Believe it or not, industry is still a major employer in King County, accounting for over 100,000 jobs in the city of Seattle alone.
Another little known fact is how much emphasis our local industries put on environmental stewardship.
One of our responsibilities as a clean-water utility is to regulate facilities that discharge industrial wastewater to our regional sewer system, and we issue permits to make sure this wastewater won’t harm the environment, our workers, or our treatment system.
Permit conditions might call for facilities to regularly monitor and test their wastewater, report the data, and submit to periodic inspections. Many facilities are required to pretreat their wastewater before they send it to the sewer system.
Depending on the size and type of operation, industrial dischargers might even invest in specialized equipment or trained personnel to manage the important task of staying in compliance with their permits.
To honor their dedication to clean water, our Industrial Waste Program presented awards to 76 facilities that support our local economy while protecting the natural resources that make our region such a great place to live, work and play.
Four local companies and a public utility landfill earned the coveted Commitment-to-Compliance award for at least five years of perfect monthly compliance with their discharge permits.
Baker Commodities in south Seattle responsibly manages and recycles used cooking grease, animal carcasses and butcher’s waste from other businesses. Besides keeping reusable materials out of landfills, this environmentally-focused company and its loyal employees are protecting the regional sewer system from pipe corrosion, equipment damage and grease blockages that could cause sewage overflows.
Left to Right: Peggy Rice (WTD), Keith Pairsh (Baker Commodities), Despina Strong (WTD), Mike Bulleri (Baker Commodities)
Alaskan Copper Works has been in business over a century, and in fact received one of our first industrial waste discharge permits over 30 years ago. The SODO facility fabricates corrosion-resistant metal parts and pipes that keep so many of our local industries running. The company’s efforts to manage and recycle its manufacturing waste safeguards the environment and protects water quality.
Left to Right: Carl Vinke (Alaskan Copper Works), Dana Heinz (WTD compliance inspector), Despina Strong (WTD program supervisor), Gerald Thompson (Alaskan Copper Works)
Tri-Way Industries has been based in Auburn for more than two decades. The company manufactures metal furnishings for the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carriers. To reduce waste, they replaced liquid paint with a powder coating that is both durable and environmentally friendly. The company also trained its crew to monitor and test its wastewater for permit compliance.
Industrial Waste Program Manager Despina Strong presents the Commitment to Compliance award to Tri-Way Industries President Ken Smith and members of his team: Debra Capra, Greg Andres, Shane Caney, and Jim Seketa.
Boeing’s North Field is where the company delivers its 737 commercial jets manufactured at the Renton factory to customers from all over the world. To support this part of the operation, Boeing employees trained in environmental compliance carefully manage large quantities of industrial paint, fuel and other chemicals to keep it out of the wastewater system, setting the standard for industry practices. This is Boeing’s fourth award in a row, an accomplishment they share with only one other facility.
From Left to Right: Ken Caswell (Boeing), Peggy Rice (WTD), Manny Medina (Boeing), Doris Turner (Boeing), James Tuupo (Boeing)
In addition to the manufacturing facilities, Seattle Public Utilities’ (SPU) Kent Highlands Landfill earned honors for maintaining perfect compliance while managing leachate discharged from their site. The 90-acre landfill accepted municipal and industrial waste during its operational period from 1968 to 1986. SPU staff have developed innovative tools and adopted best management practices with perfect compliance for 20 years in a row.
Beyond these award recipients, fifty-one facilities earned Gold Awards for compliance with wastewater discharge regulations every month in 2016 with no violations, and 25 facilities earned Silver Awards for having no King County monitoring discharge violations in 2017.
Since 1969, the Industrial Waste Program has required industrial facilities to pretreat wastewater before discharging it into the sewer to protect the King County’s treatment system and its workers as well as the environment and public health.
