Hawaii Contemplates Dumping Trash In Oregon
Oregon: the land of volcanoes, beautiful coastline, forests…and trash? Unfortunately, that might be the case if Hawaii gets its way.
According to the Portland Tribune, Honolulu is quickly running out of space in their main landfill. In order to prevent overflow, the city has hatched a plan to send ships full of garbage up the Columbia River in Oregon, where trash will be put on trucks and trains headed to the Columbia Ridge Landfill.
It may seem strange that Hawaii wants to send its trash to a state known for being so environmentally conscious. Interestingly enough, that’s exactly why they want to do it.
Oregonians recycle over 50 percent of their waste, so the state has plenty of excess space. And Hawaii isn’t the only state taking advantage of this generosity. Oregon is the fifth largest importer of garbage in the country, and nearby Seattle sends over 2 million tons of trash a year to the Columbia Ridge Landfill.
Is this how we want to treat states that recycle? It is certainly true that other states have to put their trash somewhere, but it is a shame that we are rewarding Oregon for environmental awareness by giving them excess trash.
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Simpsons already did it.
Hawaii Contemplates Dumping Trash In Oregon | Deliggit.com…
\r\nOregon: the land of volcanoes, beautiful coastline, forests?and trash? Unfortuna…
Hawaii has volcanos… why do they need landfills?
In all seriousness though, this seems like an ideal situation for Plasma gasification. Trash goes in, electricity, CO, hydrogen, and asphalt come out. No need for a landfill or barges shipping back and forth across the pacific.
Hi Arial,
Couldn’t find your email - so I thought this might be a good way to contact you. I direct a non-profit group out of Seattle. Recycling is a big part of what I do, and it blew me away to hear that Seattle sends 2mm tons of trash to Oregon! Where did you find that fact…I’d be very interested to see. Thanks for the great article!
Nicko
It’s just like anything else, “It’s all about the money”. Plus there will be tight restrictions. Oregon has pretty strict environmental regulations.
Well if they will recycle it and help the environment what does it matter?
To bad Hawaii doesn’t recycle at all. If they did, maybe there wouldn’t be this issue.
Maybe Oregon can get paid to take enough trash and finance plasma gasification themselves.
it’s not like the trash is being GIVEN to Oregon… they are being PAID to take it. it’s a business- they make money off it. DUH
The last time I was in Maui a few years ago, they didn’t even have a recycling program set up. People were just throwing everything into the trash, it was pretty disgusting to witness. As for the main island they obviously need some guidance perhaps from the Scandinavians, who turn their trash into energy.
Shipping trash as freight is a great idea! Jesus… when will people finally put their stone age thinking to a rest. It’s not the 1950s anymore, Leave It To Beaver was cancelled 50 years ago.