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 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.
This article is so negative in it’s outlook on what I see as a positive situation. Of course Oregon is being rewarded for recycling, they’re being rewarded by the extra jobs and revenue stream this will generate (did you think they’re doing this for free?). The area surrounding this is barren and empty, I lived in the Tri-cities, 30 miles north, for over five years, and honestly, there is no better place to dump trash in. This site is next to the Umatilla Chemical Weapons Depot, and just south of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, again, no better place to dump on. And as far as glassification goes; I’m sure that if it were deemed even remotely financially viable over the cost of shipping the trash 3000 miles it would have been done.
Bah, there’s plenty of room for trash, plenty. So much room, you’d have to drive far and wide to even see a garbage dump. It isn’t like they’re in your city, nearby or anywhere you go, they’re way out there, far away, and there’s so much room, we don’t have to worry!
Plasma gasification requires temperatures hotter than the temperature at the surface of the Sun.
I don’t think there is a volcano on this planet that can product molten rock at this temperature.
Hawaii wants to dump its excess trash in Oregon – is this how we should reward an environmentally conscious state?
Oregon doesn’t have plenty of landfill space because Oregoneons recycle, they have a lot of landfill space because Oregon is a big state. It’s that simple. Land on a tropical island paradise like Hawaii is more valuable than land in the interior of Oregon.
Looks like they did. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_arc_waste_disposal#Concerns
I certainly think that Hawaii needs to do more about recycling and reusing locally. Its sad but so much could be done with this and I think at a big cost savings with the raising prices of fuel these days. What can’t be recycled can often be incinerated for energy.
Waste is food. I live in Oregon; bring it on. Seems a bit of waste of fuel to haul it all, but if Hawaii can’t figure out what to do with it, we probably can …
This game of musical chairs being played with garbage has got to stop. There has to be a change in mindset. Recycling,outlawing disposable plastic containers( a petro product), and using the garbage to produce energy has to be the way. How much longer do they think this can go on?
“Article” fails to mention the compensation the Oregon government will receive. Nice try at sensationalism, though!
Well, I live in Hawaii and we do have recycling programs. In fact in my neighborhood we have curbside pickup of glass/newspaper/cans/plastic bottles and green waste. We have a “bottle bill” here that gives a $.05 refund for every plastic bottle or can. The recycling centers that pay this out are always packed. Further, because of that value, homeless or just plain thrifty people often pick through the public trash cans for bottles/cans to turn in. We have a trash burning facility called H-Power that burns trash and coverts it to electricity. It also has magnets to pull out the ferrous metals first (canned goods type of cans). Problem is that H-Power can’t keep up with the amount of trash coming in. Much of the trash is from the hospitality industry since tourism is our main economy here. Cooperation from the hotels is required to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
I lived in oregon for 18 years. I’ve lived in WA, ID and I can tell you Oregon is a beautiful place. No matter how much space oregon has, it doesn’t necessarily mean they people should bring their trash there, regardless if it makes them money. Just because you get paid to do things, don’t make them right in anyway, environmentally or otherwise. Maybe more states need to implement the 5cents per can recycling idea! It had me picking up cans as a child I can tell ya that! well. That was back when a bazooka joe gum was 5 cents.
I live in hawaii and this article fails to mention that Oregon’s getting paid to do this. Maybe you should edit this FACT into your article. Also, the sixth poster said that Hawaii doesn’t recycle at all? Go check your bottles and cans sometime, see that “HI” stamped on there? That’s not the can saying hello to you, that’s the can telling you that we have a recycling program here (one of many). We live on tiny islands here, very limited surface areas for homes/businesses/trash/etc. Look up the cost of a home in Hawaii. Lack of land is the reason for that cost. If you have a problem with this trash program, you should call your local politicians that are getting your state extra money doing it.
I say, its business. If Oregon is fine with it, let them take it. After all, if they will recycle 50% of it, that is much better than letting the stuff rot.
1) This article is someone inaccurate. Oahu has not run out of landfill space. It’s more like very influential people are just against having the landfill at all.
2) Plasma Arc Gasification hasn’t been proven to be sustainable on a scale that Hawaii would need.
3) Hawaii does have a waste to energy conversion facility that has worked well for over ten years and we are attempting to expand that. Even with that, there is a landfill needed because there will still be ash.
