By LYNDON ZAITZ of the Keizertimes
The waste disposal plant in Brooks is scheduled to be shuttered at the end of the year.
Now known as Reworld Marion, the mass burn facility is owned by a waste management company based in New Jersey.
Reworld notified Marion County officials earlier this year of the plant’s closing.
The Brooks facility, built in the 1980s, processes about 550 tons of waste daily, including about 90% of the county’s garbage. It’s currently the only medical waste incinerator on the West Coast.
Marion County officials said Reworld in August presented four options: create a transfer station by lease, buy the facility from Reworld, allow Reworld to sell the facility to a third party or prepare for closure.
According to Waste Dive, a publication covering waste and recycling industries, once the Brooks plant is closed, one large waste-to-energy plant will remain on the West Coast in Spokane, Washington. That facility is currently handling waste from that region only.
ReWorld has said that laws passed in 2022 removes an incentive for local governments to send their waste to incineration, making operations in the state more difficult for Reworld.
Oregon also recently increased emissions regulations. The law, passed last year lengthened the list of pollutants that facilities must continuously monitor.
Reworld said the Oregon healthcare system might need to send waste more than 1,800 miles to Kansas City, Kansas, the nearest facility capable of handling such material.
Waste Dive reported that all state law enforcement agencies use ReWorld Marion’s incinerator and would need to find alternatives in Michigan or elsewhere for destruction of records, evidence and other items.
Nic Dahl, owner of Loren’s Sanitation said Keizer’s waste haulers will continue its service. Much of the city’s waste is processed at Re: Source, the new name for Marion Resource Recovery Facility (MRRF).
“We are able to handle waste at current pricing,” he said.
Dahl continued that it is hard to speak about what happens after the ReWorld plant closes.
The challenge, Dahl said, will be the disposal of medical waste.
Steve Nipp, ReWorld Marion facilities manager said the Brooks site employs 46 people when fully staffed.
Employees facing unemployment have the opportunity to relocate to other ReWorld facilities, but those are all in the Midwest or further east.
Nipp said some of the employees have been with the company for more than 35 years and are unlikely to relocate.
The jobs at ReWorld Marion are highly skilled, he said. Eight of Oregon’s premier operators are based in Brooks.