Haines’ landfill to offer ‘drop and drive’ program for household trash

Haines’ privately-owned solid waste facility has a new ‘drop and drive’ program for household trash. As KHNS’ Corinne Smith reports, managers with Community Waste Solutions say the program allows residents to skip the time-consuming step of weighing their trash on the way in. 

Community Waste Solutions manager Craig Franke stands outside Haines’ only landfill, and points down the driveway alongside the building to a large black container. 

“Our plan now is we’re gonna spin that container 90 degrees, and our drop and drive traffic will pull up outside, and can throw it in.”

Starting on April 1st, Haines’ only waste facility and landfill, Community Waste Solutions, will offer a faster method of dropping off household trash. Instead of residents having to weigh and pay for trash disposal one-by-one, residents can bypass all that by using pre-paid bags, then drive by and drop them off.

“Yeah, should be light years faster.”

Franke says the change was a result of a community survey the company conducted last year. 

“And the overwhelming response we had from the community was they wanted more access to drop off trash. And so we’re trying to find a way to balance giving more access with a way that we can do it economically.” 

The new initiative also expands drop off hours from three to six days a week – Monday through Saturday. Residents can purchase biodegradable bags at a flat rate from the facility or participating stores around town. Bags are $3 for six gallon, $6 for 13 gallon, and $12 for 30 gallon.

Franke says there are some restrictions. They won’t take hazardous materials like paints and oils, or electronic waste in those bags, only household waste. Large items, like construction debris will still have to be weighed inside. 

Melissa Aronson is the chair of Haines’ Friends of Recycling and the Solid Waste Working Group, which was formed in 2016 to address solid waste management in the Chilkat Valley. 

“This is something that the Solid Waste Working Group has been looking at for a long time. And that is, the cost of dumping and the convenience of taking things to the landfill. So we were really happy when Craig Franke came up with this idea.”

As Haines residents drive by and drop off trash, inside the facility the waste processing will be in full swing.

“Too many people think that it all ends right here, they drop off the trash and gee, you know, we paid all this money for the trash and they’re done. When people drop it off, that’s where it starts for us.”

Two workers sort a pile of aluminum cans as Franke describes the process. Household trash bags are piled onto a conveyor belt and loaded into a huge, vessel roughly 30 feet high called a trommel. Franke says they process 8,000 lbs at a time, three to four days a week.

“This goes through a bag shredder that breaks a bag. So it kind of starts separating some of the stuff out a little bit. And by that I don’t mean into specific categories. It’s just getting it out of the bag and kind of separated, comes up this conveyor drops onto another conveyor and feeds this and then they’ll load the sludge.”

That’s sewer sludge brought in from Haines water and sewer treatment plant. It’s rich in nitrogen, so along with cardboard and food waste contributes to composting the trash and breaking it down. 

“It’s part of the treatment process, but it’s what settles out of it. Certainly not something you’d want your kids to run on the playground. But when we’re done with it, we take it and cover it in the landfill.”

The solid waste working group’s Aronson says in the long term, it’s important for Haines to reduce its waste overall, and composting food scraps, and recycling as much as possible. 

“In the United States, each person produces on average, two and a half pounds of garbage per day. And that’s a lot of garbage. And in order to manage it in any kind of a responsible way, if we can pull out the food, waste, and yard waste, and compost that, then compost becomes a wonderful resource.”

Aronson and Franke emphasized sorting recyclables from trash where possible. Community Waste Solutions recycles aluminum, scrap metal, and electronics, but no longer recycles glass or plastics due to expense, and a lack of global recyclers. 

The ‘drop and drive’ program at Community Waste Solutions begins Friday, April 1. Bags will be available at participating stores including Haines Home Hardware, Lutak Lumber, Olerud’s and Mountain Market.