Thursday, November 21, 2013

Sanitary District To Consider Recycle Changes

UH-OH...
File this under, "Your life got just a little more complicated"...

TRASH CHANGES TO BE DISCUSSED TONIGHT
At 5:30 this evening, at their meeting in the very cozy confines of the Board Room at the district headquarters at 628 W. 19th Street in Costa Mesa, the directors of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District Board will consider a proposal by contract trash hauler CR&R to change the way each of us will be required to handle our trash.  I'm not convinced this is a great idea, but need to hear more.  Unfortunately, public outreach on this issue has been nearly non-existent.  Brad Zint's article the other day in the Daily Pilot, HERE, is the only news I've seen about it.

NOW WE DUMP IT AND FORGET IT
Presently those of us who are customers of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District just dump ALL our refuse - recyclables, trash and green waste - into one of the cans provided and roll it to the curb on our appointed day.  From there CR&R dumps them, hauls them to a transfer point in Stanton where the recyclables are sorted out and the rest is taken to a landfill.

STATE DEMANDS CHANGES
However, the state has mandated that we MUST do a better job of sorting out stuff and reduce the volume taken to landfills by 2020.  CR&R wants us to make these changes by 2015.  According to Zint's piece, the green waste and other "organics" - food scraps, for example - would be hauled separately to a facility that would process it and produce natural gas - the fuel used for the trash trucks.

MORE COMPLICATED AND COSTLY
This change, which is found on the agenda for the meeting tonight HERE and, specifically, the agenda item HERE, would cost the Sanitary District (us, the ratepayers) $467,417 per year!  We would be required to self-sort the organics into a separate can, which will be picked up by a separate truck.  Read the staff report for the details.


ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS MAY STALL VOTE
I'm told that, due to an unanticipated complication with the environmental issue of doubling the number of trash trucks on our streets, this item may be shoved out to a future meeting before the Board votes on it.  It WILL be discussed tonight, though, so you'll have the opportunity to express your views to the board during their meeting.  If you plan to attend and hope to have a seat, please arrive early.  The audience seating in the board room is VERY limited.

NO RUSH - SEEK PUBLIC INPUT FIRST
Since there seems to be no reason to rush into this decision, we hope the Board will plan some public outreach meetings to gather public input BEFORE they make the final decision on this issue.

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4 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

I don't want to throw half of my heritage under the bus, but does this sort of program work in the lower socioeconomic areas?

11/21/2013 02:37:00 PM  
Blogger The Pot Stirrer said...

That's a curious question, James. Why would it not?

11/21/2013 03:33:00 PM  
Anonymous Eleanor Egan said...

I don't know about this. Most of my "organics" go down the garbage disposal. Most of the bulky part of my trash is junk mail, political solicitations, catalogs, newspapers and assorted paper stuff. Maybe we could get the advertisers to cut down on what they send us. HaHaHa!

11/21/2013 08:00:00 PM  
Blogger valan2 said...

I could greatly reduce my trash output if I could buy a product that's not encased in nearly indestructible plastic. While the advertisers are cutting down on the junk mail, maybe manufacturers could find a greener way of packaging their products. I'll ask Santa.

11/21/2013 10:54:00 PM  

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