Garbage collectors in Clark County empty their trucks at one of three transfer stations located in Washougal, Orchards, Lower River Road near Vancouver Lake. Waste is then loaded into 40 foot-long containers which are loaded onto barges at the Port of Vancouver. Nearly 140 containers a week are barged 160 miles up the Columbia River, transferred onto trucks at the Port of Morrow, near Boardman, Oregon, and taken 12 miles to Finley Buttes Landfill. The containers are tipped up and emptied into the landfill where the garbage is spread out and compacted. Each day the garbage is covered with soil to prevent the spread of odor and to prevent birds, rodents, and insects from scavenging and possibly spreading diseases.
Each of us and our 281 million fellow Americans produce about 4 pounds of waste a day!! Even though some people recycle some things, the 350,000 residents of Clark County sent about 215,000 tons of garbage to the landfill in 2000. For ideas on how you can reduce waste, click here for tips about Waste Reduction.
