Apple maggot find halts compost intake

QUINCY – A composting company that operates at Ovenell Farms in Quincy was forced to halt hauling unprocessed organic waste from Seattle July 7 after inspectors discovered apple maggot larvae.

The state Department of Agriculture issued the suspension to PacifiClean, which had received a special permit to begin transporting covered containers of Seattle-area organic waste June 30.

Inspectors discovered and confirmed the presence of apple maggot larvae in the waste less than a week after transportation began, Hector Castro, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture, said last week.

The suspension halts transport until PacifiClean builds an enclosed building at the Ovenell site to “process” the waste by grinding it before it’s taken outdoors and placed in mounded rows for composting. Heat generated during composting kills pests, officials have said.

“The facility has been scaled down. We’ve had to lay off folks. We’re not receiving any new feed stock at the moment,” said PacifiClean General Manager Ryan Leong.

Castro said PacifiClean appealed the decision but has since withdrawn its appeal. Leong wouldn’t comment on the reason for the withdrawal, but said his company is in “continued, open communication with the WSDA.”

Most of Eastern Washington is free of apple maggot, a pest that bores into the fruit, turning it brown and mushy. The region’s pest-free status is a big advantage for fruit companies here, which face no restrictions on selling their fruit to foreign markets.

The maggot is present in Spokane and in most of Western Washington. A quarantine has been imposed on those areas and restrictions applied to prevent the maggot from spreading.

Transport of “unprocessed” organic waste from the quarantine areas into the pest-free areas is possible only with a special permit, Castro said.

State Department of Agriculture inspectors were present at PacifiClean’s point of dispatch in Seattle and at its composting facility in Quincy, Castro said.

The department notified apple industry officials of the find.

“They were as concerned as we were,” Castro said. “We took action to suspend the transport because even the news that apple maggot was present could have ramifications for the (fruit) market. Significant economic harm could result from it.”

He added, “We’d been working on this since last year to provide an avenue for the compost industry to move green waste to processing facilities in Eastern Washington, but protect the apple industry, which is our primary objective.”

Other Eastern Washington companies, including Royal Organics of Royal City, transport Seattle green waste into pest-free areas without permits.

Castro said these companies either process – grind – the waste from within the quarantine area before bringing it here or are in an area with low probability that orchards could become contaminated.

The risk of apple maggot contamination from these companies was perceived to be lower than from PacifiClean, Castro said.

The Department of Agriculture is in the process of developing permits for the other companies and monitors their operations.

“This isn’t a situation where one size fits all,” Castro said.