BONNERS FERRY — White smoke rising from the Boundary County landfill is not a declaration of a new pope. Rather, it is the result of one of two new pieces of equipment added to the landfill in recent weeks, both intended to improve the facility. 

One apparatus is an air curtain incinerator, which the county purchased for $207,141.78 two years ago, Road and Bridge Superintendent Bradley Barton said. According to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, ACIs incinerate wood waste and brush while reducing smoke and particulate matter compared with open burning. A curtain of air is projected across the top of the incinerator, trapping smoke particles and returning them to the chamber to be reburned, reducing pollution. 

The machine was used for the first time on March 19. 

Currently, the only material being placed in the county’s ACI is green wood waste. 

“The green wood waste could be used as cover,” Barton said. “But we’re just utilizing both machines that we have right now.” 

The second machine is a Peterson Pacific Corp. grinder, purchased this year for $75,000, according to Barton. It turns wood waste into wood chips for landfill cover. Mixed equally with sand, the material will be used as a cover for waste. 

“Now that we have this, we can blend this in with our sand and use it as cover,” Barton said. “That way, we’re not using so much daily cover. We’re utilizing the amount of sand that we have. It’s a pretty good machine so far.” 

Together, the two machines cost the county about $282,000 and are intended to improve brush disposal efficiency while reducing the amount of sand needed for daily landfill cover.

Barton said the landfill had a major brush problem that the new equipment is helping solve. 

“This is kind of our first time running it,” Barton said. “I think it’ll be really good to get rid of some of this green stuff, and now that we’ve got both these toys going, it’ll help get rid of our major brush problem.” 

Barton, who recently began working at the landfill through Road and Bridge, said the improvements benefit the county. 

“It is very nice to see all the changes that have been going on here,” Barton said. “It’s great working with our commissioners. They’ve been really helpful in helping us move along and getting all this stuff going. It’s nice to see a lot of the changes, and there’s still more to come.” 

    An excavator, operated by County Commissioner Tim Bertling in this picture, takes pieces of wood and puts them into the green ACI, which incinerates wood waste.
  

    The blue Peterson Grinder takes wood waste and turns it into wood chips that can be used for cover.