Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
A new Solid Waste Management Plan is taking shape for Whitman County, as Solid Waste Operations Manager David Nails works with J.U.B. Engineers of Spokane to write the state law-required five-year plan.
The process began last summer when J.U.B.’s $25,000 bid was again chosen for consulting. They helped the county prepare the 2012-17 document. After much activity at the waste transfer site in the past five years south of Colfax, the new plan is expected to entail less construction.
“We’re mainly updating it this time around,” said Nails.
The main areas to update – incorporating new Department of Ecology rules and more – are the capital improvement plan, operations plan and financials. Since the last overall plan was written in 2012, the new transfer station building opened (2015) and two new 10,000-gallon contact water tanks were built (2017).
“We’ll detail how we use those in the new plan,” Nails said.
It will also include goals for the next six to 20 years, which may include a new moderate risk waste building (for paints, herbicides, pesticides) and a mini material recovery facility which separates co-mingled recyclables to sell individually. Products will be aluminum, plastic, glass, cardboard and newspapers.
“This would allow us to expand on, make more money on, the recycling front,” said Nails.
An MRF could be housed in the old transfer station, which is now used for recycling only, leaving space available.
Once complete, the five-year plan is used in making interlocal agreements with towns, applying for grants, state funding and more.
The county plan is expected to be finished this spring or summer, after which it will be sent for approval to Washington state Department of Ecology and Washington Department of Environmental Public Health.
Nails works mainly with Layne Merritt, project manager for J.U.B. Part of what they do is amass data – how many people use what parts of the waste transfer services.
“In past plans, that’s how we knew we were needing a new transfer station,” Nails said.
Another potential mention for the future would be a new landfill cell.
“They are always on the back-burner,” Nails said. The most recent cell was opened in 1994, with another five to six years of use expected until it is sealed.
Work on the document continues.
“We’re at least halfway done,” said Nails.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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