New facility downsizes environmental impacts and upgrades customer service.

Factoria Recycling and Transfer Station is capable of handling 225,000 tons of garbage, recycling, yard waste and household hazardous waste annually. The state-of-the-art facility will divert 5,000 tons of waste from the landfill.

We designed the 80,000-square-foot transfer station to reduce environmental impacts, improve customer service and introduce additional recycling and disposal options. The new station — designed for LEED Gold certification — uses 40% less energy than comparable facilities, reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 172.5 metric tons per year, saves 1.3 million gallons of potable water annually and diverted 95% of construction waste from the landfill.

Our team worked side-by-side with King County to provide a comprehensive solution including environmental, permitting, architectural and engineering design, public involvement and construction-related services. 

Key features of Factoria Recycling and Transfer Station include:

• An enclosed solid waste transfer and processing area, administration area, fueling facility, maintenance shop, a new household hazardous waste facility, recycling areas and a hot load area. 
• An area separate from commercial traffic for self-haul customers to unload their waste, drop off recyclables, and safely dispose of household hazardous waste, floor sorting and materials diversion.
• Nearly the entire operation of the transfer station is flexible. Five large doors allow traffic flow and direction to be flexible, and extra electrical hookups allow King County to incorporate new equipment into future operations. The tipping floor has 11 self-haul unloading stalls during the week. On weekends, operations may be orientated to better serving customers by using the commercial tipping area.
• Sustainable design features include skylights and translucent wall panels allow natural light into the building as well as rainwater harvesting, recycled-content building materials, locally sourced building materials, and 50,000 drought-tolerant, native plants. 
• Three underground water tanks collect rainwater for reuse, reducing potable water use by 59% over traditional design.
• During construction of the facility, the existing transfer station and household hazardous waste collection operations were maintained to ensure continuous service for customers.