City Burns Exotic Trash For Cash Garbage From Antarctica Among ‘Special’ Waste

Was that a whiff of weed on the West Plains?

Marijuana, military secrets and antarctic trash are some of the unusual items burned in Spokane’s trash plant this year.

A new report provided to Spokane clean air regulators Thursday lists what’s going up in smoke besides regular garbage.

The report is a result of a 1998 state-brokered agreement on what “special” wastes the Spokane plant can accept without hurting air quality.

The agreement ended four years of power struggles between local solid-waste and air-quality officials over what can be burned in the plant.

“Special” wastes are anything not included in Spokane’s regular residential and commercial garbage.

The city’s Solid Waste Management Department charges $131.75 a ton to burn them, compared with $97 a ton for regular garbage, said Damon Taam, the department’s contract manager.

So far this year, the city has burned 890 tons of unusual discards - about one day’s capacity in the 302,000-tons-a-year garbage incinerator.

“People call us nearly every day to ask, `How can we get rid of this stuff?”’ said Dale Arnold, Spokane’s environmental manager.

Sometimes, the city says no. For instance, hardened asphalt from roof-patching projects turns to runny goo that gums up the plant, Arnold said.

“We won’t accept a large amount of it, even if it’s OK environmentally,” he said.

This year, the city has accepted a range of discards, including outdated children’s cough syrup, chunks of asphalt and lunch bags from Japanese commercial pilots training at Moses Lake.

The Japan Air Lines lunches qualify as international trash and must be incinerated.

So does garbage from a U.S. scientific research station in Antarctica, which is shipped to Spokane through a Washington state broker, Arnold said.

Some of the discards get special security checks.

Law enforcement officers from Spokane, the State Patrol and Washington State University keep tabs on the marijuana, other controlled substances and drug paraphernalia as it enters the plant, Taam said.

“They put it right into the hopper, and we put two to three tons of garbage on top of it. They watch it as it goes into the boiler,” he said.

Boeing brings its military secrets under armed guard in secured boxes. “They make an appointment, and bring their own truck,” Taam said.

A potential disagreement arose recently when the city wanted to accept a large quantity of old toner from copying machines, said Eric Skelton, Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority director.

The parties have worked on an agreement to make sure the toner won’t harm air quality, Skelton said.

Spokane’s handling of special wastes didn’t always go so smoothly. SCAPCA threatened to fine the city after it agreed in 1994 to burn 1,056 tons of Canadian pesticide jugs in the trash plant.

For a while, the city backed away from accepting large quantities of special wastes.

But in 1996 and 1997, the city again began to accept them - including more pesticide containers and 20 cubic yards of oil-soaked absorbent rags from a British Columbia diesel spill.

That prompted Skelton to notify the Washington Department of Ecology he could no longer certify the plant was meeting the conditions of its state air quality permit.

In March 1998, Tony Grover, Ecology’s new regional manager, brokered an agreement that calls for the city to consult with SCAPCA and report quarterly on what special wastes have been burned.

It banned further imports of pesticide jugs and spill materials from Canada, but allows oil filters from cars and trucks inside and outside Spokane County; industrial trash that isn’t dangerous waste; and other out-of-county solid waste.

It also limits the city’s acceptance of petroleum-laced wastes to 150 tons a month.

The agreement has worked well, Arnold said.

“SCAPCA is our assistant, not an opponent, in making these decisions,” he said.