An assessment of the Solid Waste Management Plan, with gap analysis recommendations.

The word “plan” is defined as a “proposed course of action”. The 2007 Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan that was submitted by Spokane Regional Solid Waste fails to fulfill this simple definition.  Anyone that has read this Plan would have a difficult time trying to describe what regional waste management will look like just 5 years from now. This Plan uses the words assess and evaluate nearly 200 times in this 331-page document. Wasn’t the whole purpose of the 3-year planning process to assess and evaluate the many different options, and then propose a course of action? This plan just postpones any real decision-making, and if enacted, would leave the future development of the SRSWS solely in the hands of the Spokane City Council*.

*13.3.5 Spokane City Council is the governing body for the City of Spokane and, among other duties, is responsible for overseeing the management of the SRSWS, approving the SRSWS annual budget, and setting SRSWS rates and charges excluding tipping fee changes affected under “major decisions” within the Interlocal Cooperation Agreement.

Updated Plan should include these Solid Waste Management improvements:

1. The Regional Director needs to be independent from the City of Spokane. (Chapter 13)

Solution – Create a five-member panel that would select the Director, and to whom the Director would be answerable. The Director would become a contract employee of Regional Solid Waste. The panel would consist of two members appointed by the City of Spokane, one from Spokane County, one from Spokane Valley, and one by the remaining Regional Cities.

2. The Transfer Stations are crowded, and with long wait times. (Chapter 7)

Solution – Move the Clean Green operations (a money loser for the Region) out of the current facilities. Contract for the collection of yard waste, and have the contractor provide a building near each transfer station. Collection rates would be based on volume – avoiding the cost of scales. Estimated disposal cost would be about $10 per yard. This solution would ensure that fewer people would use the transfer stations, while increasing the usable space at each site by 30%. This would also provide useful space for source separation. This solution could also be applied to CDL debris at the Northside and Valley Transfer Stations.

3. The Waste to Energy Facility is at full capacity, with 80,000 tons of MSW bypassed to Klickitat County in the year 2008 (24% of total MSW). (Chapters 8 & 9)

Solution – Immediately begin the RFP and permitting process for a local private sector state-of-the-art landfill, capable of accepting MSW, ash, and CDL debris (exclude Waste Management from consideration - over monopoly concerns and until they renegotiate the Wheelabrator contract). This will provide a reasonable alternative for the Regional Cities, as their obligations to the SRSWS expire in 2011 and 2014. The estimated tipping fees, using a transfer station type system, would be about $40 per ton.

Only consider adding a third boiler to the facility if a long-term buyer for the electricity can be found, with a guaranteed minimum sales price of at least 12 cents per KWH.

4. Regional Solid Waste is running at a deficit, and will soon be out of operating cash. (Chapter 8 & 13)

Solution – Sell the unused Malloy Prairie and Colbert Composting sites, and put the funds in the operating cash account.