release or official county
notice.
• Some other counties (Snohomish is where I saw this) issue incoming “dumpers” one warning, then a $250 fine if
their load is unsecured. The facility has an entry gate that closes behind the incoming vehicle - helps keep only 1 at
a time on scale, but also apparently prevents people from backing out to avoid the unsecured load fine.
• I think they are very well operated; the staff are helpful and friendly and courteous and efficient. Haven’t really
experienced long wait lines except after holidays, and that’s to be expected. I think they all do a great job!
• The people who work there are wonderful. The operation of the facility is not good, it’s designed for 10 years ago.
• Wait times seem reasonable to me. If a new facility is built, say, near the Port Ludlow area, the increased drive
times from Port Townsend would far outweigh any wait time at the current facility. Costs to transport the waste
materials would also increase greatly.
• No real concerns. It’s always been a quick stop to dump off solid waste. The crew is helpful. The site is generally
pretty clean. The crowds/wait times are minimal.
• I would like to see more plastic recycling options (e.g., yogurt containers)
• The facility is clearly under-sized and near the end of its functionality. But I do like the location as it is close to Port
Townsend.
• There must be a HAZMAT facility at the main transfer station. Closing the existing one in the Port Townsend
Boatyard was a mistake.
• I come all the way from Port Ludlow. A closer facility would be most welcome.
• The Quilcene facility is critical to our area. I hope the plan is to keep it for our community.
• Conveniently located and affordable.
• I also like that they take TVs and other electronics.
• It would be great if they recycled household batteries.
• Residential and commercial should be separate.
• Don’t hire expensive consultants.
• Staff is always friendly and do the best with what they have. No matter how many cars are lined up they do their
jobs with purpose to get the job done.
• I like how close it is to the city of Port Townsend.
• Long wait during peak times
• "The only bad wait times I have encountered are on Tuesdays, the first day open after the weekend, I don’t go on
Tuesday anymore, any other day of the week generally has low wait times.
• I think the scrap metal bins should be moved out to the recycling area, or someplace where it doesn’t become part
of the weight charge since it’s recyclable material
• Staff is friendly
• Waiting in the line at the scales can be waste a lot of time on busy days if you are trying to recycle yard waste. You
have to go through the scales and get weighed, but the line can be very slow due to back-up at the garbage dump.
If you are only picking up City Compost, you should not have to wait in a line for the scales and the garbage facility.
If you are recycling yard waste and picking up compost, you have to go through the line, go out, and go back
through the scale lines twice.
• The garbage facility needs more capacity and a different staging area.
• Scale personnel friendly and professional. Sorry the facility is no longer open on Mondays. Line to get in very long
at times and vehicles wanting to only drop off recycling are in a difficult situation because of only one lane in and
one lane out.
• "It’s great that we can bring our yard waste and have it mulched and reused in the community. We have a small lot
but many trimmings from an overactive gardener.
• We’ve never really had a very long wait at the solid waste facility. The facility is small, but everyone is pleasant and
it’s great for the community. It’s also great that recycling is so encouraged and is well used. With too high of fees,
we will see debris dumped all over the county which will ruin our surroundings as well as impact how this area
looks to our visitor population.
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• It seems great to me. Price is right & the workers are always friendly & helpful.
• 1. It would be helpful to be able to access the recycling area even when the whole facility is closed. This might also
help reduce car volume on other days. 2. The flow of operations is inefficient. Often, you have to wait in line or
risk driving on the wrong side of the road to access recycling. You have to wait in line with all the other landfill
vehicles to get to metal recycling. 3. What drives the time it takes for a person to dump their loads? Is it the
dumping time or the backing the vehicle in time? If latter, could a redesign allow for vehicles to simply drive
through and dump without backing? Another benefit of a site redesign might be that less humans are needed to
direct the vehicles while backing up.
• The staff are always friendly, despite challenging working conditions.
• Yes. While living in NM, the system was FAR MORE efficient than at the facility here. We backed our cars up to
the edge of a drop container, and easily enough, just dropped our stuff into these big waste management containers.
No dropping waste on the floor, then having it pushed around, and up into some other container. Waaaaaay too many
steps and need for employees doing that. Crazy. And at PT, we have to walk in the garbage, slippery sludge on the
floor, and our cars have to back in over that stuff too, which I've seen nails and glass and good grief - who knows
what all. All on the bottom of our shoes, and then we are expected to get back in our cars. CRAZY system. I am glad
the facility is in PT, but there has to be a more efficient and safer way to deal with individuals who need to use the
transfer station. Dangerous, unsafe for all. The system there in NM was posted by one facility manager. It was safe,
clean and economical! We have to do better here.
• Thanks.
• Well organized and easy to access/use.
• It would be nice to access the recycling area after business hours.
• The mix of large commercial waste trucks and residential users bogs things down. Hours should be designated for
each to avoid this logjam.
• Very efficiently managed and I very much appreciate the focus on recycling. The entrance road needs to be
redesigned to allow vehicles with recycle only to bypass the wait at the scales.
• I’m concerned with how often there are equipment issues.
• -- limited open days are problematic. closed Monday? this definitely causes more congestion on open days.
• ---open earlier in the am for commercial use.
• -- not enough designated parking around the recycle bins causes vehicle congestion & confusion.
• Limited Recycling capacity concerns me.
• I have never lived anywhere that had such inexpensive and easy to access solid waste disposal. The service is
fantastic. I understand that changes may need to be made, but please try to keep it as affordable as possible and
easy to access. I've never even had to wait longer than 10 minutes or so.
• More hazardous materials events, more information in electronics recycling. One waste facility I know of has a side
area for depositing and purchasing usable items, sort of like a Good Will, but more selective.
• I do wish that we could do more recycling.
• It is very important to have the recycling center there for us. I also use the drop off site for oil and fluorescent
bulbs. There’s nowhere else to bring glass these days. I certainly hope that the recycling center stays and is
enhanced.
• The recycling facility seems overloaded. Often times not enough room for cardboard or paper.
• The staff are very polite and always quite helpful.
• I live in the county but close to the PT waste facility, so think the location is great. The only problem is that coming
from the south, turning into the facility seems very dangerous. I love that I don’t have to contract for garbage
pickup, since with recycling and handling my own compost, I only need to visit once every 9-12 months, so it’s very
affordable (everything fits in my small Honda Civic hatchback). I'm more than willing to pay more for each
visit. I have never had to wait more than a few minutes for the scales and often drive right on, so haven’t
experienced long wait times. Perhaps the best times to visit could be posted or advertised to help spread this out.
I do think that there should be signage to turn off motors while waiting, however, not just on the scales, to lower
air pollution. I also think it would be worthwhile to have very clear signage on each of the recycling containers
picturing exactly what's okay and what's not. I find with recent changes; I now have difficulty
deciding which plastics are okay from the little mailed brochure - it simply doesn’t list enough examples.
• Would like to see the County work to educate the public more about recycling and what happens to recyclables
when they leave the facility. As well as the importance of cleaning recyclables, as well as the need for reducing use
and I refer the County to WasteReductionResources.com for some examples of community-based recycling centers
which are both attractive and effective.
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• The lack of oversight at the recycling facilities has led to contamination of the recyclables, and the cardboard box
being filled prematurely, because people don’t break down their cardboard. Maybe all it needs is a camera so
people know they’re being watched.
• Friendly staff.
• I am always amazed at what people trash and throw away. Not just by the items but the amounts of garbage.
• I would like to see a yard waste option at the Quilcene site or at least closer than going into PT to drop it.
• As I read the options under the following Questions, there are some under Question 6 that I don’t understand so
an explanation would be helpful, like agricultural plastics. Huh? Etc.
• I think the facility does an admirable job moving cars and trucks through the process of dumping garbage and
recycling yard waste. The folks in the booth are always pleasant and make for a much better experience.
• Seek out and learn from solid waste and recycling facilities nationally and internationally that have the highest,
best and most efficient facilities.
• Easy access, friendly staff. The recycling area is great but crowded. The drive should be one way in and out as the
trash side is, for easier parking and access to the cans.
• No one monitors the recycling area -- which they are required to do by contract -- to make sure that the recycled
materials are not contaminated by garbage, by non-recyclable plastic, etc.
• ENFORCE that contract!
• I especially appreciate being able to recycle cardboard, paper, glass and aluminum. If there is a long line for
garbage, the recyclers are blocked in for a long wait, and frequently risk driving on the wrong side of the road to
get to the recycling lot.
• Bottleneck traffic, when busy, trying to exit yard waste area when dump traffic is exiting as well. Cool heads
sometimes don’t prevail.
• Yes, need a more convenient way to dispose of large amounts of yard waste. When I lived in Moscow, ID, the city
allowed residents to place yard waste like limbs in an area where they’d be chipped and reused, free of charge.
• Also need an easier and more frequent way to dispose of hazardous household materials like paint.
• My landlord won’t pay for trash pickup.
• I’m amazed by the dedicated staff that have been diligently working to provide this public service, stretching during
COVID and enduring as we emerge. Thank you for your service!!
• It can get a little crowded at the recycling area with cars/trucks.
• I’m glad you recycle yard waste which is what I mostly use. Also, glad there is a facility to use for other waste, as
much recycled as possible.
• I guess I’ve been lucky, but my experience has always been good with minimal wait times.
• I get a flat tire almost every time I drop off my trash.
• Obviously, the solid waste transfer station is being overwhelmed. Is there any effort being made to identify users
to confirm that they are from Jefferson County? I feel that our workers at the transfer station are being
overworked. I deeply appreciate all that they are doing for the community. I hope that someone is watching out for
their safety on the job. I have nothing but gratitude for those people.