Gold and Silver award winners and their respective facility locations are listed as follows:
Gold Award Winners
- A.O. Smith Corp., Renton
- Aerojet Rocketdyne Inc., Redmond
- Alaskan Copper Works – 6th Ave., Seattle
- Aramark Uniform & Career Apparel LLC, Kent
- Art Brass Plating Inc., Seattle
- ASKO Processing Inc., Seattle
- Baker Commodities Inc., Seattle
- Black Oxide LLC, Auburn
- BNSF Railway Co. – Interbay Facility, Seattle
- Boeing Commercial Airplane – North Field, Seattle
- Boeing Commercial Airplane – Renton, Renton
- Boeing Company – Plant 2 Facility, Seattle
- Boeing Electronics Center, Renton
- BP West Coast Products LLC, Seattle
- Cedar Grove Composting Inc., Maple Valley
- ConAgra Foods, Kent
- Darigold Inc. – Rainier Plant, Seattle
- Davis Wire Corp., Kent
- Eldec Corp., Lynnwood
- Esterline Hytek Finishes Co., Kent
- Exotic Metals Forming Co., Kent
- Foss Maritime Company, Seattle
- G & K Services, Renton
- Glacier Northwest Inc. – Kenmore Facility, Kenmore
- GM Nameplate Inc., Seattle
- Honeywell International Inc., Redmond
- Island Spring Inc., Vashon Island
- Kenworth Truck Co., Renton
- Kerry Inc.. Seattle
- King County Solid Waste Division – Algona Transfer Station, Algona
- King County Solid Waste Division – Bow Lake Transfer Station, Tukwila
- King County Solid Waste Division – Houghton Transfer Station, Kirkland
- Magnetic and Penetrant Services Co., Seattle
- Mastercraft Metal Finishing Inc., Seattle
- National Industrial Concepts, Woodinville
- Northwest Cascade Inc. – Septage Thickening and Dewatering Facility, Pacific
- Port of Seattle, Sea-Tac International Airport, BW, SeaTac
- Primus International – University Swaging Division, Woodinville
- Protective Coatings Inc., Kent
- Red Dot Corporation, Seattle
- Safeway Inc. – Beverage Plant, Bellevue
- Seattle Public Utilities – Kent Highlands Landfill, Kent
- Skills Inc. – Auburn Facility, Auburn
- Spiration Inc. dba Olympus Respiratory America, Redmond
- Starbucks Coffee Company – Kent Flexline Facility, Kent
- Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, Woodinville
- Terex Washington Inc. – North Campus, Redmond
- Terex Washington Inc. – South Campus, Redmond
- Tim’s Cascade Snacks, Algona
- TOC Holdings Co., Seattle
- Tri-Way Industries Inc., Auburn
Silver Award Winners
- Boeing Commercial Airplane – Auburn, Auburn
- Ceradyne Inc., a 3M Company – Seattle, Seattle
- CMC ICOS Biologics Inc., Bothell
- Darigold Inc. – Issaquah Plant, Issaquah
- Encore Oils LLC, Seattle
- King County Solid Waste Division – Renton Transfer Station, Renton
- MicroSurgical Technology, Redmond
- National Products Inc., Seattle
- Pacific Iron and Metal Inc., Seattle
- Phillips 66 Company – Renton Terminal, Renton
- Port of Seattle, Sea-Tac International Airport, IWS, SeaTac
- Precor Inc. – Plant 2, Woodinville
- Prototron Circuits Inc., Redmond
- Qualawash Holdings LLC, Kent
- Rabanco Recycling Co., Seattle
- Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC, Lynnwood
- Seattle Public Utilities – South Transfer Station, Seattle
- Shasta Beverages, Tukwila
- Smith Brothers Farms Milk Plant, Kent
- Trident Seafoods Corp., Seattle
- UniSea Inc., Redmond
- University of Washington Seattle Campus, Seattle
- Waste Management National Services – 8th Avenue South Reload Facility, Seattle
- Western Pneumatic Tube Company LLC, Kirkland
- Western Washington Coca-Cola Bottling LLC, Bellevue