Island County, WA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

Chapter 13.02A, Solid Waste Disposal, sets Island County's overall framework for handling garbage, and section 13.02A.080 carves out recycling specifically. The section is permissive rather than restrictive: it confirms that waste recycling at a reclamation site is allowed so long as the operator otherwise follows applicable laws, rules and regulations, and it makes that site subject to a Health Department permit like other solid waste facilities under section 13.02A.070. The chapter's priority list in section 13.02A.030 ranks waste reduction first, waste recycling second, energy recovery and incineration third, and landfill last, and lets the Board of County Commissioners weigh environmental, collection, disposal and capacity savings when it negotiates waste reduction and recycling service contracts.

A Solid Waste Advisory Committee, created under RCW 70.95.165 and section 13.02A.030.B, gathers public input on the county's solid waste management plan, including its recycling priorities. Because 13.02A.080 addresses reclamation sites rather than curbside collection, it does not set a required recycling rate, a list of accepted materials or a residential pickup schedule; those questions fall instead to whatever service a Washington-certificated hauler offers, since the chapter that once fixed minimum residential recycling service levels, Chapter 13.04, was repealed in 2013.