• I’m concerned about the lack of knowledge surrounding proper recycling in this town. I don’t think people pay
attention to fliers. I try to organize the recycling at the Port before pick-up, but oh my goodness. The containers
will be full of clamshells, plastic bags, paper plates, trash, etc. I would like to figure out a way to get it across how
to properly recycle. This doesn’t have much to do with the facilities, per se.
• I love the staff at the transfer station. They are always super friendly and helpful.
• But as a Brinnon resident I only go there when I have really large loads because it’s cheaper than at Quilcene. It
would be great to have transfer station closer to residents in the south of the county. And fairer.
• Build a new transfer station in the middle of the county so everyone can use it. Not just Port Townsend residents.
Port Townsend people are nice enough but they already get more service than everyone else in the county.
• The Quilcene transfer station is awesome. Very friendly staff and I like that they added more hrs.
• We do not like the long wait times or the long drive but we combine the trip with other errands in town. We
recycle everything we can (responsibly)and we usually only have 2 bags of trash every 6-8 weeks.
• We like driving a short distance to dump our trash and recycling . Driving to Port Townsend would be time-
consuming and a waste of costly fuel for my vehicle.
• The satellite recycling stations at Port Hadlock and Port Ludlow are very convenient.
• Quilcene is a great facility, rarely busy. Attendants are friendly and courteous. The only issue is why is the whole
dump shut down for lunch? I use the recycle weekly and the trash once a month. It is very frustrating to drive all
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the way from Brinnon and find the whole facility shut down for lunch at a variable time each day. Please leave the
recycling open during lunch.
• I have the place figured out and staff is pretty friendly and I make it work.
• I took the tour last year. It’s a great facility and I wish more people knew about it.
• I wish we could drop off Styrofoam.
• The Staff is always friendly.
• Needs an inbound staging area so the booth doesn’t get bogged down & more drop off spaces for faster
turnaround. Compost sales should be open more than 3 days for only 3 hours. Compost payment should accept
credit & debit cards, if not in person at least online with a voucher.
• Also need a disposal vessel for contaminated water other than antifreeze.
• Concerns: 1) Better communication with the general public users of the J.C. Solid waste facility in PT. IE, twice this
spring I arrived at the facility around opening hours only to find the facility closed. The first time was due to the
new weekly schedule that closes the facility to the public on Mondays. I understand this decision was made to
allow better use of the SWF for operational purposes. I assume this schedule change decision was made weeks, if
not months, in advance. The general public could have easily been notified by a variety of methods like temporary
signs tacked to the existing signage along the entrance road, in the recycling area, on the scale building. The second
unexpected closing was d/t staffing issues that has been common lately and likely unavoidable. 2) Another item to
mention are the new signs at the waiting area for vehicles entering the solid waste building. Unfortunately, the
lower signs on the left lane block much of the view of the staff directing traffic into the facility. They should be
raised or rearranged to avoid an accident and frustration of staff and users. Thanks.
• Operations appear to be professionally run. I have had no problems using the site.
• The current location is very convenient for me. I like that I can recycle and dispose of yard waste or trash on one
trip. I like that I can buy compost at the same nearby location.
• First, thank you for providing a place to recycle consumer products as well as HHW like motor oil, anti-freeze,
bulbs, and for providing a facility to process yard waste. It is valuable and will only be more cost effective with a
growing population and higher transfer/landfill costs.
• Regarding Styrofoam, you have posted where it can be recycled, no need to incorporate in your limited space.
• Keep it affordable.
• I appreciate the facility and the staff and acknowledge that they are working hard and doing the best possible job
with the facilities they have.
• Would love to have access to recycling 24/7 or at least extended hours since it doesn’t need to be weighed.
• It’s obvious the staff works really hard to keep the area as clean and orderly as possible.
• Kudos to your friendly and cheerful staff I encounter at the scales.
• Some suggestions below on ideas to make it run more smoothly.
• Enjoy the ladies that work there.
• I am thankful that you are providing this service and impressed by the options available. It is easy to access and
employees are friendly and helpful.
• I have heard that the minimum charge will double soon. The house I live in doesn’t have the capacity to store or
transport that much waste, therefore we will be overcharged by 100% of a minimum charge that we currently
rarely meet on a dump run. This is concerning.
• Once a year we take yard waste from vegetation removal for composting. We love to be able to do that, otherwise,
we would need a contractor I suppose.
• We’ve dropped large solid waste items once or twice.
• The facility is a convenience to drive to and the staff is always hard working and courteous.
• Need to separate the traffic flow between waste and recycling. The wait is for regular waste and recycling would
move along much quicker if separated.
• The staff is superb...always thoughtful, courteous, and gracious answering questions. They watch for metal that
can be put in the metal bins. They never seem irritated or short when it is busy. Love their cheerfulness and smiles.
• I usually go to recycle with paper/cardboard to recycle...I find it difficult to put it out appropriately for recycle
pickup in Port Townsend. This last week was the first time I have arrived and both the cardboard and paper
completely full. The extra open containers for paper were not there. I took everything home to come back at a
later date.
• Hazardous waste...not sure what is happening. I was at the haz waste facility last spring on the last day your
employee was there...ready to retire. He shared with me that things would be changing....but I need more
information. Another flyer will certainly help.
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• Addendum to #5: drop & spot...we already have way to get rid of this stuff: FB, Craigslist. Perhaps expand the days
for appliance drop-offs....work with the metal place at 4 corners. Construction & demolition...raise their rates.
Raise OUR rates! Then maybe folks will reach out to social media platforms to find new homes for that 5-year-old
sofa that is just fine, thank you. Addendum to #6. Work with existing programs to deal with food: vegetable and
animal farms that rely on composting and bedding and feed . It exists on an unofficial level. Sponsor an
event/workshop to deal with this level of food production. Schools. Recovery Cafe. Food banks. Some farmers may
just be dumping at your facility....Huddle with the farmers market to chat with their vendors and talk to THEM!
• "I don’t find the wait at the scale house to be unreasonable at this time, but I suspect it depends on the day and
hour. The Public Works employees at the solid waste facility are efficient and very helpful in directing traffic at the
transfer station. The woman in the scale house is by far the most dedicated for a thankless job.
• I do appreciate the green waste facility and find it the most beneficial for my needs.
• Please do not raise the yard waste fee from 5.00 to 20.00. We live in a historic home and try to keep our gardens
nice for the tourists so we have a lot of yard waste to recycle. We do not have any place to store the higher
poundage increase that you want to implement. In fact, the common person does not have this type of storage.
Everybody will have multiple garbage cans all over their yards that neighbors will have to tolerate. It will ruin the
look of the town.
• Basically, it’s adequate, however, adding more moderate hazardous waste options is important. The closure of the
Port of PT facility is almost certainly causing more hazardous waste to get into our environment.
• It’s remarkable and frustrating how many virtually new or still very usable items I see getting dropped at the
transfer station. Allowing patrons, the option of recycling those items and passing them on to others would be an
environmental win. Yes, it takes space and there are likely legal / liability hurdles, but the environmental benefits
would be great. I still have and use items I’ve scrounged at the landfill and even 50 years ago at the glass beach
dump. A drop and take spot would be great and a huge environmental win.
• Fantastic staff.
• Environmental center is super important. I wouldn’t know how to (or be able to) dispose of batteries, fluorescents,
etc. otherwise.
• Would be wonderful to have more hours.
• Well used and well run.
• Friendly, hard-working people at the facility.
• Need more enforcement against wishcycling. I see too many contaminants in the bins when I recycle. Seeing
contaminants makes me think that I am wasting my time.
• I just moved here from Idaho. I was pleasantly surprised to see how organized and clean the facility was. The staff
are very friendly and welcoming. I was amazed at the ease of ability to drop off my trash, especially the recycled
items. I noticed sharps, oil, fluorescent light area as well. I have only dropped of yard waste once. That as well
was very simple. I saw your composting while there. Very impressive. My thoughts were, “I am so glad they are
putting the time and money forward to proactively take care of our planet.”
• Thanks to the people that guide us through checking in and out and the folks who guiding us into the dumping
stalls. They are so friendly, always offering a smile and kind spirit.
• If we don’t have the infrastructure to support the current population then why are we developing more and more
land and allowing the population to increase? This kind of growth is not sustainable.
• Port Townsend has an opportunity to stop this madness and be a leader in sustainable community development.
• I believe the site is fine as is and does not need any improvements.
• Helpful and friendly staff.
• I like that the facility is close to the City compost facility and recycling area.
• I’ve often seen “usable” materials in the transfer site and have wondered if there would be a way to separate out
some of those usable items for re-purposing.
• Can gravity be used to more effectively move materials and/or use of conveyor belts?
• Create a separate, or at least designated lane/scale, for incoming and outgoing semi-trucks. For example, see the
Port Angeles Transfer Center. Also create an asphalt or concrete pad for all loaded and unloaded semi-truck trailers
hauling refuse.
• We like the close proximity to our house (near Jefferson County Airport).
• Thank you for doing your best to meet the needs of a growing community. That being said, the number of items
that are able to be recycled at the PT facility is very limited and currently requires that I give many of my
recyclables to friends and family who live elsewhere, which is not something many people I know in PT are willing
or able to do, so they just end up in the landfill, taking up space. My sincere hope is that one of the highest
priorities as you plan this expansion is increasing the type and volume of recyclables able to be taken in at the PT
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facility. Thank you. In addition, water use and carbon footprint ought to be a primary consideration in the facility
design - taking into account vehicle idling while users are waiting in line, and water involved in preparing items for
recycling, etc. If possible, integrating solar/wind and/or methane cogeneration into the design as a power source
would be even better, to ensure the facility could operate even when the power in the local grid is compromised.
