THE PROJECT
Reduce California's Waste and Start Composting!
THE PROJECT
According to the California Department of Finance, labor markets, real estate markets, and construction, continued to grow steadily in 2015. As the economy continues to grow, solid waste generation will continue to increase. If diversion programs are not in place to handle additional waste then we can expect higher amounts to be landfilled in the future. Disposal in 2015 has continued to increase since 2012. If we do not want this to continue then outlets other than landfills must be found.
While California as a whole remained well above the 50 percent diversion mandate set for local jurisdictions, the statewide recycling rate for 2015 dropped to 47 percent in the effort to achieve 75 percent recycling by 2020. In calculating the recycling rate, CalRecycle removes from the equation certain materials and activities currently counted as diversion, such as alternative daily cover and solid waste used as fuel.
On June 21, 2016 California’s per capita disposal, diversion, and recycling rates were presented at the CalRecycle public meeting.- CalRecycle Ca.gov
THE HARD TRUTH
In 2015, California’s statewide disposal was 33.2 million tons and population was 38.9 million residents.
The 2015 per employee disposal rate was 11.1 pounds/employee/day, and the per employee “diversion rate equivalent” was at 65 percent.
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The average US. Household generates 650 lbs. of compostable materials each year.
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Over 60 percent of what we put in our landfills is organic waste, such as food scraps. Yard trimmings, and paper, much of which could be recycled by composting.
Disposal and Disposal-Related Amounts under AB 341 In 2011, the Legislature implemented a new approach to the management of solid waste. AB 341 (Chesbro, Chapter 476, Statutes of 2011) requires that CalRecycle adopt regulations for mandatory commercial recycling and establishes a new statewide goal of 75 percent recycling through source reduction, recycling, and composting by 2020. This paradigm adds to the policies in AB 939 in several significant ways. First, AB 341 established a statewide policy goal, rather than a jurisdictional mandate. This places the onus for achieving the goal on the state rather than on the cities and counties that are directly responsible for waste disposal and recycling. Under the law, jurisdictions are not required to meet the new policy goal. Second, CalRecycle uses different metrics to calculate the statewide recycling rate. Under the 75 percent recycling goal, a base generation level is calculated using the average per resident generation from 1990 to 2010 (10.7 pounds per person per day). This period includes all years for which data exists, so it is the most representative of California generation. Because of the different base period used and definition of recycling, the estimated waste generation and disposal targets under AB 341 are different than under AB 939. In 2020, residents must dispose less than 2.7 pounds per person per day on average statewide to meet the 75 percent recycling goal. More information about recycling rate calculations can be found here: www.calrecycle.ca.gov/75Percent/Sept2012Wksp/WhyHowMeasur.pdf