Washington County Code Chapter 8.04.120 requires that any person that collects, stores, transports, or disposes of any waste or solid waste for compensation (a fee) in unincorporated Washington County must obtain a certificate issued by the Board. The county has determined that Ridwell is violating that code and needs to obtain a certificate.  The problem is, all the certificates are currently held by the 9 different garbage haulers that service unincorporated WashCo.

The only way Ridwell will be able to continue servicing our area is to request an exemption to this requirement (pursuant to WCC 8.04.130(C)).   Ridwell is maintaining that the collection of hard-to-recycle materials not currently being collected at curbside should not require owning a certificate.

In response to this, the Washington County Haulers Association is now proposing an expanded service option for collecting hard-to-recycle materials from residential customers (offered for an additional fee as well).

For more information:

https://www.co.washington.or.us/HHS/SWR/Resources/swac.cfm.