Mystery barrels with toxic-waste symbols appeared in downtown Tacoma parking lot. Why?
In a downtown Tacoma parking lot behind a statue of a woman holding the city’s skyline in her hands sits an unusual sight. Since at least Sunday, 15 black barrels with neon-yellow toxic-waste symbols have been sitting at the corner of South 6th Avenue and St. Helens Avenue.
Their origin was unknown Tuesday afternoon and the symbols appeared to be spray-painted.
Each barrel has a green sticker pasted to it that says the barrels contain soil and “non-hazardous waste” and attribute the shipper to Shaub-Ellison, a local tire dealer and automotive service.
Messages to the company’s property manager, McCall Shaub, went unanswered Tuesday, as did messages to the parking lot manager, Diamond Service. Shaub-Ellison president Rane Shaub told The News Tribune around 1:15 p.m. Wednesday the barrels contained soil from their property and said someone had spray-painted the barrels with toxic waste symbols.
“If you read the sign there, it says non-toxic,” Shaub said. “That’s just graffiti.”
Shaub said the barrels should be gone soon and they were stored there while waiting for a company to pick them up. He said the issue had “created a bunch of disturbance” for the company.
A spokesperson with the city of Tacoma told The News Tribune Tuesday the city’s Environmental Services department wasn’t involved, and the barrels were on private property. Maria Lee said around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday the barrels contained “dry soil” and staff believed the soil may have been from a nearby construction project awaiting proper disposal paperwork from the private contractor that performed the work.
“When Source Control staff looked at the barrels, none of them were leaking, and all were secured and sealed,” she said in an email. “The yellow spray paint symbols were not present at the time and appear to be graffiti recently added. There will be a code case opened on this today and the property owner will be notified that the waste needs to be removed from the property.”
An employee with neighboring Cuerno Bravo Steakhouse said Tuesday the restaurant didn’t own the parking lot and didn’t know why the barrels were there.
Editor’s note: The story has been updated with more information from Shaub-Ellison and the city of Tacoma.
This story was originally published March 12, 2025 at 5:15 AM.
