Waste and Recycling

Solid Waste Management Plan
Client: Grant County, WA
Cascadia completed the portion of the County's updated Solid Waste Management Plan that addressed waste quantities, waste composition, and waste reduction and recycling. Waste and recycling composition data was modeled on interviews with haulers and County staff as well as a Department of Ecology waste composition study conducted in Grant County, also by Cascadia, in 2003. This effort involved calculating the quantities and composition of disposed waste from residential, commercial, and self-haul sectors, and the amounts of specific materials that were recovered and recycled from each of those sectors. Cascadia identified several opportunities to recover materials that were not currently being recycled and developed program recommendations to improve material recovery. Cascadia was a sub-consultant to Pickets Engineering on this project.

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Cascadia began to immediately overhaul the way Resource Venture services were marketed, delivered, and tracked; ultimately resulting in superior outcomes. Among the dramatic changes we noted were (1) an increased level of accountability; (2) a more strategic focus; and (3) service documentation that demonstrated a more effective and efficient program. In particular, Cascadia’s “targeting and tracking” database made it possible to focus on the biggest commercial resources users with the greatest potential for conservation, and then measure their progress over time. The program’s unique targeted approach is extremely cost-effective; Cascadia has helped reduce the City’s program costs from about $100/ton diverted in 2006 to about $45/ton in 2008.


- Phil Paschke, Seattle Public Utilities