Landfill information

[CaringCitizen]

Puf, at this link there is a map of the school area. I just noticed when I went to it that there is a Landfill nearby.

I thought I heard there were not landfills in that area....

What's interesting is that we haven't heard the police or media say anything about whether the Metro dump was searched. There are two here, one very close to all the action in this case, and the other is farther south off 205 and not near anything in the case.

The one in NW, is right off HWY 30. It's about 7 miles straight up from the Metro to the southern tip of Sauvie. That stretch of road on 30 is easy to cruise rather quickly. I have done it many, many times.

The Metro is basically a place where you can dump your trash. You fill up your truck, head over to the Metro dump, (pay a little less if you have a tarp over your goods), and then you drive right in. You stop and get weighed on the scale and then they tell you which Bay to go to.

Once you are in one of the Bays (these are basically large indoor warehousey looking buildings that stink to high heavens). As you enter, a worker will point you to the general area he wants you to back in. Now you are backed in (adjacent and parallel to lots of other trucks doing the same thing) and you just throw all your stuff overboard. You'll see everyone from general contractors tossing out old house parts, to landscape/yard crews tossing out yard debris. It's very common to see general haulers who make their livings by disposing of people's junk. Got Junk? Call a hauler or take it yourself to the Metro dump.

The types of things you see in these gigantic piles of trash people are creating include everything from children's toys to broken mirrors to wood planks with nails sticking up in them. You'll see suitcases, giant boxes of god know's what, tons of large and small trashbags tied up and filled to the brim, and the list goes on and on.

Next, after piles get so high, they have these huge plow looking machines that sweep everything right into a concrete basin. I think they have other machines that later push everything in that basin into another area. Eventually this trash ends up in a landfill, I am sure.

When you're done, you exit the Bay, and get weighed again before you pay the bill. You can pay with cash or credit/debit card. It used to be $17 minimum fee and then went up to $28 recently. You can get 3 bucks off if you have a tarp. A few more bucks off if some of your cargo is recyclable and you take it to designated areas inside the Bays.

I have been to the Metros many times. Used to go to the one in NW but for the past 7 years was closer to the one down off 205.

I am sure they checked records at this place and ruled it out already; with everything so tight lipped in the case, I guess I'm not surprised that we havn't heard anything about the Metro yet. I thought of it at the beginning of the case because of its proximity to the activities and places in scope, and how easy it would be to dispose of just about anything!


Main website
http://www.metro-region.org/

Address for the NW Metro dump location
6161 Northwest 61st Avenue
Portland, OR 97210

If you google map the Metro to the Southern tip of Sauvie, it's about 7 miles.

 

[RubyRed]

I found the landfill marked on the school map, based upon location on map, lake/waterways, etc.

http://maps.google.com/maps?rlz=1C1...local_group&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQtgMwAA

(it shows on my screen as "F")

Listing:




Comment to listing:

This is not St Johns Maintenance. It is the Metro Regional Government maintenance building for the CLOSED St Johns Landfill. No Public Access.‎

Information on St. John's Landfill:

http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=25126

Learn about the history and restoration of the St. Johns Landfill located on the North Portland Peninsula near the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers.



Methods of disposing of trash have come a long way since the days when it was common practice to use wetlands as burial sites for garbage. In 1940, a lake located in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area was designated as a landfill and served as the region’s primary garbage disposal site for the next 50 years. In recent years, regulations and new technology for managing solid waste disposal ensure that new disposal sites are environmentally sound, and communities that play host to closed landfills are working to manage those old landfills with new technology and under stringent regulations.

Closing and restoring a landfill

In 1980, Metro assumed responsibility for closing the St. Johns Landfill in an environmentally sound manner, and today the former landfill site is recognizable only by the methane gas-collection system that crisscrosses its grassy surface. The area is being actively restored – providing habitat for coyotes, great blue herons and painted turtles – while Metro continues to manage and monitor the area for future uses.

14 million tons of garbage

Located in north Portland near the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers, the 238-acre St. Johns Landfill is situated in Metro’s Smith and Bybee Wetlands Natural Area, the largest protected wetland within an American city. By the early 1960s, the former lakebed was filled with garbage to the edge of its surrounding levee. Although the majority of waste in the landfill is domestic solid waste, industrial waste from a pesticide-manufacturing facility also was disposed in the landfill between 1958 and 1962. Metro estimates that up to 14 million tons of waste were disposed in the landfill site during its years of operation.