4) I spoke to an Oregon resident just yesterday about this and he said a big reason why Oregon Recycles so much is that it creates more jobs.
I agree more or less with Russell M. It actually *is* a pretty good reward for environmentally conscious policies, to be tasked with dealing with other states garbage. We tend to think of trash as horrible toxic waste that destroys everything it touches, but truth be told, trash is an inimitable resource. Plasma business aside, with proper storage and placement, the environmental risks are relatively low compared to the benefits of payment *and*, you know, free stuff. Even if it is a little messy and broken.
Future research will likely yield better and better methods of harvesting resources and energy from landfills and other waste sources, as resource extraction taps out or is better regulated. Let *everyone* send us their trash…. we’ll be the richest state in the world come 2500.
Interestingly, part of why Oregon is as prosperous as it is has to do with a (kiinda) similar influx of waste at the end of the last ice age.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missoula_Floods
These cataclysmic floods deposited proverbial shittons of sediment into our already fertile valley, and we have been ‘recycling’ that dirt to great profit for a long while now.
Wow, I gotta admit that was quite interesting and som very good points were brought up indeed.
JT
http://www.FireMe.To/udi
What else can you do? Oahu is overpopulated. It is a very small Island. When million upon millions of visitors come every year, yeah, you’re going to have a lot of trash. The local goverment in Hawaii is far to inept and corupt to set up their own gasification plant at this time. Hopefully they get with the program soon, but until they do, the garbage has to go. You have probably been to Hawaii and made some garbage, and you probably have never even thought about going to the place in Oregon where they want to dump it, so relax
I lived in Hawaii for 10 years. Before that I lived on the Oregon coast for almost 20 and now I am back on the mainland living in Portland.
It is totally Hawaii’s responsibility to deal with the non-organic things left on its shores.
This is foolish. Too bad Hawaii…deal with it! Like you have with new oil burning power plants! Grow up Hawaii and take responsibility. Maybe if they are forced to handle there trash they will come up with a better solutiion that all of us will benifit from.
So Oregon makes $’s off of it. That is no reason to import this non-organic trash. They don’t even have a bottle/can ban! And every time you go to the store clerks put what you buy in a plastic bag. From one little tooth brush to a box of soap. The bagsgo to the dump and the trade winds blow it all south. Hangs up on fencing and in sugar cane fields. All they want is tourest dollars: tourestIndustry
no, no, no. This in not a solution that has any future life in mind. And just because a space is ‘empty’ or ‘barren’ it doesnt mean that it has to be filled.
Think of the oil it will take to ship the stuff over to the mainland?
Again, they should not take anything on the island that will not decompose and compost.
Opps, sorry does have a bottle ban now. Thank god!
As a former resident of Maui, I can tell you that the environment is on the bottom of the list for locals. Perhaps not transplants from other states, but the actual locals could care less…
What’s funny is that there is a “Recycling” collection center on Maui. When it gets full, they just pour the contents in the dump on the island… So it’s organized litter? Also, I have witnessed on many occasions family gatherings at parks where they just leave all their trash on the ground. Even when there is a garbage 2 feet away. It’s like they do it on purpose.
Not only do they have no concept of recycling, but there are no official smog checks out there.
I lived on Maui about 7 years ago. Back then you had to get a “Safety Check” for your car to get it registered. The Safety Check basically tested that your break lights and horn worked. Since the trade winds blow out any kind of pollution it truly is a case of out of sight out of mind… It breaks my heart to see. I love the island but am disgusted by the way the general population views the environment out there… Just my two cents.
The majority of the trash that I send to the dump in Hawaii is from all over the world. Yes, I pick up large bags of plastic, rope, net (you name it) washing up on the shore and beach near my residence in Hawaii. It would shock people.
This is not to say Hawaii can’t do more. We must! I know many hotels recycle but as a state the only program I know about is the bottle/can recycling. We need more state wide organization and education.
Most people will agree that Oregon will get paid a hefty amount to take trash in. That’s big business for them. They are going to worry, they already have regulations on how waste gets handled. They have a long list of restrictions to protect the environment, I’m sure.
