San Juan Transfer Station

Small island transfer station used by Friday Harbor residents and people from nearby parts of San Juan Island. It’s the place where household trash gets compacted and sent off the island, so it’s busier when folks are doing yard or spring cleanup. Local drivers, contractors with pickups, and anyone with a carful of stuff stop here.

Pull into a single entrance with a booth and a scale nearby; traffic lines form when multiple trucks show up. Vehicles usually stop at the booth and then move to the loading/compacting area; expect to loop back across the scale on the way out. The site looks industrial - piles, compactors, and open bays - and recycling and green-waste are commonly separated in Washington facilities, so be ready to sort. Weekends and holiday-adjacent days get noticeably busier, and larger vehicles take longer to navigate the ramps and drop-off points.