Join the Spokane Riverkeeper for a 90 minute tour of Spokane’s Waste to Energy Facility May 22nd and learn how our trash is turned into energy. This tour includes an orientation, question/answer period and a walking tour of the facility.
All visitors must wear closed toe shoes. The tour guide will provide hard hats, ear and eye protection at the start of the tour.
Spokane's Waste to Energy (WTE) Facility is part of our community's overall comprehensive solid waste system - encouraging recycling and waste reduction in addition to energy recovery. The facility burns municipal solid waste to recover energy in the form of electricity and handles 800 tons of municipal solid waste a day. The facility generates approximately 22 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 13,000 homes, and earns up to $5 million in power sales annually.
This process reduces the volume of solid waste by 90% - 70% by weight. The resulting ash is biologically inert and sent to a regional landfill to be used as alternative daily cover.
The plant is operated by the City of Spokane's Solid Waste Disposal Department and regulated by Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency, the Washington State Department of Ecology, and the Spokane Regional Health District. The Waste to Energy Facility began operation in late 1991, as part of an overall solution to handle the community's solid waste, replacing non-compliant, leaking landfills.
Our community selected waste to energy over landfilling due to its waste reduction capacity and due to Spokane's proximity to the region's sole-source aquifer. The State of Washington joined in this effort with a $60 million investment, recognizing our facility as a preferred alternative to aging landfills.
Sign up for the Waste to Energy Plant Tour below. Additional details will be sent out the week before and the week of the tour.
