Winter Newsletter
Did you know that there are no landfills in Spokane County? In the 1980’s there were five in the County that received solid waste and buried it. By the late 80’s they were all near capacity and liquid garbage was seeping into the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie aquifer (“the aquifer”), threatening the water supply. The aquifer is an EPA designated sole source aquifer, meaning it is the only source of clean drinking water for most of Spokane and Kootenai county residents. This designation gives our aquifer enhanced protections to safeguard it from contaminants including seepage from landfills. Increased protection and increased awareness about protecting the aquifer made building a new landfill impossible. Paying money (and greenhouse gas emissions) to truck our garbage somewhere else didn’t make sense either. The solution was the Waste to Energy (WTE) facility.
Located near the airport, the WTE facility currently handles up to 800 tons of trash per day and generates enough energy to power about 13,000 homes per year. The incineration process leaves behind an ash that is “sorted” for valuable metals such as iron and aluminum that are reused. The unusable ash is trucked to a landfill in Klickitat county.
The WTE has obvious benefits like energy production, but there are drawbacks. Toxins produced through the incineration process decrease our air quality. These toxins likely harm the health of humans and wildlife. It’s also dependent on a constant supply of solid waste - something Spokane Zero Waste is clearly working to discourage! What to do with solid waste is a big problem, and most will agree that the best way to deal with it is to not produce it in the first place. There really is no such place as “away”, and there is no free lunch, everything has costs associated with it, even transforming waste disposal sites into waste reuse centers. Figuring out equitable ways of handling these costs is at the heart of our interview below.
Interview with Marlene Feist
As Spokane’s Director of Public Works, Marlene Feist has a wealth of knowledge about what happens with our city's solid waste and the Waste to Energy facility. We talked to Marlene about the current state of the WTE facility and how it relates to Washington’s Climate Commitment Act (CCA). The following is a summary of our conversation.
SZW: Can you describe the current controversy around the WTE?
Marlene: Under Washington’s CCA, Spokane will need to start paying into the state’s cap-and-trade program in 2027 because of the WTE facility. The controversy lies around the fact that landfills, used by the rest of the state for solid waste disposal, are exempt from the cap and trade program. Due to the sole source aquifer, Spokane cannot have a landfill, making the WTE our current way of handling solid waste.
SZW: How much would the added fees for the cap and trade program cost?
Marlene: An estimated 5 - 8 million dollars per year would be incurred by the City and ultimately customers who pay for solid waste disposal.
SZW: The increased costs and singling out of Spokane is concerning. Are there any possible solutions or compromises being discussed?
Marlene: Our office is in discussion with local legislators to find a solution that works for everyone.
SZW: Is there anything everyday folks can do?
Marlene: Senate Bill 5703 has been introduced by a bipartisan group of local state senators. The bill would provide an exemption for our WTE facility and thus treat it the same as landfills. Send your state senator a note telling them you support this bill!
Some Quick Facts
Today, every municipal solid waste system in the state of Washington except the City of Spokane is exempted from having to purchase emissions credits under the Cap and Invest program. Spokane is the only community whose municipal solid waste system is not exempted under the state Cap & Invest program despite four landfills having emissions greater than the City of Spokane’s facility.
Two of the landfills with a program exemption have three times as many non-biogenic emissions as the Spokane system. One Cap and Invest program-exempted landfill in King County has twice the emissions as the Spokane system. Another landfill with a program exemption and more emissions than the Spokane system is owned by an out-of-state multinational corporation with revenue of more than $8 billion. This bill is about simple fairness.
One more comparison: In 2027, the City of Spokane will be required to compete in a sophisticated carbon credit market against multinational companies like Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Phillps66. But unlike a Phillips66 or BP-owned refinery, Spokane residents will not receive no-cost allowances that reduce their financial burden as is currently provided to these companies and to electrical and natural gas utilities under this legislation.
You can tell your representative you support Senate Bill 5703
You may have heard about the City of Spokane working with a Spokane Valley based company called Carbon Quest to explore the possibility of carbon capture to mitigate emissions produced by the WTE plant. Spokane’s City Council is currently considering a contract with Carbon Quest to determine the feasibility of installing carbon capture technology at the WTE plant. Captured carbon could potentially be used to make concrete, aviation fuel, and fertilizer or stored in deep wells of basalt.
The Washington State Solid and Hazardous Waste Plan 2021–2026 is like many municipal solid waste plans, shifting focus from waste management to materials management. It also looks at developing reuse centers that promote circularity. SZW supports these actions and is actively engaged in developing circularity around textile and food waste.
Legislative updates
We are less than a month into Washington’s state legislative session and all of our priority bills are still alive! As a reminder, our 2025 priority bills are a Right to Repair bill, a Bottle Bill, a Food and Organic waste bill, and the Recycling Reform Act (formerly ReWrapAct).
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to sign in or comment on bills - actions like these are why these bills are still alive! If you haven’t signed up for action alerts and want to get involved it’s not too late! Sign up for alerts from our friends at 350 Washington. Worried about a clogged inbox or not having the time? Don’t be! They will only send two emails a week and most actions take a minute or less! You can even stay focused on only the issues that matter the most to you. Let’s work together to ensure Washington continues to move the needle on the most pressing environmental issues.
Spokane Zero Waste is delighted to announce we are a recipient of a Levine Impact Lab grant. This award not only has a financial benefit, but comes with 18 months of capacity building and operational consulting services to help our organization grow, face unexpected challenges, and deliver programming that supports our mission. LIL, as it’s fondly called, is the creation of philanthropist Peter Levine, and is set up to invest in both individual and organizational development in order to accelerate positive change. We are so grateful that Peter and his team see the value in the work we are doing, we hope you do too.
Interested in getting involved? Sign up to volunteer
Announcement: Calling Designers, Artists and Crafters:
Spokane Zero Waste, Art Salvage and Spokane Solid Waste are teaming up to deliver an epic Trashion fashion show to those who work in recycling and waste reduction across the state at the annual Washington State Recycling Association conference.
Don’t miss out on our Events!
Stayed tuned for our upcoming classes!
