Think About It………                                                                                  October 26, 2011

We used to call it “garbage” but now it’s called “Solid Waste”.  One thing for sure, we humans, really make a lot of it and here on the Kenai Peninsula all our “solid waste” is all collected and disposed of by the Kenai Peninsula Borough.  In-fact, our Borough Solid Waste Department will spend your tax dollars in the amount of $8.8 million this fiscal year to get rid of all our “garbage.”

All in all our Borough, for the most part, does an excellent job of transporting, weighing, re-cycling, compacting, and burying all of the solid waste we generate everyday and for that excellent job the Borough Solid Waste Department is to be given lots of “kudos”.

However, a visit to the Solid Waste Disposal site just south of Soldotna will probably raise questions that many of us would like the next, new Borough Mayor to address.

First of all, why can’t there be some type of system set up to allow for salvage.  You know the old saying “One families garbage is another family’s treasure.” 

Any and all items thrown into the doors of the building that houses the Solid Waste Baling facility does not lend itself to any type of salvage efforts, and although that’s a shame, considering all the valuable items that are thrown threw those doors, that is just the way it is.

However, when it comes to the so called “C and D Cells” there are huge amounts of valuable building supplies that would be salvaged by your friends and neighbors if it were allowed. How many times have you seen all kinds of valuable plywood, dimensional lumber, siding, roofing materials, fencing, wiring, wall covering and pipes, etc, etc thrown into that huge pile of discarded items.

If someway could be worked out to allow salvaging, maybe even having a designated Borough Official on hand at all times to supervise salvage efforts, thousands of dollars worth of discarded valuable items could be salvaged. That would be “re-cycling” at its very best.

Secondly, if there is absolutely no way that the next new Borough Mayor could find to allow salvaging efforts in the “C-D Cells” why not burn the thousands of bulky, burnable items that accumulate each week. Some smoke for sure but its not like we have an air pollution problem on the Kenai Peninsula, especially when the wind blows. Burning it would certainly cut down on the space we need to bury all those items.

Of course, when it comes to burning all our solid waste, investment by the Borough for a huge high temperature, smokeless,  burning facility is the only answer to get serious about keeping theland used for solid waste disposal to a minimum.

Think About It!      10-26-2011

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