My Turn: Growth of Lemon Creek 'mountain' needs stopping
I would like to comment on the waste study presentation held at Centennial Hall on Nov. 27. The WIH Resource Group was hired by the city to analyze Juneau's current and future waste needs. The WIH representatives made their presentation and accepted comment. They then made the same presentation to the Juneau Assembly the next day. Although this was a public Assembly meeting, the public was not allowed to comment. So, I will take this opportunity to make my public comment on the waste study proposal.
Sound off on the important issues at
The city of Juneau should take over the refuse collection permit from Arrow Refuse and include curbside recycling as part of the collection. Bravo. Great suggestion.
Organize a materials recovery facility - bravo. Great suggestion.
Primary conclusions to waste disposal: The Waste Management Inc. landfill site has a 30 year life and "There are no compelling technical reasons that justify seeking another disposal method, especially in the short term. Instead, resources should be devoted to significantly expanding waste reduction/recycling activities."
Wow, how politically correct can you get?
My comments will be devoted to these last findings:
The WIH group spent a considerable amount of time telling their audience how lucky Juneau is to have such a great company as Waste Management to run the landfill, and if we aren't careful, Waste Management could pull out and leave us in the lurch. (Hmmm those were very suspicious comments.)
The study and the comments by WIH were primarily focused on why there could be no incineration in Juneau ever again. Well, the city has not stopped incinerating. Everyday, tons of slugs from the wastewater treatment plants are incinerated. This is done in an aging incinerator at the Juneau-Douglas plant facility. That incinerator and facility are going to have to be replaced at sometime in the not-too-distant future and for millions of dollars.
Why wasn't that waste issue included as part of the study? Replacing that old incinerator with the new technology that incorporates all waste, which is done all over Europe and Japan, seems to me to be a two fold solution. Replace an aging slug incinerator with new technology and stop dumping our community waste in the middle of our community.
When the European Union directed its country members to stop land-filling and start incinerating, for land use and environmental reasons, they also told those countries to start aggressive recycling programs. The new generation of incinerators have improved vastly. The WIH group made no mention of that, but instead said that if you incinerate, you need the materials that you are recycling. Cardboard and some paper products, maybe, but recycling plastic is too valuable of a commodity and there are plenty of plastic products that can't be recycled, such as disposable diapers, Ziploc bags, and the like that are a great fuel source (all oil products). I'm not advocating using all of these oil products, but until that mindset changes those are good incinerator fuel sources.
The conclusion to my comments are:
Curbside recycling - yes.
Continue to dump our waste in the "Lemon Creek Mountain Range" - no.
Make no mistake, the Lemon Creek mountain we see growing now is absolutely nothing. Incineration stopped only 4 years ago. A more aggressive recycling plan will extend the landfill, but we will still be dumping all of our household goo into that mountain. That mountain will become a mountain range of our waste that will be there for your children and grandchildren to look at and wonder, "What we were thinking?"
• Janet Grange is a retired administrative officer from the Public Works Department of the city of Juneau. Responsible for Public Works budgeting and accounting, she supervised the fleet division; waste management, which includes recycling, household hazardous waste and junked vehicles; and the Safety Committee. She is a member of Friends of Recycling and Turning the Tides organizations.