Area needs to follow in Spokane's footsteps

Spokane did it, why can't we? You may know that Spokane, Wash., has a waste-to-energy program. This program is an alternate environmentally conscious way to dispose of garbage.

Here in Sandpoint, we send all our garbage on trucks to a landfill. This not only pollutes the environment, but it wastes oil that the trucks use to drive to the landfill.

In Spokane all of their trash goes to a waste energy plant. At this waste energy plant all of the garbage is unloaded and is hand checked for any recyclables on a conveyor belt. All of the recylables are then removed and recycled. Then the rest of the trash moves into a giant furnace, where it is all burned. This creates heat for energy and efficiently disposes of the garbage. The poisonous chemicals in the smoke are filtered out before leaving the plant so that it does not pollute the environment. So if Sandpoint were to put in a waste to energy plant, we could save money on oil, create jobs, be environmentally concious, and have clean energy to use.

GERHART SUPPIGER

Cocolalla