RACHEL SUN: An old landfill on the Key Peninsula will be the site of a new solar energy project in Pierce County. N-W-P-B’s Lauren Gallup takes us there. 
LAUREN GALLUP: The ground is domed with brown grass, dry from the summer sun. Below layers of soil, clay and plastic liners are tons of decomposing waste. This landfill in Purdy closed in 1989. 
RYAN DICKS: “ The question for us was, what do we wanna do about the closed landfill?” 
GALLUP: That’s Ryan Dicks. He’s a sustainability manager and solid waste administrator for the county.
Now, there’s not much that can be done with old landfills.  
But some people have found a solution. Communities across the U.S. are turning these sites into solar arrays. 
Pierce County is using this property for that — 
DICKS: “Finding this large of an area that isn't fully treed is really rare in Western Washington, and so that's why it made really great sense to go with a solar project.” 
GALLUP: On top of the closed landfill, there are now over one-thousand solar panels. Once they’re up and running —
DICKS: “ We believe that this one-megawatt solar project is gonna create enough energy to run 100 homes for the entire year.” 
GALLUP: The county says it thinks the site will start collecting energy by the end of the year.
In Purdy, I’m Lauren Gallup.