To put these numbers into perspective, imagine 13 years’ worth of trash for the entire state being produced in a just a single day! When we consider that this trash consists not just of regular household waste, but also of construction material, vegetative debris, hazardous waste, and a host of other materials that need to be separated, treated, and disposed of appropriately, we can start to appreciate the scale and complexity of the required debris removal effort.
Although this is a huge burden for communities to plan for, federal and state agencies have many resources to help. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), along with the Oregon Office of Emergency Management (OEM) at the state level, provide guidelines and best practices to help local authorities to develop their own debris management plans to ensure smooth operations in the aftermath of a disaster.
Some important actions that are recommended include establishing pre-event contracts and the identification of suitable locations for temporary debris management sites. These sites serve as debris processing and storage centers while routes to landfills are being still being repaired. This is particularly important for our coastal neighbors, for whom the nearest landfills are much farther inland in Corvallis and McMinnville.
Knowing the location and capacity of these sites beforehand, along with forecasting debris amounts and spread can help emergency managers determine the size of their debris removal equipment fleets (think excavators, bulldozers, and dump trucks). Understanding these logistical factors and the dependencies between them are essential when answering critical questions about the time taken for community recovery and restoration of essential services.