• The need to recycle more varieties of plastic.
• Works for me so far.
• We love the staff at the transfer station.
• We appreciate having this facility in our community. Our experience has been favorable during the past 3 years
that we have been under construction here in Port Townsend.
• You need to move the entrance for the waste and recycling facility so that the line for garbage and the line for
clean greens is separate.
• Right now, you have to wait until you can squeeze by to get to the land fill area. Somehow you have to move the
pay booth. The whole area needs to be reconfigured. There is so much room down below for clean greens and no
room for garbage.
• I am concerned that not enough is being recycled. We should be able to recycle our compost with our yard waste.
The commissioners need to lobby the legislature to pass a Bottle Bill similar to Oregon’s current bottle bill. This
would remove a lot of the recyclables from the recycling facilities and move them to the supermarkets. In the
State of Oregon one can recycle juice bottles as well as water bottles and beer and soda bottles and cans.
• The staff members are professional and helpful.
• I generally have a good experience with the solid waste and recycling facility, and I can appreciate that growth is
causing us to outgrow the current facility. This is perhaps a hidden downside to all the growth our area is
experiencing. So much garbage!
• Vehicle queuing space is very limited. Ideally solid waste and recycling queues should be separated near the gate to
minimize wait times. Separation of commercial vehicles and other large loads from small householders would have
benefits. I would like to see recycling area add bins for small metal items which otherwise will go to trash
(Peninsula Recycling works only for large items like vehicles or construction metal debris). Otherwise, solid waste
service has been very good in my opinion.
• "1. Facility traffic could be processed quicker with separate travel lanes allowing yard waste customers to bypass
backed up dump customers. 2. Closing the entire facility on Mondays causes huge lines on Tuesdays. Please
reopen the facility on Mondays.
• I usually go to recycle once a month with cardboard and paper, rather than place at the curb. I’ve never had a
problem until last week...everything was full and the open bins that are usually there were not. I usually make a
trash run about 4 times a year. I have an area at my property where I accumulate items that do not fit in my trash
can (I only have service every other week).
• I remain unsure about haz waste drop off. When & where. I happened to go to the haz mat at the Boat Haven on
the last day it was open. It is not something I need to use often. I appreciate the small building at recycle for
batteries, bulbs, oil. I only need to use it about once a year. I am able to pick day/and time of day to avoid wait
lines. I am able to travel further out of Port Townsend to recycle etc.
• Everyone that works at solid waste & recycle is always friendly and helpful! I do understand the economics of
limited recycling for a small community. I am one of those folks who are striving to limit purchasing products with
lots of packaging and I use the bulk sections in grocery stores. I do hope the listening to the community is
sincere...City of Port Townsend has not been listening to opinions about various topics as of late, although I have
heard road repair equipment is being upgraded.
• The current facility is bottlenecked. Wait to get on the scale or wait on the scale. The area after the scale but
before the tipping floor only holds 12 average vehicles. That’s drastically decreased. If you have 3 trailers behind
those couple trucks and then throw a garbage truck (me) in the mix. Here comes the backups! The main awning
over the floor is in rough shape. I personally think wait times could easily change if hours of public use was 9-2 and
commercial only 2-5. Closing at 4:30 is ridiculous!!! I have picked up garbage in Jefferson County for nearly 2 years
now and work 11–12-hour days 362 days a year just collecting it and hopefully making the dump before close if
they are open could be one of those 14 holidays they get off. The routes just keep getting bigger by the week, but
the time to get to the dump doesn’t.
• Better ingress and egress, which would necessitate additional scales and fee takers.
• Staff are very friendly but the lines can be very long at times. Especially on weekends.
• I believe in recycling. I find it difficult though due to the rules for recycling. I believe there needs to be, if possible,
consistent rules of what is recyclable.
• I appreciate having a recycling place in Hadlock as well as Port Ludlow.
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• Less recyclable products are contributing to the waste stream re: plastics.
• Long lines at the booth with only one checker. This is akin to when PT Paper had only one truck scale.
• It is a fast and efficient service, and over the past 20 years using it, I have rarely had to wait more than 5 minutes.
We find the cost reasonable, and since we are on a fixed income, that is important to us. We do not want to
encourage roadside dumping!
• I appreciate the attempts to recycle and recover hazardous materials like oil/bulbs/etc. at no cost. I realize that
dealing with waste costs money, but I am concerned that as minimum charges increase, this will result in more
scofflaws dumping in roadsides and unsupervised areas to avoid the cost.
• Very well run. Slow credit card machines.
• Quilcene is an impressive facility for a small town. It serves a HUGE area. Most important to our family is the
variety of recycling and ability to dispose safely of various tricky items like new-fangled light bulbs, batteries, oil,
paint, chemicals, etc. We don’t want to soil the earth with these things, but we need a place to take them to that
receives them. We live 40 minutes from Quilcene, but that is way better than an hour to PT in traffic. Attendants
at Quilcene are also excellent. Wish there were more days and hours at Quilcene, but better some than having to
go way up to PT.
• The wait time for trash has grown considerably (waiting for the guy to push the trash into the basement).
• Otherwise, all staff are very helpful and friendly: pay clerks, waste personnel, recycle people.
• I don’t like having to drive all the way to Port Townsend with large loads.
• It works well as is.
• The staff are always personable and friendly to deal with. The line can get to be long at times.
• The facility works fine for me. Wait times are appropriate and adequate. fees are appropriate and adequate. As a
monthly user, I see no need for a new facility.
• I like the facility as it is and continue to use it on a monthly basis.
• concern is that “recycling” is not “clean” meaning stuff is still going out that is not truly recyclable and does it really
contaminate the “clean” stuff. Wish we had composting of kitchen waste.
• Would love to have a composting option.
• Would like a wider range of aluminum, e.g., lids, and plastic items to be able to be recycled.
• A more efficient system of dumping the trash, i.e., not backing a car into a limited number of slots.
• Friendly attendants.
• Just long lines.
• Long term environmental impact and sustainability.
• Monday closure was a stupid move, especially for landscapers/gardeners who need to have access to the green
waste recycling Mon-Sat.
• Port Hadlock recycling bins need emptied more often.
• Your staff is amazing. Very friendly and professional. We have never had a problem going there.
• Enjoy the friendly people. Like to be able to take our waste when we need to do so rather than having to be forced
into home service which really doesn’t accommodate larger items. Concerned that getting all fancy will result in
higher prices and more trash along the road and dumped in remote areas.
• The dangerous road crossing at Jacob Miller and Discovery as well as the turn into the facility off of Jacob Miller
seem like they should be reworked for traffic safety.
• Not enough recycling options for plastic & tetrapack (milk cartons)
• Nice job removing H. Blackberry infestation on knoll along road to yard waste area.
• There needs to be a way to dispose of garden and yard waste other than tossing it into the landfill via our garbage
collection trucks. There could be yard waste pick up services for a fee. It would greatly reduce the amount of solid
waste dumped in our landfill. Not all of us have the capacity to haul our yard clippings to the yard waste facility in
Jeffco. near Port Townsend. We also need more recycling options for plastics.
• Yes, why did you close the facilities on MONDAYs -- When there is a backlog it is due to closing on Mondays.
• Very important to us. It is an affordable way for us to dispose of our trash and recyclables especially since we are
on a fixed income. Very much appreciate the people and facility.
• I have read on Nextdoor that people from other counties are using the Jeff County site. To control usage, we
suggest that only Jefferson County residents use the Jefferson County facilities. This can be done by checking IDs.
• Always a courteous crew on arrival
• Keep it simple and sustaining.
• I’ve seen discussion of doubling the minimum fee as a way to discourage frequent visits. The last time this was
done trash started showing up along roads (including our private road) and at trailheads in the area. I’m not
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looking forward to more of that. This also seems unfair to rural residents who don’t have commercial trash pickup
options.
• I’m working on a proposal for a biomass digester /power plant for our county. The goals are energy independence /
disaster resilience ; waste stream reduction ; pollution reduction proximal to Hood Canal using composting toilets;
energy security for food hub cold storage / production.
• Have always found the waste and recycling facilities efficient and well-run. We mainly use the recycling facility now
and find it even more user friendly with the bins duplicated on each end. Thanks!
• I actually find the transfer station well run and efficient. Also, it is convenient to have recycling at the same
location as garbage disposal.
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Appendix 5 - Full responses to Question #7 – What advice do you have for the County and the Task Force as they continue
to discuss plans to improve or replace the solid waste and recycling facility at Port Townsend?
• Listen to the whole community.
• Push customers towards curb side collection to reduce small self-haul loads that clog up the queue. Separate
facilities for commercial and residential. Keep it simple and affordable. Just the basics is fine although having
room to expand programs is a good idea. Locate in a remote area to reduce nuisance factor.
• Make it bigger. Move it somewhere away from people. Have separate lines for different types of customers. The
intersection at Jacob Miller Rd is a real problem. Put it on a main route that has good access. Since I only go about
once a year I don’t really care where it is as long as it checks all the other boxes for what is needed. These people
who go there every week to drop off a few pounds of garbage need to get with the times and either get curbside or
figure out how to consolidate their loads. I’ve lived here (Port Townsend) 25 years and have probably been to the
transfer station fewer than 20 times. And that’s with more than 1 house remodel project.
• After looking at those questions, do not waste a single penny on anything that isn’t for the efficient flow of
dumping refuse. Nobody wants to hang out at the dump in a classroom or for art exhibits. Please be reasonable
and just keep it a dump.
