Dryden Garbage Drop Off Site To Close Down 3 Weeks For Repairs

A contractor is being secured to make repairs at the Dryden Transfer Station. 

The work includes replacing much of the "push pit", which is the area where garbage is loaded onto trucks for transfer to the East Wenatchee landfill.  

Chelan County Commissioner Shon Smith says the pit floor is crumbling from heavy machinery constantly pushing solid waste around. 

"We've got rebar sticking out and the concrete is crumbling, and those heavy tracked dozers, the grousers on them are just aggressive so that they can get in and out of that area," said Smith. 

Commissioners will award a contract for the repair work on Tuesday after the bid packets are examined to make sure they're complete. 

The contract will be awarded to SEI Industrial Services, which submitted the lowest bid of $237,269. The bid was significantly higher than the county engineer's estimate of $179,300. 

The same work was performed in 2020 for about $130,000. But commissioners moved to accept the SEI bid Tuesday. 

Smith says the work will be involved. "We're having to take up that entire floor system because it only lasts a few years with that heavy use and the heavy stuff being dumped in it," Smith said. "Also, the heavy equipment going and doing all the compacting."     

The project will require the Dryden Transfer Station to shut down for three weeks on April 1. Plans are to reopen the facility on April 22. 

Upper Valley residents will need to take their trash to the Wenatchee Transfer Station during that period. The Wenatchee location at 1421 S. Wenatchee Ave. is operated by Waste Management.