Thurston County Solid Waste has adopted an ordinance that expedites the date of delinquency for Solid Waste charges from sixty (60) days to thirty (30) days, expedites notice for overdue accounts from ninety (90) days to sixty (60) days, and prohibits disposal until balances are paid in full. This revision is in effect as of November 1, 2025, and only applies to existing Solid Waste accounts at Thurston County Solid Waste facilities. The amendments can be found here. Questions can be directed to 360-867-2491 or ThurstonSolidWaste@co.thurston.wa.us.

The Thurston County Waste and Recovery Center (WARC) has suspended its used cooking oil collection program at HazoHouse. The suspension comes in response to new traceability guidelines set by Mahoney, the current collection and recycling vendor, which prevent them from continuing collection at the WARC. 

Residents should solidify used cooking oil with a commercial oil solidifier or stearic acid before placing it in the household garbage. Questions can be directed to 360-867-2491 or ThurstonSolidWaste@co.thurston.wa.us.

The Thurston County Waste and Recovery Center (WARC) in Lacey suspended the plastic foam recycling program, effective February 28, 2023. Due to a recent law prohibiting certain types of plastic foam products, the processing facility the WARC uses for this type of recycling ended operations in February 2023. Read the full news release for more details. Questions can be directed to 360-867-2491 or ThurstonSolidWaste@co.thurston.wa.us.

Thurston County owns and operates the Rainier and Rochester garbage and recycling drop-box sites. Due to limited capacity, the county is exploring the possibility of developing a new transfer station to replace the drop-box sites in the southern part of the county. Learn more about the study by visiting the South County Transfer Station Study page.