• More days and longer hours would be a great first step. Happy to pay more for that.
• Be frugal.
• Using a similar approach apron to the scales as done at the Clallam County transfer station would greatly improve
traffic.
• Would like to see some of the above but also would want to keep cost down.
• I have a gardening business. I love being able to collect cardboard from recycling thank you!
• Expand Quilcene’s dump or add a new one in Chimacum that can take trailer loads of garbage.
• Being able to compost food waste would be ideal! It would really cut down on the amount of garbage.
• Consider biodigester for food waste with some equipment or hot water to run on methane gas (reducing fuel
purchases). And sell the resulting compost.
• There is discussion of developing a new site. Unless there is a very large state or federal grant for the project you
are going to be hard pressed to get funding. The existing site is only open 5 days a week for 7.5 hours a day (23%
of a 7-day week). The other 78% of the time it’s closed to the public. The first step should be to expand hours open
to the public, especially in the summer. In the summer the transfer station should be open 7 days a week (except
holidays), from 8 AM until 8 or 9 PM. In order to get people to come outside of the normal 9-4:30 hours JCSW
might need to do some advertising and marketing and might even offer reduced rates for residential garbage and /
or yard waste customers who come say, after 5 PM.
• Seems like you are going about this the best way possible . We think the main concern should be on the basics &
expansion to keep up with increased demands as economically as possible regardless of location. Frills - not so
much.
• Stick to the services that are crucial.
• We’re just really thankful the facility exists!
• I wish the county could accept more types of plastics for recycling.
• Split access to yard waste from garbage. Improve credit card processing time. Possibly two people in toll both.
• Focus on the basics, add food recycling and composting.
• There has to be a better way to dispose of mattresses, they take up a lot of space. I like the idea of Drop
and Spot of items that can still be used instead of being thrown away.
• Recommend focusing on the actual issue instead of art. Why is that even part of this discussion? I fear it diverts
attention from the important issues facing the solid waste and recycling situation. Also - assume you are
investigating this but is there information about whether Seattle composting efforts have reduced trash levels? It
seems that there may be interest here in implementing a composting program if it would help and could be done
cost effectively.
• Build a second facility comparable to Port Townsend in addition to improving that location to get ready for next 20
years and increased capacity needed. Population is only going to increase. Do it now before it becomes cost
prohibitive. Near Hadlock, Chimacum, Ludlow, Irondale but away from communities.
• The current facility works great for me, it is quick, easy, convenient, and economical. If there are issues on the
backside, in the handling of the waste, yes, let’s address that, but personally, if the project is to cut the wait time
from 10 minutes to 5 minutes for customers , I think that is ridiculous.
• Stick to needs, not wants, of the solid waste and recycling center.
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• Duplicate the existing drop area so that when one is stopped for the skip loader, the other is still working.
Duplicate the ticket booth so there can be two cashiers. Open every weekday. Separate the lanes for recycling,
garbage and yard waste. Get the hazmat facility at the harbor open at least one day a week...it saves a lot of nasty
stuff hiding in the regular trash. Forget meeting areas and artists...we have Fort Worden!
• It would be great if some pressure could be put on companies that package using large amounts of plastic and
cardboard, for example many things that Costco sells.
• Focus. Many of these questions have nothing to do with solid waste. I suspect few want to go attend a classroom
that’s immediately adjacent to the fragrant transfer station. Solve the solid waste issues first. Education, artist
space, community repair centers, and other issues can come as separate concerns.
• Whatever you do, do not abandon the Port Townsend waste and recycling facility. Yes, population growth is
coming. Add another facility in the county elsewhere.
• This facility does not need to increase services. It does need to stay operational to serve the needs of county
residents.
• Increase recycling of plastics, styrofoam and other things that we currently are unable to recycle in the Port
Townsend area.
• Keep it as simple as possible.
• The task force has operated in a vacuum if these are the ideas that are being proposed. How can you present such
things as classrooms, food storage, etc. Classrooms: Just in Port Townsend, we have underutilized school
classrooms and other buildings now. For example: Salish Coast was built for 600 kids and there are currently
around 400+ there. More: One of the “selling” points of the Salish Coast build was the intent of having a meeting
room that could be used by the public after school hours. Food storage: Near a solid waste deposal facility? Please
explain the logic.
• Please focus on the primary purpose of the landfill/disposal site.
• Raising the yard waste fee to $20 is just going to encourage illegal dumping. As a landscaper in town, I cannot fill
my truck and wait to dump it. I will also never be able to fill it worth of 800 lbs. of waste. It is just not big enough. I
usually have to empty my truck that day so I can use my truck the next day. I get that you are trying to encourage
people to go less but sometimes that is just not possible.
• A lot of what we dispose of as waste are those non-recyclable, rigid salad greens and berry containers. Cellophane
would work just as well. Consider banning rigid container from sale in food outlets.
• Keep it simple. People need a place to take their trash/recycling; all these ideas about “amenities” and such will
only lead to a more expensive facility to build, maintain and staff. County struggles now to find enough employees
to maintain staffing levels so why do anything that increases the need for staff? Understand that price hikes are
coming; kind of justified with no rate increase since 2014. But expecting people who do not have curbside
trash/recycle pickup to ”hold” their trash or yard waste for longer periods and somehow that makes the higher
rates seem less impactful is just silly. That’s asking people to buy more garbage/yard waste cans and find a way to
store it for longer. I can fit 2 standard garbage cans in my SUV. If I had to “hold” onto my waste longer to reach the
volume/time schedule the county wants, I can still only fit 2 cans in my SUV. For anyone without a pickup truck, it’s
just impossible and will likely lead to more improper or illegal dumping. Same goes for yard waste. Expecting a
customer to delay their trips for weeks to somehow make the impending price hike seem less of a price hike, is just
silly. Where would someone store 2 or 3 weeks of yard waste on their property? The justification I heard from Mr.
Cairns in his report to City Council about yard waste just makes no sense - who has space on their city lot to hold
yard waste for weeks at a time? Reflecting on the survey choices above, it seems slanted toward “Adding”
services/amenities when the “keep it as economical as possible” is the last choice. In this day and age, that needs
to be FIRST choice.
• I highly recommend you talk to Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (WLSSD) in Duluth, MN. Due to federal
mandates St. Louis County and Duluth, MN have created a transfer station and landfill second to none. The
transfer station has areas where usable items are separated from trash, placed in covered areas where customers
can take recycled items such as furniture, yard and garden implements, counter tops, toys, bicycles, windows,
doors, etc. at no cost. Trash is then separated into open trailers by metal, wood, shingles, etc. No household
“garbage” is accepted at this station. Either the homeowner uses local trash haulers or takes their household trash
to the 27th Avenue garbage location. This location also handles household hazardous waste.
• Enlarge the entire facility to make sure that there are no shutdowns while compacting garbage. Make scale house
bigger for 2 lanes both directions. Do NOT allow Kitsap county residents to dump here.
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• Based on your questions, it looks like you are going far beyond what is necessary. (Artist exhibit space, classroom,
food hub?? You must be kidding.) Have you, including the outside consultant, considered improving the current
facilities?
• It’s a waste and recycling center. It’s not an artist studio. It’s not a classroom for education. It’s not a place to sell
used materials (we already have waste not want not, Good Will, Habitat for Humanity). It’s not a place for
businesses (e.g., construction workers to dump their garbage). It’s not a place to divert edible food (we already
have a food bank and other services in town to address this). Expanding your recycling center would be a great
idea. We accumulate so many plastic bags and yogurt cartons. If we could recycle them, it would be great!
Expanding opportunities for having volunteers fix/retrieve reusable items is great. But most importantly, don’t
waste money on silly things (see above). The city/county has a ton of issues that need to be addressed (water and
sewage lines, potholes in streets, etc...). Wasting money on converting our waste and recycling center into an
artist’s studio or an educational center, or a food bank... is just silly. Who comes up with these ideas?
• Olympic Disposal will not drive down my road, so I have to self-haul and it’s a lot of work. It would be an
extraordinary inconvenience and waste of gas to drive all the way out to Hwy 104, or somewhere else “more
central”. Some transfer capability should remain at the current facility. I would love it if Olympic had a smaller
truck option for roads like mine (McMinn Rd). though to be honest I think they could get a truck down my road if
they really wanted to.
• Add a facility in Port Ludlow or Hadlock.
• Classes/artwork and meetings should be far away from the dump. No one wants to stay any longer at the dump
than they have to.
• Just concentrate on an efficient facility to handle the growth of the next 30 years. If some useless “art/artist”
{profanity} gets some extra funding, fine. But involving volunteers or the community just invites wasting good
money and complicates the design, not to mention liability. The facility should be a facility. Nothing else.
• Some of the questions are little odd for a solid waste and recycling facility. The biggest function is to provide a
facility that is large enough for future growth to the community. Promote more efficient recycling of different
items that, at this time, are not being recycled at one location. Having the residents of a particular area of the
county have to drive to different locations to recycle i.e., paint, solvents or other hazardous materials seems
counterproductive. But some of us do it, and others, well not so much. Also, consider having a separate entrance
for the large semi-trucks that need to go to the facility to pick up the solid waste for furtherance to their final
destination. Just noticed that they are in the same lane to enter the facility. This would speed up the process of
entering the facility as well as getting those that need to pick up the waste for their final destination elsewhere.
• Provide a service to crush junk RV or boats like Snohomish county does for county residents.
• Please bear in mind that deferred maintenance in the cities/towns in Jefferson County is already increasing
property taxes considerably. We don’t need a state-of-the-art waste management/recycling facility worthy of a
metropolitan area, even if you factor in the growth potential of Jefferson County in the next decade or two. We are
still, and will be in the future, a rural county.
