Nationwide railway strike could stop garbage pickups in Washington county

9/15/2022

A potential nationwide railway workers strike could cause Snohomish County to stop garbage pickup for local residents and businesses.

“We are experiencing significant delays in rail service by [Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway] to the landfill,” Snohomish County Solid Waste Director David Schonhard said in a statement. “We are working on every possible option to reduce the refuse at our facilities without shutdowns, but it is difficult.”

An action by President Joe Biden seeks a 60-day window to find a solution to the looming strike by Sept. 15 with the help of an emergency board of arbitrators. The strike would see more than 100,000 railway workers halt the transportation of refuse, goods and commerce.

If the railway workers go through with a strike, weekly curbside pickups of garbage and recyclables for residents and businesses could be halted, according to the county.

In April, the Snohomish County Council approved a $2 million contract with Waste Management Inc. for short-term waste transportation through October.

The following month saw the county’s solid waste facilities being forced to close for two days to remove excess refuse built up over the first five months of the year due to a lack of intermodal containers to transport garbage to landfills.

The county claims refuse has been at sustainable levels throughout the summer since. However, waste has recently begun to build up again due to railway staffing issues along with more intermodal container shortages.

The daily required number of intermodal containers to haul garbage were lacking for Snohomish County for the last eight months and “continues to cause garbage piles and heightens the risk of fires at county transfer stations,” the county said in a press release.

County officials are now urging residents to find ways to keep reusable items. The officials recommended donating household items, books or clothing to thrift stores or selling them on community classifieds or online marketplace community groups rather than throwing them away.

Snohomish County did not respond to The Center Square for comment on the cost of a potential shutdown of its solid waste facility.

“We are experiencing significant delays in rail service by BNSF to the landfill, but safety will remain our number one priority throughout this emergency,” Snohomish County’s solid waste director, David Schonhard, said.

Railway workers with Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway are threatening to go on strike this Friday, jeopardizing Amtrak and Sounder train trips along with Snohomish County trash removal.

“We are working on every possible option to reduce the refuse at our facilities without shutdowns, but it is difficult. We appreciate our customers’ patience during this uncertainty.”

“A strike would mean a complete closure of solid waste transfer stations and drop boxes because no refuse could be moved to landfills,” county officials said in a news release. “This would impact the weekly curbside pick-up of garbage, recycle and green waste for households and businesses.”

Note: In April, the solid waste division was awarded $2 million to aid in the removal of excess garbage at area transfer stations.