Suits: Everett’s 45-foot tall mountain of trash could become a multi-million dollar problem

Pressure continues to grow on officials who oversee a trash factory with a 45-foot tall pile of waste that many fear can combust at any moment.

“There’s a multimillion-dollar problem piling up in Snohomish County,” at the Everett transfer station, KTTH host Bryan Suits said.

“It chemically starts breaking down, just like hay fire,” referring to the bales of hay in Eastern Washington that get so hot they combust into flames.

“It doesn’t need as much heat as a campfire or wet wood.”

As the pile continued to enlarge, county officials addressed local concerns.

“We have staff that are observing the pile every hour, 24 hours a day,” Snohomish County Public Works Director Kelly Snyder said. “It could spontaneously combust within the pile itself.”

“Who gets that job?” Suits asked.

Following a KIRO 7 report on the escalating issue, officials announced temporary closures at the solid waste transfer stations and drop process to clear the heaps of trash.

The pile began forming at the beginning of April, with officials citing a lack of workers and a shortage of shipping containers as the reason it built up.

Listen to Bryan’s segment on Everett’s trash problem, the Supreme Court’s leaked opinion on Roe v. Wade, and arson in the Pacific Northwest here: 

Listen to the Bryan Suits Show weekday mornings from 6–9 a.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here.

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