Covering the waste

Metro assumed ownership responsibilities for the landfill from the City of Portland in 1990 and spent the next six years constructing a $36 million landfill cover system to prevent rainwater from leaching contaminants into the surrounding soil and waterways.

The cover’s primary purpose is to keep rainwater from further leaching contaminants from the waste into surrounding groundwater, and to control methane gas generated by decomposing waste. A methane gas collection system draws gas from the waste and pipes a portion of it to a nearby cement company where it is used as fuel.

St. Johns landfill timeline

1939 bridge to the landfill site is constructed over Columbia Slough

1940 waste disposal operations begin at St. Johns Landfill (SJLF)

1980s the original 183-acre landfill site is expanded by 55 acres with an engineered perimeter dike and leachate collection system

1980 Metro takes over SJLF operations under an intergovernmental agreement with the city of Portland

1988 waste disposal begins in the 55-acre expansion area

1988 Metro signs 20-year contract with Waste Management for waste disposal at Columbia Ridge Landfill in Arlington, Oregon

1989 Metro submits closure and financial assurance plan for SJLF to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)

1990 SJLF is included in new management area (now called Smith and Bybee Wetlands Natural Area) established by Metro, Port of Portland and City of Portland. Some funds from previous landfill operations are placed in a trust fund to restore and manage surrounding habitat in the natural area.

1990 Metro assumes ownership of SJLF from the City of Portland

1990 first load of waste delivered to Columbia Ridge Landfill

1991 SJLF is closed to any further waste disposal

1993 DEQ issues permit to Metro for closure operations at SJLF

1996 Metro completes construction of a $36-million cover system over all buried waste at SJLF

1998 piping of methane gas from landfill to Ash Grove Cement Company begins

2003 DEQ issues a renewed 10-year closure permit and consent order for a remedial investigation/feasibility study of SJLF

2005 Metro initiates remedial investigation to assess risks to human health and the environment

2007 Metro is collecting and evaluating environmental information as needed to conduct a risk assessment

Since completing the landfill cover in 1996, Metro has spent over $10 million in ongoing maintenance and monitoring programs, special studies and restoration projects, all funded from garbage disposal fees. In total, Metro has spent about $50 million on landfill closure activities.

In 2003, Metro began to develop a work plan for a remedial investigation of St. Johns Landfill that will identify any remaining risks to health and the environment. Implementation of the workplan began in 2005. Depending on its outcome, feasible measures for controlling risks will then be evaluated. Potential future uses of the landfill will be considered and influenced by the outcome of this study.

The surrounding lakes, rivers, industrial areas and residential neighborhoods are notable in this aerial photograph of the landfill.

Calliope had this on another thread so bringing it here now that we have a thread for it.

 

[Calliope]

This is one of the transfer stations that prepares the garbage to be shipped out to eastern Oregon.

It's manned by an attendant during operating hours http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=31447

So I would doubt anyone in the family would have taken him directly there.

 

[PDXMom]

I'm in Portland but haven't been to one of these in a long time. Do any locals recall if they take down your license plate # when you get weighed the first time, or do they just identify you by your slip of paper on the way out?

 

[Charlie09]

I seem to recall on the way out of a similar dump in Salem, seeing the license plate of an incoming car as I was on my way out.

 

[Kimster]

In Eugene, all I remember is being weighed coming in and weighed coming out, FWIW.

 

[surrogatemom]

I'm in Portland but haven't been to one of these in a long time. Do any locals recall if they take down your license plate # when you get weighed the first time, or do they just identify you by your slip of paper on the way out?

The one in Oregon City just did the weigh before/after and slip of paper last I went (a couple of years ago, though it was the same thing even ten years ago).

I was more curious about if they had searched landfills, not because the perp had dumped his body directly in one but maybe a garbage truck had transported him. I just thought of that after thinking back on Somer Thompson.

 

[winterrose]

This is just another odd thing to me,they search everywhere,but no mention of the landfills,media helicopters would have picked that up,I believe.So,an isolated incident,children are back in school three days later,I'm just wondering what they have.Landfills would be just as important as searching in the water.

And for a number of days it was only a two mile radius around the school,if that's the case,I'm guessing no checking of landfills.