I live in Hawaii, on the Big Island to be exact, and contrary to beliefs we do have many recycling centers set up. I live on an island where recycling has become a way of life for many, to save the islands beauty and at the same time, getting some money back doesn’t hurt either. We get charged extra when we buy drinks in bottles and cans to encourage use to recycle, that’s when we get that money back. Of course not everyone will recycle, but I think most people are a little more cautious about the way it helps. This is the first time I’ve heard of this news. Maybe the state is considering this as one of our trash solutions since many of our landfills are being filled. We are islands and don’t have as much space as the continental U.S. The state is always looking for solutions for this ongoing problem. Who knows if this might be the actual solution that goes through.
Nicholas Cloutier: Plasma Gasification is not mature enough to work on a scale we are talking about. There isn’t even a working model for any municipality that is comprable. I do agree with the corrupt politicians part. If they didn’t cave in to special interests and just expanded the current landfill, we wouldn’t need to pay all the $$ to ship it off.
StephenH: “Too bad?” This isn’t like Hawaii begged Oregon for assistance. There was a request for bids and Oregon placed a bid for the business. If you don’t want it, tell your politicians to stop it. Of course that’s a loss of $$ for you. As for the Oil to ship it, that’s not an issue. There are already boats coming to Hawaii and going back empty. This just utilized those empty trips.
I live in Hawaii and find this absolutely unacceptable. Hawaii is one of the dirtiest states I’ve ever lived in as I grew up in Oregon.
Although there is a recycling effort here it is not enough because tourism is too much for the Islands to handle. We need to come up with a better solution not only is the garbage bad but most of the coral reefs are dead around all the population bases and now DNR is using injection wells. Meaning the waste water is being injected into the ground which eventually ends up at the ocean so now the ocean is still getting the toxic side affect. We are killing the Mother Earth.
Tourist, especially time share owners love box stores. They over buy and leave all the waste here not the least bit concerned about the impact. It is very sad. Local people are catching on but very, very slowly.
Please Oregonians say NO.
Raven
This would be the worst idea to hit the world since slicing bread long-ways. Why would you ship trash across the ocean? This is a triple waste… why are humans so short sighted?
I live on Oahu. We are starting curb side recycling. Just taking our sweet time setting it up. Where are we going to ship our recyclables?
Disgusting.Really disgusting states which takes so much care about their environment are forced to act as a dumping ground for the waste.These problems must be addressed at higher levels.
trash 2 cash is a profitable thing. If the emissions meet or beat the set standards, then what’s the beef? This type of forward thinking will drive innovative people to develope better emission control systems which will in turn drive more innovation to improve air quality in various areas and industry segments. I know because we are one. Patented and R&D completed on an exhaust purifier that is installed on the incinerator’s tail end. This is the answer to landfilling and lower cost energy supply in one system w/o befouling our air. We need to include the trash haulers in on this or it will never go. This is big business and you wouldn’t want to step on the wrong toes, they’re connected to a 500 pound gorilla that is politically CONNECTED. It may be the only way for this to happen in a meaningful way (nationally) is for all the players to profit from it, so we may not end up saving money but THEY MAY LET US SAVE OUR ENVIRONMENT. We need to serve it up to them on a silver platter. This is better and way less expensive than plasma arc gasification. It can be scaled up or down to fit the application, regionally specific to local resources- wood*coal*trash*tires*diesel(dirty) fuel,etc… LIGHT IT, DON’T HIDE IT! Portland, Oregon.
Plasma gasification?
Have you seen the energy balance on that?
I have studied it for industrial use and it died a natural death.
The one use that I did see was for solidification of nuclear waste where energy input is secondary.
The problem is affluenza! The cure? A larger share of the very finite world’s resources are going to Asian Empire now that the weakest on record U.S.dollar can no longer command 80% of worlds resources, stronger Chinese Yuan can! Soon as Americans are cut back to Third World status – in the next decade, the garbage will disappear, and the scavenging poor will take care of any left over! In the next natural downturn of their economy, in the next natural, normal, down cycle, Americans will face their “comeuppance” for years of squandering resources, and see a crashing dollar, and dying nation! The inflation next decade , caused by this decade’s money printing free for all, will come home to roost! and Yankee Doodle will pay dearly for extravagances of the past!