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Updated: Spring cleaners can rejoice. Jammed garbage compactor is reopening

A jammed compactor system at Waste Management’s Kennewick Transfer Station at 2627 S. Ely Street has forced a temporary closure of the facility while repairs are made. Company officials said the transfer station should re-open on March 27.
A jammed compactor system at Waste Management’s Kennewick Transfer Station at 2627 S. Ely Street has forced a temporary closure of the facility while repairs are made. Company officials said the transfer station should re-open on March 27. Bob Brawdy Tri-City Herald

There’s good news for the spring cleaners in Kennewick.

Waste Management is reopening the Kennewick Transfer Station at 8 a.m. Wednesday, said Gary Chittim, Waste Management’s communications director.

Operators were forced to close the garbage facility on Thursday when irrigation piping and grape vineyard wire jammed the compactor.

The material that gummed up the compactor was acceptable waste. It got stuck in the machinery through an accident of positioning within the flow of waste.

Chittim said workers had to remove the stuck material and repair the machinery before reopening.

The transfer station accepts waste from Waste Management customers. The trash is compacted and driven away by truck for disposal.

Piled garbage fills the bays at Waste Management’s Kennewick Transfer Station at 2627 S. Ely Street after a jammed compactor system forced a temporary closure of the facility while repairs are made. Company officials said the transfer station should re-open on March 27.
Piled garbage fills the bays at Waste Management’s Kennewick Transfer Station at 2627 S. Ely Street after a jammed compactor system forced a temporary closure of the facility while repairs are made. Company officials said the transfer station should re-open on March 27. Tri-City Herald file

The closure came as Tri-Citians began to haul in yard waste and more as part of spring cleaning, though Chittim said there is never a good time for a transfer station to go down.

“Any time we have to have it closed is just a bad, bad thing,” he said.

The station is at 2627 S. Ely St.

This story was originally published March 25, 2019 at 5:00 PM.

WC
Wendy Culverwell
Tri-City Herald
509-582-1514
Wendy Culverwell writes about local government and politics, focusing on how those decisions affect your life. She also covers key business and economic development changes that shape our community. Her restaurant column and health inspection reports are reader favorites. She’s been a news reporter in Washington and Oregon for 25 years.
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