• I work at a business in town that accepts plastic bottles, cans, and bottles. At home, I remove all lids and rinse all
food/beverage containers before they go into the recycling for curbside pickup. At work, the public at large does
none of those things. I understand that rinsing containers cuts down on yellow jackets and other pests. My
understanding is that the sorting machines cannot handle lids so what happens to all the bottles that don’t have
their lids removed, do they go into landfill? It is not practical for me or anyone else to go through all of the bottles
deposited by the public and remove lids. I don’t know the ins and outs of the recycling process so I don’t feel
qualified to offer a solution, but I would like to see one.
• Don’t make the site into something it isn’t, like an art gallery.
• I think they do a great job right now, but we do need to look to the future. I think that looking for ahead, and in the
most economically feasible manner possible is the best option.
• Staging area for garbage collection traffic that does not block traffic to yard waste recycling and City Compost.
• If they had two attendants at the scales on busy days, it could help with traffic flow, as well as one attendant
directing the lanes to go to off load.
• I like the current location.
• Focus on the situation at hand. Artists at the solid waste /recycling center! Really? Consider a food program away
from the waste facility - not a good association to have waste and fresh food distribution at the same facility. Let
alone, how would that make the participants feel having to pick up the food items to supplement their need at
‚”dump”. Community meeting space - again, not a good association. An actual community center, away from the
solid waste facility would be more in line with the needs of the community.
• Good luck.
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• 1. Would LOVE to have food waste composting site. 2. Please stay focused on the must haves and don’t let the
scope get too big that we can’t get the must haves done correctly. 3. Thanks for requesting user input!
• It would be great to be able to recycle more materials!
• Wow, I guess I would not suggest being everything to everyone. Let’s keep the focus on disposal.
• Avoid mission creep, just improve the basic system we currently have. No need for classrooms or art, nobody goes
to the dump to learn or look at art. There are places already in the community for that, we just need to recycle and
get rid of our trash in a cost-effective way.
• Focus on recycling, composting, and measures that encourage the reduction of solid waste.
• More recycling options, raise costs as needed, and differentiate commercial and residential users.
• Food and organic matter recycling would be great although it presents lots of challenges.
• '-- limited open days are problematic. closed Monday? this definitely causes more congestion on open days. --
Charge a more appropriate minimum for small loads- 25$ ? to motivate people to consolidate their trash & less
trips. ---open earlier in the am for commercial use. Separate dump area for commercial materials. -- not enough
designated parking around the recycle bins causes vehicle congestion & confusion. -- Do NOT expand to the Cape
George access area. There is plenty of room for growth around the current footprint.
• Thank you for collecting input. There is so little recycling, repurposing, and repairing options in this county. It feels
like I’ve stepped back in time.
• Please keep the service affordable and accessible to private citizens.
• Focus on recycling that actually recycles.
• This does not seem to be the location for a community center, classroom, or artist workshop. Better to look at
those downtown or at Fort Worden.
• Clearly the facility is too small and short staffed to deal with the growth of Eastern Jefferson County. If there is no
easy and FREE way to get rid of waste, people will dump it in their back yard or public lands. Jefferson County
should offer as many services as possible to get rid of all types of waste and make it free or extremely low cost so
that people are encouraged to take the time to drop off their waste. The high property values should be generating
tax income for the County to expand facilities and services. Regarding meeting places, how about working with the
City of PT? For instance, the Mountain View gymnasium and room below, it is seriously underutilized by the YMCA.
• I think planning ahead is imperative, but anything that can be done to encourage people to use less, and reuse and
recycle more will become more and more important. I think it’s important to make the facility as energy efficient
and non-polluting as possible. I think better education and signage can help, but I don’t see the need for classroom
or meeting space, as these can be found elsewhere in our community. Ditto for other ideas, such as edible food
(the Food Bank), etc. I really like the idea of being able to offer re-useable building materials, furniture, etc. I once
took a small end table someone had left but was worried that that wasn’t actually allowed. I also see lots of
plywood and lumber, and it’s a shame to add that to a landfill. Several of the questions above were difficult to
answer. For example, I already compost, so am happy without it, but I really want that for other people who can’t
(or won’t) compost at home. I think the current Pt. Townsend facility is in a good location but perhaps setting up
something similar to Quilcene’s in the Tri-Area would lessen traffic congestion, save gas, etc. Perhaps it could have
an automatic pay system (similar to parking un-manned garages?) to help offset costs. Any recycling/re-use area
should be as free as possible, but I think most people can afford to pay more for garbage, and maybe raising those
costs would encourage them to recycle more. Also, many cities offer free or low-cost composting containers, which
more people might take advantage of (possibly volunteers could build worm bins to distribute).
• Refer to Wastereductionresources.com for ideas such as 2 facilities. Signal and Clarksville good examples of what
can be done.
• I know it reeks of a nanny state, but a huge amount of solid waste from construction sites is actually recyclable. I
suggest that construction permits include a requirement for on-site recycling facilities for metals, paper/cardboard,
asphalt shingles, sheet rock, wood off-cuts except pressure-treated, etc.
• It seems that the amount of waste has increased significantly in recent years, that the efforts to educate and
indoctrinate “use it” attitude has changed. Waste is expensive so another facility is needed. Similarly, that facility
will be overused as well, unless/ until individual / household practices change. What about a carrot approach?
Allow individuals to purchase a card similar to the Orca card (used by King County for bus/ transit/ ferry riders). It
would create a record of the individual’s use of the facility by weight and individuals could volunteer to participate
in a program to reduce the amount in succeeding years or whatever period of time is gauged.
• I am disappointed about the changes in recycling plastics lately, however. I am throwing away too much plastic!
Would be nice if a pit could be made (like in Seattle) to throw garbage into instead of having to walk around on
stinky, sticky, smelly cement...this would also eliminate the need for clearing the floor and creating long lines while
this process is carried out.
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• Seek out and learn from solid waste and recycling facilities nationally and internationally that have the highest,
best, and most efficient facilities.
• Focus on the primary mission – to safely dispose of solid waste in the most cost-effective manner possible. All of
the other frills listed in Question #6 are absurd wastes of public funds. “Happy to live without it” means “NO. Stop
wasting time talking about such nonsense.” Provide recycling to the greatest practical extent. Provide a true
commercial composting facility that can handle all materials including plates, cups, utensils designed to be
composted. If this is not possible, do not duplicate what the City’s composting operation is currently doing, even
though that operation is so limited in capability.
• Put effort into making this a good place to work. Good equipment and maintenance space, break rooms, etc.
Better traffic flow plan. Good place to sort recyclables for inevitable mistaken items. Love the idea of an artist area
where they can repurpose items for art, but this may require too much space since the priority must be garbage.
Also love the idea of having space to drop off gently used items that Goodwill won’t take, but this requires hiring
people to screen stuff up front. Good luck with planning, financing, securing locations and getting it all done! Thank
you for this work.
• I see lots of ideas above for improving services, but here’s my main comment...As our local population grows with
relatively wealthy folks retiring here, the town has been gentrified to the point that housing isn’t even available to
local workers anymore, let along affordable. Why on earth would we strain to expand services to accommodate
the strain on existing services that this increased population causes?? So, what if folks need to wait longer in line!!
That’s what comes with over-populating an area and I don’t think we should go to expense and bother to
accommodate the gentry. Let’s feel the consequences of over-population and the PT Council’s total lack of actions
to moderate that growth....there is so much that we could do to stem the tide of new folks putting a strain on all
our systems....other towns and counties have taken much better action in this regard. All that said, all the services
you are contemplating sound great....but $20 for a single carload to the dump?
• Easier recycling, plastic cap collection, working with the Styrofoam collectors, compost delivery (for those without
trucks), fee-based trash service based on how much waste household has (i.e., single person vs house of 6),
definitely a give/take spot for those looking to recycle unused items that could be used by someone else - including
building supplies. Budget matters as many locals/elderly are dealing with increased property taxes and lower
income individuals are impacted the most.
• Keep it SIMPLE! We don’t need a Ferrari facility when we have a VW budget!
• Go into school classrooms at all levels to present age-appropriate information and motivate students to complete
assignments and share info at home. Then, FOLLOW UP and have rewards for students who complete assignments
and get families involved.
• Don’t spend a lot of money.
• The question above about “household hazardous waste, paints and solvents, etc.”, is not clear. I am in favor of
being able to safely dispose of household hazardous wastes, especially paints and other solvents, fuels, etc. If we
don’t have a facility for these toxic materials, people will be tossing them on the ground, in the woods, etc. This will
create a public health and safety risk. Keep it simple. The existing site is big enough to enlarge the facility. Perhaps
it will be necessary to do the work in stages, to avoid a shutdown. But it can be done. I am utterly opposed to
having any kind of edible food storage, handling, or distribution on the same grounds or in the same facility as the
waste handling and transfer site.
• In addition to weight, charge fee by zip code.
• Build a new facility in the center of the county. Port Townsend’s convenience shouldn’t matter.
• Don’t put more money into serving Port Townsend. Why would you do that when they are only a third of the
population? The county has to stop thinking everything revolves around Port Townsend. I like Port Townsend but
it’s not the only community that deserves service.
• If you’re going to build a new facility, then why not put it closer to everyone else? Wouldn’t it make more sense to
put it somewhere more convenient for everyone? It’s probably going to cost a lot of money so this would be a
better use.
• Please prioritize the community’s unmet needs when deciding which of the suggested options to pursue but keep
the long view in mind.
• It should be open Monday-Saturday.
