Solid waste disposal for the urban area occurs at one county facility, the Knott Pit Sanitary Landfill, just outside of the Urban Growth Boundary on the east side of 27th Street. Deschutes County studies estimate that Knott Landfill will reach capacity by the year 2025. However, the recent trend of 10 to 18 percent annual increases in municipal solid waste flows may shorten that life span.

A second landfill just for construction debris and demolition material located adjacent to Simpson Avenue within the Urban Growth Boundary was in operation prior to 1997. This demolition landfill site is about 80 acres, and abuts residential lands on the north, and west, and commercial development along its east and south sides.

Collection of solid waste is done by private providers under city and county franchise. In 2005 it was estimated that only about 92 percent of the households in the Bend Urban Growth Boundary had signed up for a weekly collection service. The two garbage haulers in the Bend urban area, Bend Garbage and Cascade Disposal, provide weekly curb-side pickup of municipal solid waste and recyclable materials. Recyclables picked up at curb-side include aluminum, corrugated cardboard, paper bags, magazines and catalogs, and used motor oil.

The Department of Environmental Quality’s 2005 Waste Diversion Report indicated that 160,707 tons of waste were deposited in Knott Landfill and 62,523 tons of waste were “diverted” (recycled by households and businesses either through curb-side service, or dropped off at the county’s yard debris mulch program, as well as recycling occurring out of the solid waste system such as bottle bill returns and the scrap metal industry). When backyard composting and efforts in waste prevention and reuse are considered, the percentage of solid waste material being recycled increases from approximately 28 percent to approximately 34 percent.