Moving trash from state to state

What are we going to do with our trash when the landfills are full?

That’s not a problem that’s garnering much attention because, frankly, there are a lot of places in this country to bury our trash.
But across the Pacific Ocean it’s a real concern — right now.

The landfill on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu is running out of room. It will be full in 15 years if nothing changes. The Honolulu City Council wants to have 100,000 tons of trash a year shipped to Washington state for disposal in Klickitat County. The folks who run the Klickitat landfill, the largest in our state, are eager to receive the garbage because it means a lot of green in their pockets. The Klickitat dump is the major business in that area as it gets paid to dispose of the garbage. It also converts methane from the waste into electricity.

In the short term, Hawaii’s solution might make sense. It is buying the island’s people some time. But shipping tons of garbage from Hawaii to the mainland, or even from state to state as New York is doing with its garbage shipments to Alaska, is not a sustainable solution. It may take many decades, but our trash capacity will one day be exhausted. In addition, shipping tons of trash could be an environmental hazard waiting to happen.
If the garbage barge were to sink at sea there would be an uproar. And if a barge had problems in the Columbia River, which it would have to travel to get to Klickitat County, the environment could be severely damaged. Sure, the possibility of disaster is remote, but it is possible. We’ve got to find an efficient way to get rid of our trash that results in a positive for society. Klickitat County’s methane to electricity is on the right track.

So, too, is Hawaii’s H-Power plant, which generates electricity using garbage as fuel. Right now Hawaii’s operation is too small to burn all of Oahu’s trash. A new boiler is planned that will allow all the garbage to be burned and extend the life of the island’s landfill to 30 years as only the ashes would have to be dumped in the dump.

The mainland has far more time to deal with this problem, but at some point we will be in the same boat (or is that trash barge?) as Hawaii.
The mainland should keep an eye on Hawaii as it deals with its serious garbage issue. If Hawaii finds a workable solution, the entire nation would benefit.

Hawaii’s most populated island is already running out of room to bury garbage.

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