• Consider weekly household trash pickup for county residents that do not have it.
• Look at Orcas Island’s Programs.
• My most frustrating issue with the Port Townsend facility is: I use the yard waste dump but after I dump my yard
waste and pay, I have to rejoin the long line to purchase compost? WHY? There should be a yard waste/ compost
line/ entrance separate from the trash facility. I primarily use the Quilcene facility for trash. I take my yard waste all
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the way to Pt. Townsend from Brinnon a couple of times a year and only when compost is available. Stop selling it
to large companies, sell only to individuals, then there would always be availability for the residents of our county.
Maybe a yard waste collection point in Quilcene would be a good idea? You have the room with the county road
facility next door. It would reduce the dumping of yard waste in our woods!
• Stick to the basics.
• Keep traffic levels in mind. I end up driving in the oncoming lane to get to the recycling center when there’s a
backup. Separate the solid from the yard waste entrances.
• Not sure.
• Open on Mondays. Recycle bypass lane. Yard Waste Lane.
• Learn from the past, plan for the future.
• What are other similar rural counties doing across the USA or in other countries? Don’t waste time and money‚
reinventing the wheel. Please don’t waste (our tax) money on frivolous items like art, the city already has its
embarrassing and hideous Public Art. Why isn’t the county and city working together on the composting facility?
Could some of the food and agriculture waste be composted in the existing system that the City operates? Has
there been research into what actually goes into the SWF.
What is the volume/ tonnage of the above-mentioned waste? Demo and construction waste is obviously a large
portion of the solid waste disposal that could possibly be reused or recycled. What portion of that waste is
asphalt shingles or asbestos? All the items in #5 would be great to have if there is a demonstrated need identified.
Adding the hazardous paint/solvent collection is a “no brainer”. Make space for the styrofoam recycling
volunteers if the need justifies it. The same for many of the #6-line items- if there is a substantial need for a
meeting space for community classes, volunteers, etc., then it makes since to incorporate into the plan. Don’t
build it unless it’s going to be truly needed. A practical multi-use building with flexible spaces seems logical.
• Really don’t want to see the minimum amounts increased to reduce trips. I fill my car twice a month. It can’t hold
more, nor can I store garbage a home for longer.
• It’s hard to answer some of these questions due to my limited knowledge about what can and can’t be disposed of
at our current landfill. Do construction demolition materials, asphalt shingles, and asbestos have to be shipped
elsewhere and if so, how is that done? My family makes very limited use of the facility to dispose of trash and
modest use of recycling, yard waste disposal, and compost sales. Our curbside service takes care of most of our
needs. I used to take things to the household hazardous waste facility at the Port and am not aware of what the
options for that are at this point. I’m also not sure what you refer to as agricultural plastics. What type of items
does this encompass? There are undoubtedly other members of our community with gaps in their knowledge of
the subject of this survey. Being able to recycle a broader range of plastics would be very gratifying. I understand
that a great deal of the problem is marketing what we collect here, but if there is any way to expand the options,
please try to do that.
• Hang in there – it’s good work you are doing, and very appreciated!
• Seems to me the biggest problems are the single lane scale and the time it takes for some trailer backers. Consider
a yard waste flat fee lane with a card only payment or add another scale lane. On the garbage dump, segregate
trucks and trailers, or figure out a drive through dump for trailers, or a way to pull alongside and walk items to
dump floor. Reopen the other dump area (currently uncovered and behind the repair shed?) or at least open up
on the highest volume days. In Hawaii the solid waste transfer station has the trailer below ground level such that
dumper drops directly into the trailer, faster but maybe less chance to retrieve items/metal, etc. (they have a
separate metal dump).
• Keep it affordable to the everyday residents. Composting program is great.
• Recycling is important and a place for green waste is as well. Thanks to all for your efforts in planning for the
future!
• I think advertising and education within the community about how to reduce our garbage production is the most
important factor moving forward in the 21st-century. It’s the only way we can accommodate our growing
population, and the refuse that it produces.
• Some interesting ideas are on your list, but first make sure we are doing the basics well. Make it easy for people to
recycle as much as possible to divert reusable or recyclable items from general waste.
If possible, separate the line for trash hauling from the line for compostables yard waste. Separate the entrance to
the recycling collection area from the line to get to the scales, so that those bringing only recyclables don’t need
to wait in line when the facility is in high use. Encourage businesses to offer more items in recyclable or reusable
containers and minimal packaging so that there is less in the market that becomes trash. Make sure local
business and public spaces provide good recycling and trash containers that are emptied regularly, especially
during the tourist seasons and big events. Anything to keep more plastics from ending up in our local waters!
Thanks for seeking input on making our county a much better world citizen.
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• I live in Brinnon so go to the Quilcene facility. understand the need for expanding but don’t waste money on things
that aren’t really necessary for the operation of the facility.
• You are doing a great job; I like the idea of classrooms and artists. I can tell you’ve really been thinking about this.
• Be realistic. Something is better than nothing.
• Every time I would go to dump items it takes 1-1 1/2 hours and as you sit in line who see 5-6 people taking brakes
and just standing around looking board and when I asked a COUNTY WORKER if the site is so shorthanded that the
dump is closed on Monday and people are standing around not working, the answer I received is: “They are
contract workers, call your county representative and complain.”
• Please do not make your facility less viable as an option for waste by doubling your minimum charge. A change like
this seems to punish those who do not overproduce waste, while allowing those who do to continue unabated. I
believe that this will only hurt smaller households that don’t contribute much waste towards your overuse and
may lead to some people turning to illegal dumping rather than using a previously affordable facility. This is a
situation that should be avoided at all cost. Those who produce the most waste should bear the fiscal burden that
their waste puts on your facility.
• Is there anything that can be produced? Shredded paper for packaging; plastic materials for tarps or playgrounds;
shredding of cloth waste for rags; electronic toxic waste clean-up to recover critical minerals required for more
electronics, etc. Is there work here that could be performed by folks needing community service or even low-risk
prisoners in local jails to earn money for a new start upon release? Are there any corporate partnerships to help
companies achieve their “green goals” by funding advanced recycling projects?
• No unnecessary extras (art, volunteers, food distribution, free/useable items (how is usability determined, who
manages and at what cost?)). Maintain focus to keep costs down.
• I see a lot of ideas that sound nice but doubt they would be used much if at all. Room for volunteers and for
scavenging? I’ve worked at landfills/waste processors, that’s the last place you want citizens for liability! And
Please explain why we need artist in residence facilities. Really? That just makes me, and a lot of other people say
“WT.F. Stick to the basics and do it right. Thank you.
• Explore what other counties in Washington are doing to determine better efficiencies.
• Prioritize keeping materials, useable items out of the waste stream. Drop and grab, composting, construction
materials recycling. This can make a big difference in sustainability. I love the idea of getting volunteers to help fix
items. I’m retired with those skills (former CTE teacher) and would volunteer in a heartbeat.
• Build a new center around Chimicum. Better traffic and it’s a more central location.
• Your brainstorms & prioritizations so far are spot-on. Please continue to focus on necessities before nice-to-haves.
We don’t NEED educational facilities, but we do need a way to dispose of trash in the most responsible way
possible. This will be of greatest benefit to the community and environment. Currently, I’m not aware of
anywhere else that I can dispose of certain items (batteries, fluorescents) and wish there were an easy place to
discard other items (paint, etc.). The Quilcene facility is a real resource that we could not do without. (And, as an
aside, the people who work there are absolutely lovely; hopefully you’re getting their in-the-field input as well.)
• Consider financial impact on property taxes especially for mid-low incomes.
• Listen to the community.
• When I asked my very knowledgeable nephew’s wife about Vermont’s programs for recycling plastics, she replied
that Vermont was focusing most of their efforts on compostables. Food waste and other compostables make up
the highest tonnage of waste currently going to landfill there. Our own household trash (retired, two-person home)
comprises at least half by weight of organic waste (mostly trimmings, peels, etc. from inedible parts of vegetables).
We have neither the room on our sloping property nor the physical capacity or a way to use a home composting
system. We do NOT throw away food - all excess is frozen or mismashed into the next day’s meals. We need a
modern composting facility now.
• I was curious about the volunteer program. Are volunteers needed? It would be good to know how much the
center needs this type of help and how they can help. I guess, education about the facility, what it offers and how
it wants to grow to help keep our neighborhoods clean will help residents feel more ownership in its progress and
needs.
• Fortunately, or unfortunately growth is coming. It would be smart public policy to have a waste disposal facility
that can handle the increasing demand and perhaps be a multi-use facility as hinted by some of the questions in
the survey.
• Facility is fine as is.
• Encourage more citizen involvement/education in order to reduce the waste flow and re-purpose more items that
are currently part of the waste flow.
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• Plan for immediate and long-term growth and efficiency. Consider both public and commercial traffic as individual
groups with different needs.
• It seems like you may be trying to do too much if you are hoping to include all those things listed above. Many of
those things are available at other venues. After all, this is a recycling and transfer station, not a school or clothing
shop or food distribution center.
• Renters, students, and unhoused people are likely to be overlooked in this process - it is critical to include their
voices as they have very real needs around waste disposal. Working with landlords, the Housing Solutions Network
and the schools would increase the likelihood of these important perspectives being included.
• Concentrate on the necessities. The extras like meeting rooms and classrooms and artists in residence are nice, but
focusing on the recycling aspects such as broadening the variety of things that can be recycled (or repaired) makes
the best use of money. Plastics, especially, need to have a wider range that can be accepted.
• Focus on solid waste and recycling and allow other kinds of community space/activities to be done elsewhere.
• If you’re going to make a whole new transfer station, then put it somewhere where it isn’t too far away for all the
people that use it. Port Townsend isn’t the only place in Jefferson County where people live. We used to farm on
small acreage, so I really like the idea of a storage place for locally grown food. That was always a problem for us.
Too expensive to build our own refrigerated space and so we lost a lot of products to spoilage. And we really like a
drop and take idea. That sort of thing would really help low-income people and probably keep a lot of good stuff
out of the landfill. Good thinking!
• Focus on best ways to get rid of trash, garbage, recyclables, yard waste and unwanted items for people with
limited physical strength. This means facilitating systems to deal with lightweight loads. Prioritize health. Don’t
encourage holding food waste for long periods of time. Recognize the fact that apartments become unhealthy and
disgusting very quickly when unwrapped garbage attracts rodents and cockroaches. As an older person struggling
with the terrible local waste management system, I am appalled with the focus on the arts and community meeting
rooms. It appears the usual suspects are planning to steal yet more taxpayer funds for their pet projects.
• Be efficient, conserving, manage issues logically even if they cost a bit more. Think long term. Do it once. Make it
last.
• Hire more people. Try getting some that appreciate having a job. Address the culture of your employees. Would
be nice to see more of them smile.
• We are so limited as to where we can bring garbage and clean greens. If you have just these two areas to handle
financially, then concentrate on these two needs. I am worried that if we don’t build a bigger facility there will be
more illegal dumping in rural areas. Your fees for using the facility are very reasonable. Keep it that way. Need for
more recycling would be great but I think most recycling is not clean, so it all ends up in the dump anyway. Get two
lines for garbage and clean greens to stop the long lines at the entrance. There has to be a way to reconfigure the
huge space you have to accommodate both needs.
• Keep soliciting ideas from the public. Incorporate other areas, such as the Repair Cafe could be held at a
Community Center or at an Assisted Living center.
• Stay focused on the central issue of facility replacement.
• My chief consternation revolves around information. For example, what are agricultural plastics? How much do
they contribute to solid waste? And what are we really talking about when we say that older facilities are more
costly to maintain? Isn’t that a given? Is it even possible to have a facility that doesn’t require maintenance? And
dang it all, is the maintenance really more expensive than a brand-new facility? I don’t feel able to make an
informed decision if I don’t have actual figures. Likewise, what factors influence wait times? I know that there is
frequently an ad in the paper to fill the transfer station positions, and the hours at the station have been truncated.
How much have these factors influenced the wait times? Again, where are the figures? Finally, I’m generally not in
favor of having the solid waste facility be an “all things to all people” type of facility. We absolutely don’t need a
“community gathering place” at the dump! Good grief. Please, please be conservative in your approach. Money is
no object for very, very few of us.
• Expand education and information. For example, any household with outdoor space (i.e., a yard/garden) can
successfully have a worm box for most food waste. Much more efficient than trying to support a central county
facility. Keep it simple and stick to basics. Try to work with the solid waste code and the commercial haulers to
increase the curbside pickup in the county and decrease small load self- haulers. A good example would be to
require curbside pickup for any planned development (such as Port Ludlow), ideally in the permitting phase.
• Re-open the facility on Mondays. Monday closures cause most of the traffic backup problems. Build a separate
travel lane to accommodate yard waste customers from landfill users. That would speed up traffic throughout.
• Volunteers? For what, except the repair program. As it is, the repair program in various locations is spotty. If the
space for repair is made, would it be fully used? Community and education focused facility. Don’t we have places
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around already for this? Community centers, granges, churches. I’m just looking at the cost/benefit/max use
equation.
• Concentrate and spend money on the basics of trash collection and moving people through the process.
• Remove the public as much as possible, give them a recycle center and limited refuse hours.
• Don’t get too expansive in your goals - keep it simple and specific to solid waste disposal and recycling.
• Keep moving forward. Garbage is a serious issue. I appreciate the opportunity to express my thoughts.
• Thank you to the task force for their efforts.
• The facility could be expanded to accommodate growing population, but there was no need to expand the services
offered at this time.
• Most people can’t envision the problems that their future selves will encounter. Best of luck trying to help out
those future people despite their present selves being short-sighted.
• Consider increased rates for newcomers.
• Focus on recycling and efficient solid waste disposal. Stop people from putting the wrong stuff (cans in plastic bags)
into recycling.
• Stop being so Port Townsend centric. Consider the whole county. It’s a big county. I’d like to see a plan for the
whole county, with input from the whole county, by a board that is made of up of people from the whole county.
Why is the main facility even in Port Townsend? Growth will slow in PT and continue to spread outside of PT.
Think about the future. Port Townsend is not the future of this county. For PT the die is cast, you can clearly see
where things have gone and will go. The rest of the county is what you can shape. Have vision. See the future,
replace the words Port Townsend in all your slides, reports, discussions with Jefferson County. Try it for just one
meeting. Everything someone says Port Townsend, stop the meeting, restate it as Jefferson County and try to truly
discuss and think about the county as a whole.
• Focus on waste and recycling. Additional community activities will cloud the purpose and delay progress.
• Don’t even think about building a new transfer station in Port Townsend. It needs to be more centrally located.
There are a lot more people in Jefferson County that live outside of Port Townsend so start thinking about us.
• Focus on Solid Waste disposal and recycling. Ignore art and education. Current location is good - replacement is
unnecessary. Expansion/Improvement should be PLANNED but is not an immediate need.
• Please be sure and listen to the community as they voice their needs. Thank you for all of your efforts.
• Stick to your core mission-collection and waste transfer-beware of mission creep. Leave the need for education
and artists to the school system and school curriculum. Praise for workers comes from management on a
consistent basis and perhaps an annual day of public appreciation. Don’t re-invent the wheel and burden the public
users financially. “Stick to the knitting”- collect and transfer waste and recycle what there is a market for. Don’t let
ego get in the way of the service you provide. Efficient and economical handling of trash is glamorous in and of
itself. If the Lord gives you trash, transfer it to the regional waste collection station.
• Listen to the community but have a clear and transparent decision-making process and timeline and stick to it.
• Long ago I lived in Tennessee, where a visit to the county dump involved backing to a substantial curb. Beyond the
curb was a drop-off into an alley, if you will, where trash landed in a truck, or boxcar or whatever. Even if there is
just concrete below, garbage can be bulldozed to a conveyance of some sort without the need to stop traffic and
bulldoze the trash away. This would eliminate interrupting the pace of backing and dumping.
• I highly encourage increasing local recycling and reuse options for various material categories that will help
mitigate harmful environmental impact (short & long-term) and support for developing creative sustainable
options in the future.
• The current layout satisfies the fire department but is a logistic nightmare for traffic flow and wait times. The scales
should have been offset so a truck and trailer could be weighed at the same time with the driver eyeball to eyeball
with the weight shack operator. The weight scale shack should not be so close to the dump spot that it is a cluster-
fudge getting in and out. Those of us who are dumping yard waste, especially the commercial people, shouldn’t
have to wait in line with the trash dumpers. Closing the dump on Monday was a stupid move that just added to the
misery index of those you serve, especially us commercial people who need to recycle our yard waste on a daily
basis.
• Stop developing in Jefferson county and we won’t have an overpopulation problem. This place is turning into the
next California.
• I believe the importance of improving the waste facilities takes precedence over the parks department’s ridiculous
plans for multimillion park plans. And the increase suggested in fees for using the waste facilities is very
reasonable. Thank You.
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• Have a free dump day at least once per year to encourage people to clean up their properties. Let’s not do pie in
the sky projects that’ll raise the fees that discourage use of the facility. The improper placement of trash into the
recycling bins seems enormous, is there a way to get people to put garbage where it belongs? I use the Port
Hadlock recycling site between trips to the dump/transfer station. Seems we could use more of these dumpsters
placed around the county as they are often full. Same with the ones in Port Ludlow. Furniture and construction
materials, food drop sites seem like they could become dumping grounds for junk too. Question 2 of your survey
needs an option between monthly (12 +) and a few times per year (3-4) which is why I marked both.
• Make sure you’re not doubling up on existing programs. Food Banks already circulate food overages.
• Upgrade payment system with faster data transfer service - currently takes several minutes to process credit card.
• Recycling should be expanded to accept other plastics, etc.
• Keep Port Hadlock recycle station by the sheriff’s office. Install security cameras so people are more careful about
only putting things IN THE BINS. Add 1 more bin for PAPER... always full.
• I have always considered our solid waste facility an example of efficiency. It truly does not take that many people
to operate and is able to handle vehicles in a timely manner. You do need to reopen the facilities on Mondays. Your
recycling facilities are top notch, A1 for cardboard, paper, cans, glass PLUS used oil, antifreeze, fluorescent tubes
etc. These facilities are well maintained, clean & are far superior to Kitsap and Clallam County. This may be why
they use our facilities too. I see no sign of aging buildings. If you are worried about longer lines open the facility on
Mondays and maybe Sunday too.
• Reduce use by only allowing Jefferson County residents to use facility.
• Payment for increased costs - construction and/or improving facilities should come from charges to use the site.
• Keep it simple. County administrators have a tendency to talk up a lot of stuff then not deliver anything.
• Lots of talent in our community Reach out to us. Charles Bodony 360-531-1410 aldersmoked@gmail.com.
• Keep costs reasonable for individual homeowners that do not have access to commercial waste collection services.
• 1.Establish at least 2 cashier lanes. Make entrance one way & establish an exit going out elsewhere. 2. Designate
an area where building waste can be dumped but NOT in the same place as trash. 3. Keep yard waste separate. 4.
