The West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill is seeking extensions to its permits from Contra Costa County and the City of Richmond to continue operating and expanding upward primarily as a  composting and recycling facility. The initial study is attached as a PDF file. A summary of the permit application follows below:

West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill, Inc. (WCCSL) Inc., (“Applicant”) operates a Class II sanitary landfill located at the foot of Parr Boulevard in Richmond, California. WCCSL is requesting amendments to its existing land use permits (LUP) for its Bulk Materials Processing Center. These permits were issued in 1993 by Contra Costa County (under LUP No. 2054-92, as amended by LUP 2043-94) and the City of Richmond (under conditional use permit No. 92-53). This document provides a summary of proposed changes to facilities and operations that serve as the basis for amendments to these land use permits. A Solid Waste

Facilities Permit revision is also required to allow a maximum of 20 to 30 feet of additional height for the landfill (higher than the current 130 ft. elevation limit) to a new elevation limit of 150 to 160 feet. The following information was obtained from the Applicant’s Executive Summary of its application for LUP 022026, included as Attachment A.

WCCSL is located in the North Richmond area as shown on Figure 1 – Vicinity Map of Attachment A. The WCCSL site encompasses land in both the City of Richmond and Contra Costa County. The City/County boundaries are shown in Figure 1 passing west-to-east through the WCCSL site. The WCCSL landfill has been in operation since 1953. Figure 2 is a site plan showing various facilities at the WCCSL. Operational changes have occurred over time as new regulations, permits, and recycling operations have been implemented. Currently the site consists of several distinct operations that function as a cohesive whole. These operations include:

• Solid waste disposal in a Class II sanitary landfill
• Waste Shuttle Facility
• Bulk Materials Processing Center (wood recycling, composting, and asphalt/concrete crushing)
• Hazardous Waste Management Facility (Closure Plan in progress)
• Hazardous Waste Management Facility Leachate Treatment Plant

WCCSL is permitted to receive up to a maximum of 2,500 tons per day of municipal solid waste (MSW) from various jurisdictions in the San Francisco Bay Area region. Wastes are delivered in a variety of vehicles including large transfer trucks, garbage trucks, pickups, and passenger cars.

The Applicant has applied for several changes to its land use permits as highlighted below, and described in detail in Table 2 in Attachment A. Table 3 describes the proposed changes in operating hours:

• Increase the amount and types of compostables processed
• Increase the amount of concrete rubble processed
• Discontinue operation of the Soil Remediation Facility, an existing currently permitted facility
• Start-up of a new soil reclamation/processing operation involving the drying of high moisture content mud and sludges and blending with soil; and spreading and storage of upland soils. Soil products would be suitable for Alternative Daily Cover (ADC), final cover, final cap, or off-site use.
• Construction and operation of Waste Recycling Center (WRC) through adaptive reuse of the Soil Remediation Facility building and site or one of two alternative sites identified by the Applicant. The WRC, shown in Figure 3, will recycle, sort, and transfer for disposal waste from self-haulers, industrial debris boxes, and other commercial customers that are not processed at the existing West County Resource Recovery, Inc. Central Processing Facility.

For additional information, contact:

Deidra Dingman - Solid Waste Program Manager
Contra Costa County Community Development Department
651 Pine Street, 4th Floor - North Wing
Martinez, CA 94553
(925) 335-1224 (Phone)
(925) 335-1299 (Fax)
http://www.co.contra-costa.ca.us/depart/cd/recycle/