Solid Waste Goals

Washington state came close in 1989 to adopting mandates for recycling. The Legislature ended up setting guidelines and goals of 50 percent reduction of solid waste through recycling.

Idaho, by contrast, has avoided the numbers game entirely, leaving it to local communities to establish their own goals.

Spokane County, through the Regional Solid Waste System, has adopted the 50 percent recycling goal. It’s currently managing a reduction of 43 percent, said Solid Waste System Director Dale Arnold.

Arnold doubts the county can send that figure much higher.

“It takes a lot of effort to recycle that extra bit of waste,” he said.

Spokane’s least-recycled waste is in the form of construction and demolition debris. Most of that waste is hauled to landfills, said Arnold.

Spokane’s 43 percent recovery rate is above Washington’s statewide average of 33 percent.

The state’s recycling rate four years ago reached its all-time pinnacle of 39 percent reduction of solid waste.

Since then, an assortment of economic factors have caused that rate to drop, said Kip Eagles of the state Department of Ecology.

At various times, environmentalists approach the Legislature, asking for the guideline of 50 percent to be made mandatory.

“That’s not going to happen this year,” said Eagles. “Everyone in Olympia is scared to death of Initiative 695.”