Household waste should be where people DON’T have to back in or have assigned lanes. This takes too much time
for not only the citizens but the staff. A way to combat this is to do the above but also build an area with a roof
that has a large pit that can contain at least 2 extremely large dumpsters. Spaces are established outside the
building for cars to park. They can either back in or NOT. They take their waste and dump it in the pit. (Of course,
this goes without saying, there would be a large, raised cement area around the pit but even with the parking, so
handicap people can use it. This reduces long lines. Staff don’t have to be traffic cops. No waiting for front loader
to clear. REDUCES carbon emissions.
• Improvement NOT replacement.
• Keep it simple.
• Don’t go for the low hanging fruit. We don’t need Art at the facility. Nor do we need meeting spaces. Focus on
moving people thru the lines efficiently and effectively and expanding services to provide a better service to your
customer.
• Please prioritize composting and recycling, especially in ways that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• Remember what this is for. A place to bring waste and recycling. That is all!!! Just make it bigger & more efficient,
if possible. All these add-ons are, literally, not necessary AT ALL.
• Focus on the primary purpose of the solid waste and recycling facility... which is the safe and environmentally
responsible disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste in Jefferson County. Focus recycling on mainstream
recyclable items, i.e., glass, metal, and readily recyclable plastics.
• Most of above ideas don’t really have anything to do with a transfer station, which is a nice term for THE DUMP.
Just a handful of progressive ideas to make things cute.
• Do not raise the fees for yard waste as high as the trash/dump fees. I know this is being considered right now and
the reason given is to make it easier for the paperwork, but it is not fair. Yard waste is composted and sold. A fee
increase is ok but not $20!!
• Need to keep fees as low as possible. I am concerned that higher fees will lead to more illegal dumping. I’ve heard
rumors of drastically increasing fees for yard waste which would make it impractical for the average homeowner to
use. Strongly urge that this be avoided.
• Stickers for recycling bins so users know what plastics can be recycled.
• Disincentivize the amount of waste moved by the facility.
• We love the fact that the Compost Facility can take 5-gallon buckets of humanure, Excellent in emergency
conditions and for accommodating humanure facilities!
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• Be transparent with the public. I’ve never heard of any ideas before I took this survey. Community meeting space?
Artist in Residence? Whose ideas are these and what do they have to do with the transfer station? These seem like
very progressive ideas- We already have lots of community space and artists. I’d like to know the thought process
with these ideas. Please let the public know what you are thinking. Thanks. Community meeting maybe. Not
everyone has access to computers to take these surveys. Hiring outside consultant seems expensive. Most people
want things to just work as they are.
• Focus on the necessary, essential service - solid waste disposal. Government at all levels needs to stop trying to “do
it all”. It’s okay to just be a solid waste facility! Tax dollars should be spent as frugally as possible. When I see ideas
like “community rooms” and “artist in residence” associated with solid waste facility issues, I cringe. The tax dollars
that support the services you provide were forcibly (yes, forcibly - what do you suppose happens if someone can’t
or won’t pay?) taken from people, who often have limited means. When the County reaches their hand into our
pocket to extract property tax - we don’t have the option of saying NO! So, you better be spending that money
wisely and not foolishly. Focus on the core necessity: safe, sanitary disposal of solid waste. Period. By the way, the
County Solid Waste workers do a great job - kudos to them.
• Expand yard waste service into the Chimacum, Port Hadlock area. Right now, there is no service and residents’
resort to burning (permitted and unpermitted) which poses air quality and environmental hazards.
• I would like to see separation between commercial haulers (garbage trucks, dumpsters) and residential haulers.
Also, in these days of rampant inflation hitting residents’ finances hard, I can’t fathom why you’re even considering
things like classrooms? meeting rooms? Artist spaces? C’mon man! You’re a frigging solid waste facility! Build a
bigger solid waste facility, if that’s what it takes to meet the volume and safety demands of solid waste disposal,
but don’t go getting crazy with our tax dollars or tip fees. Do the (limited) thing you exist to do (solid waste
disposal) and leave the pie-in-the-sky stuff for private enterprise (or Port Townsend). There are enough
boondoggles sucking up tax dollars without you guys expanding your scope. Otherwise, keep up the good work.
• For now, I think the most important focus is on keeping plastics out of the soil and water, and proper disposal and
re-cycling of plastics. Very few of the other items mentioned have spread their bits so ubiquitously into our total
environment!
• Educating the public (e.g., me) about the full cycle of what gets disposed of and how to recycle and reuse is
important. Otherwise, disposal services get taken for granted as things go “away” & we need education that there
is no “away.” What really happens in the life of what is disposed of? Thank you for all your efforts! I appreciate the
solid waste team and have always had good experiences when at the solid waste station.
• Don’t add things that don’t have to do with waste disposal (such as classrooms) that just cost money. A video that
shows what the workers do could be shared among the schools instead, maybe with someone visiting the classes
at the same time to answer questions.
• Don’t rebuild the current transfer station. Think about the rest of the county and put one closer to us. If you had a
transfer station in the middle of the county, then everyone would have to drive the same distance and everyone
would pay the same fee. It’s 31 minutes from Port Townsend to 104 - same as from Brinnon. So that’s fair. And
you would probably see those small load customers get on curbside service so the lines would be shorter. And I am
glad that you are thinking about a food hub. We’ve been talking about that forever and it would be great to see
something really happen.
• Be patient, but assertive.
• Use your common sense!
• Suggestion to consider: Besides the long wait times that this project is likely to address, it would be helpful if there
was a separate entrance for yard waste. Since there is so much less use of the yard waste side of the facility, this
might be able to be a “self-serve” system (so it wouldn’t have to be staffed) such that customers would drive onto
a yard waste entry scale to get weighed, receive a scale ticket, go drop their yard waste, and exit via the site’s main
exit queue and scale to pay for their load.
• Make sure the stuff we bring in for recycling actually gets recycled not just turned into more garbage by shipping it
to another place that then dumps it on another country or in the ocean. Come on, you know it happens. We can
reuse so much!
• Keep it simple and direct. Don’t try to make it more than it needs to be. This should be a workspace, not a place to
loiter and enjoy.
• You’re a waste/recycle facility! Apply finances towards maintenance of your current equipment, purchase
necessary replacement equipment to handle the increased waste/recycling materials. Why are you even thinking
of silly things like classrooms and resident artists?
• Seems like the community/artist and food distribution areas should be separate from recycling and waste.
• Streamline the process and make it accessible to all.
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• Keep it simple and straight forward. Think about those of us outside of Port Townsend!
• It must be very discouraging to work at the facility and see the awful waste of resources every day, especially in a
community that prides itself on its environmental awareness. It is easier and less work to just build a bigger facility
and give in to the status quo. Keep up the good work and focus on education and change. Thanks for your efforts.
• Be able to recycle more types of plastic!!!!!!!!!!!!We have to throw out the majority of plastic that enters our
household due to the onerous restrictions on what we can recycle. We used to be able to recycle so many more
types of plastic than we do now. What gives?!?!
• Keep thinking about capacity improvements ... maybe a bit less about art projects, meeting rooms (wedding
chapels?) – “it’s the dump.”
• Do not raise your rates.
• Don’t change anything that’s not broken.
• Instead of building a 100% new facility or significant expansion of the current one, consider building a 2nd transfer
station to provide the county options when a scale needs maintenance, repair. If you could leverage some of the
county property at the Quilcene site, you may reduce traffic from the South County and divert some of the traffic,
west of Discovery Bay to Quilcene.
• I already take my recycling to Quilcene but take my garbage to Port Townsend because of the cost. In a county the
size of Jefferson and the population growth, it makes sense to have more than one transfer station. You could also
publish wait times at each facility to allow folks opportunity to go where the line is smaller. You will probably
receive more resistance from landowners who don’t want a transfer site next door compared to Quilcene, where
there It already exists, but the difference is that you are just adding a scale and transfer facility to replace the
existing dumpsters manned by an underutilized employee who estimates what to charge, because there is no
scale. This Could also help our overall carbon footprint by reducing transit time and emissions of many cars and
garbage trucks that have to drive 25 or more miles one way to the single existing facility. To save money, consider
using a KIOSK, similar for parking in a parking garage where instead of time, you pay for the weight of garbage,
when you exit. Also, would like to have more metal recycling.
• Back up area shaded or reoriented to alleviate backing into the sun. Dangerous to the workers and equipment.
• Make the trash side easier to back in for those with a trailer. Or have a helper there that offers to back in the
trailer.
• Check into alternative, solid waste, treatment, such as plasma burning, potentially setting it up as a central site for
the whole Peninsula.
• Clear signage and maybe an expansion of open hours until 6PM.
• I like it as is. I wasn’t aware that it needed improvement due to population growth in the area.
• The Port Townsend facility serves an essential purpose and should be improved not replaced.
• Do whatever you can to learn best practices from other facilities and don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Every facility
in the world has a common goal of reducing waste and recycling efficiently, collaboration should be abundant.
Kudos to you for reaching out to the community for ideas, we’re all in this together...
• The above questions all are “nice to have if we are going to build it anyway” amenities. Remember, this is a
garbage dump/recycling facility, not a community gathering spot. All of the potential options not only cost money
to build, but cost money to staff and maintain. The County is having challenges to staff the facility as it is. Expand
on what the County and the employees are doing well, enlarge the facility, and don’t lose focus on the mission
which is dumping garbage and recycling.
• Put it in the middle of the county so that everyone has to drive the same distance and allow retired people to
dump on certain days or at certain times since they have more time to waste than the rest of the working people.
• Please consider adding the ability to compost “compostable” containers such as those used for takeout food.