A problem landfill in Yakima is still littering debris and sporadically releasing noxious smells. Neighbors said they’ve noticed an increase in plastic and some waste that shouldn’t be allowed.
Nancy Lust scanned through a photo she took on a hike near DTG’s Rocky Top Environmental landfill, which is also near her home in Yakima. The picture is like a “Where’s Waldo” of waste.
“There’s a lot of plastic. This looks like it could be a mattress right there,” said Lust, who’s with Friends of Rocky Top, a group that advocates against the landfill.
Mattresses aren’t allowed in this type of landfill. Regulators say it’s those sorts of things thrown in this landfill that eventually contribute to underground fires. One is already smouldering here.
DTG’s Rocky Top Environmental landfill is what’s known as a limited purpose landfill. That means it can accept only certain types of waste, including construction debris, sheetrock, roofing supplies and lumber.
Regulators originally approved permits for a demolition landfill in the early 1990s. In 2008, the landfill received a limited purpose landfill permit, which was expanded in 2015.
Since complaints rolled in about debris and odors, landfill operators have hired people to pick up litter, but neighbors said they haven’t put up a fence, which could help catch blowing debris.
"It's not (construction and demolition) waste, and it was blowing off the landfill. Some of it was kind of big pieces of plastic that got stuck in the sagebrush, and it's just unsightly,” Lust said. “It gets solarized and breaks down into teeny-weeny little particles.”
DTG Recycle did not respond to emailed questions for this story.
Scott Cave, a consultant for Friends of Rocky Top, noted an increase in waste coming from Canada.
“ Why are we bearing responsibility of the environmental impacts of this Canadian material?” Cave said.
Cave and Lust have compiled the increase in Canadian dump trucks through DTG’s annual reports and information requested from the state. That’s in addition to anecdotal observations and counts from a trail camera of Canadian-branded trucks at the landfill.
A letter to the company stated that the Yakima Health District and the Washington Department of Ecology wanted to address concerns from DTG’s Rocky Top Environmental annual report.
According to documents given to Northwest Public Broadcasting, regulators have told DTG that some waste originating in Vancouver, British Columbia, should not be brought to the landfill in Yakima.
“The permit … describes incoming waste as ‘municipal solid waste.’ Therefore, it appears materials brought to DTG are MRF residuals, potentially municipal solid waste, and are unacceptable for disposal,” wrote Steven Newchurch, environmental health program coordinator with the Yakima Health District.
Regulators have also approved some special waste to be disposed of at the landfill, like non-regulated foundry sand, Cave said.
“Nobody's looking at the impact of those special waste being combined with all this Canadian waste and the local green waste, and what kind of toxins do you generate with that mixture?” Cave said.
