Burner numbers way off, official says

The Waste-to-Energy Plant has emerged as a potentially controversial topic as the city of Spokane charts its carbon emissions.

Initially, the regional trash incinerator was identified as the largest single carbon source in the city, responsible for sending 6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the air annually.

Those numbers were way off, said Lloyd Brewer, environmental program manager for the city. According to the latest estimate, the correct number is closer to 300,000 metric tons annually.

In addition, Brewer has prorated how much of the emissions come from garbage generated by city residents, versus garbage from other parts of Spokane County. In the overall picture, the incinerator is a small part of Spokane residents’ carbon emissions, he said.

The concept of burning garbage, particularly plastics, still raises questions for Mike Petersen, executive director of The Lands Council. It’s a topic he plans to study further.

A number of considerations are involved, Petersen said. The city, for instance, might be burning garbage that could be recycled.

But the energy output needed to recycle the material versus burning it also has to be considered, he said. The same goes for transporting the garbage to a regional landfill, instead of burning it at home.

Landfills are also generators of methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas.