Roosevelt Regional Landfill, Washington

The largest private landfill in the state, Roosevelt covers an area of 2,545 acres, has a 120 million ton capacity, and a 40 year expected trash-receiving life. Ninety-seven percent of the trash arrives in shipping containers, mostly via rail from the Seattle area, to an intermodal yard in Roosevelt (owned by the same privately held waste company - Republic Services). Containers are loaded onto trucks for the haul up the hill to the landfill, and then emptied by tilting lifts that upend the container/trailer assembly. Trash also arrives from a network of nine intermodal yards that connect the landfill to sources as far away as California, Idaho, and British Columbia. Trash also comes from Alaska on barges. Empty trash trains take fruit and other goods from eastern Washington back to Seattle (in different containers). The site is also home to a power plant, which uses the methane gas produced by the decaying garbage, to produce up to 37 megawatts (enough to power 30,000 houses) annually.