What is needed is an integrated waste management system (IWMS), based on the USEPA’s international waste hierarchy. Such a system stresses source reduction, reuse and recycling, and resource recovery rather than disposal of untreated waste. Similar systems have been put in place in other locations, with great success: a diversion of over 99% of waste away from landfills, and costs lower than those now being paid in King County. The infrastructure needed for an IWMS, and its operation, requires both expertise and vision. Sadly, it would seem that the County has neither.