ML firm authorized to handle international garbage

MOSES LAKE — When you’re flying international, odds are the last thing you’re thinking about is disposing of your trash.

But it’s an issue, especially for those flying into the United States. Since garbage from abroad could pose threats to American agriculture, the disposal of trash from international flights is heavily regulated.

And now one Moses Lake company, Columbia Pacific Aviation, is certified to handle “regulated garbage.”

“Regulated garbage is anything that comes from a foreign land except Canada — Canada’s not considered foreign — and you can’t just toss it,” said Michael Stein, general manager of Columbia Pacific Aviation.

Stein said the certification comes from the U.S. Customs Service, which makes sure that nothing is smuggled into the United States in garbage from international flights, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which works to protect American agriculture from foreign diseases and pests.

“We will come on board, take off the garbage and transport it to a processing facility in Spokane,” Stein said. “There are a lot of hoops to go through.”

Columbia Pacific Aviation provides refueling, maintenance, training and general aviation services for pilots and aircraft here in Moses Lake.

Stein said the Grant County International Airport (GCIA) has not had a service that could handle trash from inbound international flights for the last ten years, meaning that anyone wanting to travel to Moses Lake from far away needed to stop someplace else — like Seattle or Portland or even Spokane — before arriving here.

“Japan Airlines had waste management and could handle regulated garbage, but when they pulled out, we no longer had anyone who could do that,” he said.

And it matters because Moses Lake is an actual destination for some international travelers. Stein said his company has already handled trash for five flights from abroad — mostly from the Middle East to do business with Greenpoint Technologies, which creates customized aircraft for large corporations and heads of state.

But international artists booked at the Gorge have also flown into GCIA, and now Air Force crews coming to train don’t have to stop elsewhere first to throw their trash away, Stein said.

“It opens up a world of possibilities,” he said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.