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Beneficial Use Determinations

Beneficial use of solid waste is a sustainability practice that may involve using an industrial waste in a manufacturing process to make another product or using a waste as a substitute for construction materials.

DEQ has standing beneficial use determinations and makes other beneficial use decisions on a case-specific basis:

Case-specific beneficial use determinations

​Portland Harbor Holdings, Inc. is conducting a project to restore the natural habitat at the former Alder Creek Lumber property on Sauvie Island. DEQ has approved a beneficial use determination that allows PHH to place lightly contaminated excavated soils from the project in an upland area that will then be planted as forest.

Beneficial Use Determination

Additional Information

​DEQ has approved a beneficial use determination to allow Clean Water Services to reuse street sweepings fines as non-residential construction fill, utility trench fill, and non-residential landscaping fill, such as roadway median strips.

Clean Water Services is the public water management district in Washington County. CWS operates under the direction of the Washington County Board of Commissioners.

Beneficial Use Determination

​DEQ has approved a beneficial use determination that allows Columbia Steel Casting Co. to sell its electric arc furnace steel slag waste material to be beneficially used as non-residential construction fill, utility trench fill or road-base material.

Beneficial Use Determination

​DEQ has approved a beneficial use determination that allows GP Toledo to apply AgriLime to fields as replacement for traditional agriculture lime.

​​DEQ has terminated the American Gypsum Recycling beneficial use determination that allowed AGR to reclaim wallboard waste material and beneficially use the screened and processed material for a variety of beneficial purposes. An updated BUD has been issued that recognizes Neils Jensen’s plan to store and over time, finish processing and use AGR’s abandoned wall board waste as a soil amendment on the farm property.

​DEQ has approved a beneficial use determination that allows Lane Forest Products to use composted street sweepings for soil and compost mixes on nonfood-crop agricultural lands applied at or below agronomic rates. Other approved uses include using the material in highway berms and shoulders, and as seeding medium for landfills, highways, and other commercial applications.

Amendment July 22, 2019: DEQ clarifies beneficial use #2 as to the types of stormwater treatment facilities.
 
Amendment Feb. 14, 2019: DEQ clarifies the allowed beneficial uses and eliminates the notification to users of the conditions of use for the composted material.

Beneficial Use Determination

​DEQ has approved a beneficial use determination that allows the Oregon Department of Transportation to use petroleum contaminated soils found within or adjacent to the Hwy 62 by-pass/Coker Butte overpass as encapsulated road base material.

​DEQ has approved a beneficial use determination for highway shoulder soil material generated throughout Oregon.

​DEQ has approved a beneficial use determination that allows Oregon Green Pros Freres Lumber to use its biomass wood ash from a co-generation system as a soil additive for use in gardens and landscaping.

Beneficial Use Determination

​DEQ has reassigned to Plycem USA, LLC the approved beneficial use determination initially assigned to CertainTeed to allow CertainTeed to use its biomass wood ash from a co-generation system as a soil additive for use in gardens and landscaping.

Beneficial Use Determination

​​DEQ has reissued a beneficial use determination that allows the Port of Portland to use dredged sediments from Post Office Bar in the Willamette River as fill material at the West Hayden Island Placement Facility in Portland.

Beneficial Use Determination

Public notice documents

​DEQ has approved a beneficial use determination that allows the Port of Portland to use dredged sediments from dredging conducted at Terminal 2, Berths 205 and 206 in the Willamette River. The sediments will be placed as construction fill material at the Port's existing dredge material placement site on West Hayden Island.

Beneficial Use Determination

Additional documents and information

​DEQ has approved a beneficial use determination that allows the Port of Portland to use dredged sediments from dredging conducted at Terminal 4, Berths 205 and 206 in the Willamette River. The sediments will be placed as construction fill material at the Port's existing dredge material placement site on West Hayden Island.

Beneficial Use Determination

Additional Information

​DEQ has approved a beneficial use determination that allows the Port of Portland to use dredged sediments from dredging conducted at Terminal 6, Berths 601, 603, 604, 605 and 607 in the Columbia River as fill material at the West Hayden Island Placement Facility in Portland for future commercial/industrial development.

Beneficial Use Determination

Additional documents and information

​DEQ has approved a beneficial use determination that allows the Port of Portland to place dredged sediments from Terminal 5 at the Port’s dredge material placement site on West Hayden Island.

​DEQ has approved a beneficial use determination that allows the Port of Toledo to use dredged sediments/spoil to be placed on port-owned level land near dredging area. Disposal will be placed in an upland location, not in water.

Beneficial Use Determination

​CRP/FPC Riverscape LLC plans to excavate and transfer approximately 59,600 cubic yards of slightly contaminated soil from its Riverscape redevelopment site in Northwest Portland to the Port of Portland’s Troutdale Reynolds Industrial Park site for use as fill material. The US Environmental Protection Agency has also approved this transfer.

Amendment: DEQ has approved the beneficial use of an additional 1500 cubic yards of soil, subject to the same conditions as the original 59,600 cubic yards.

Beneficial Use Determination

Additional Information

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  • Beneficial Use Determination
  • Evaluation form
  • Application
​​DEQ has approved a beneficial use determination that allows Silica West to use its silica fume (pellets) to mix with concrete. The pellets are what remains of a terminated, metallurgical process landfill. The mix will go to Cementec Industries, Canada.

Beneficial Use Determination

​Aug. 12, 2015, DEQ approved a beneficial use determination that allows SureCrop Farm Services to use wood ash generated by burning slash, sawdust, bark and mill shavings in Seneca’s Biomass Power Facility. The ash will be applied to cropland as a liming agent, which benefits the soil by raising the pH to a more neutral value, allowing higher crop yields.

​In 2010, DEQ learned that Tenex Management Ltd. had illegally disposed of solid waste on property it leases from the Port of Portland. Tenex subsequently applied to use a portion of the material beneficially as a replacement for virgin sand in the manufacture of concrete blocks. DEQ has approved this use for the specified materials.

Beneficial Use Determination


DEQ has approved a beneficial use determination that allows parking pad material from the West Side Quarry to be sent to Laurelwood Quarry to be used as feedstock for a hot asphalt batch plant that is under the control of the West Side Quarry owner to produce asphalt that is to be used exclusively at Laurelwood Quarry.





Contact

If you have questions or concerns regarding the beneficial use of solid waste, please contact:

Bob Barrows
Waste Policy Analyst
541-687-7354.

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