Waste Work Doesn’t Need To Be Hazardous Duty Dangerous Materials Can Be Dropped Off At Transfer Station

Bill Ellison is surrounded by hazards: cans of acids on his right, mystery chemicals to his left, flammable liquids behind him.

Still, working in the Valley Transfer Station’s hazardous materials shed isn’t that dangerous, the laborer said.

The real risk, Ellison said, is in the garbage.

Along with chicken bones and banana peels, careless customers are tossing acids, poisons and flammable liquids into their regular garbage and dumping it at the transfer station. When it mixes together and reacts - as it did last week at the Valley Transfer Station - the results are costly and dangerous.

Dumping chemicals in the garbage or down a storm drain pollutes the water, soil and air. The Valley Transfer Station, at 3941 N. Sullivan Road, sits above the Spokane-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, Spokane’s sole source of drinking water.

But hazardous waste spills can be prevented. In fact, by separating hazardous materials from their regular garbage, people can protect the environment and save money at the same time.

The transfer station accepts hazardous wastes from private citizens for free.

It also accepts hazardous wastes from businesses, but for a charge and only by appointment.

Acids, bases, pesticides, poisons and flammable liquids all qualify as hazardous waste.

Many are items commonly found in homes and garages: disinfectants, oven cleaners, lighter fluid, paint strippers, and roach killers.

When in doubt, bring it to the transfer station’s hazardous materials shed, Ellison said.

The Valley Transfer Station collects 12 tons of hazardous waste each month, said Monica Hairston, disposal operations supervisor for the city’s solid waste department.

Items that can still be used - such as cans of paint and partially-filled containers of cleaner and pesticide - are set out on a table and offered to the public free of charge.

“We have regular customers who come daily,” Ellison said.

Some, he said, have managed to paint their homes for free. Vehicle batteries, waste oil and antifreeze are collected by local companies and recycled.

The remaining hazardous waste is carefully packed into 55-gallon drums, separated with cushioning “peanuts” and sent to an incinerator in Arkansas.

The amount of hazardous waste brought to the Valley Transfer Station increases each year, Hairston said.

Unfortunately, she said, the amount found in the regular garbage pit - where it is compacted and prepared for its trip to the Spokane incinerator - hasn’t decreased.

Transfer station employees watch for hazardous materials as people unload their garbage.

Still, three or four times each year, the wrong chemicals get together, causing a reaction, evacuation and closure of the facility, she said.

The Sept. 15 incident closed the transfer station for half a day and sent four workers to the hospital.

Employees had to turn away about 300 customers that afternoon.

Investigating and cleaning up a transfer station chemical spill costs $750 to $2,500 per hour, depending upon the severity, said Pat Humphries, Spokane Valley Fire District chief.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: HOUSEHOLD HAZARDS These hazardous wastes are found in many homes: Drain openers, toilet-bowl cleaners, ammonia, spot remover; Gasoline, car batteries, transmission fluid, antifreeze; Turpentine, varnish, paint, paint strippers; Weed and grass killer, insect and rodent killer, rose dust, fungicides.

Questions about household hazardous wastes? You can pick up a brochure, produced by the Spokane Regional Solid Waste Disposal Project, at the Valley Transfer Station. Or call the Recycling Information Hotline at 747-0242.