Touring the Upgraded Cascade Recycling Center

Kirkland’s Mayor Penny Sweet, Deputy Mayor Jay Arnold, Interim Public Works Director Truc Dever, and the City’s solid waste team had the opportunity to tour Waste Management’s upgraded state-of-the-art Cascade Recycling Center. WM recently undertook a substantial remodel and upgrade of this facility to improve recycling sorting and outcomes. The Cascade Recycling Center is where City of Kirkland’s recycling goes to be sorted after being collected from residents and businesses. It was Kirkland’s first chance to see how the facility functions after many upgrades. The results are greater efficiency, less material disposed as residue at landfills, and more recyclables available for new products.    

The $40 million investment at the center in Woodinville is expected to increase overall recycling capacity by 50% with the potential to process up to 650 tons of recyclables per day! The facility is equipped with intelligent sorting technology that links advanced optical sorters and volumetric scanner with eddy current separators for maximum efficiency, versatility, and automation of the sorting process. The 82,000 square-foot facility is expected to reduce landfill waste and boost the capture rate for the most environmentally significant materials – aluminum cans, paper and cardboard, and plastic bottles.   

Key takeaways for Kirkland community members are to keep recycling responsibly and to not place items such as plastic clamshells, plastic bags/films, or items smaller than three inches into the recycling. It’s reassuring to see the sorting of recyclables at the Cascade Recycling Center, because we can follow recyclables from collection through sorting to baling and know the materials are getting recycled! With the advanced technologies at the facility, more content will be recycled more efficiently. Recycling starts at home, find out what goes in the blue cart at http://kirklandwa.gov/recycle.