California Looks to Improve Recycling Levels

A goal to reduce the amount of waste landfilled in California is not being met by hundreds of California cities and counties—a disappointing fact to supporters of the nation’s most comprehensive recycling law.

Only 104 jurisdictions out of 451, or 23%, had met the goal at the end of 1997, according to an Associated Press article. About the same percentage of counties and cities have met the goal according to 1998 data.

Thirty-seven million tons of solid waste are sent to 15 state landfills a year, with the average landfill having the ability to accept waste for another 25 years.

The Integrated Waste Management Act (California Assembly Bill 939), passed in 1989, was intended to emphasize changes in packaging or business practices to reduce the amount of garbage landfilled.

The act called for cities and counties to reduce trash by 25% by 1995. They must divert 50% of their trash by Jan. 1, 2000.

Among the cities close to meeting the 50% goal are Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Diego. While some cities may be close to reaching the 50% goal, other cities and counties have barely begun to create and implement recycling programs.

Californians Against Waste, a Sacramento-based recycling advocacy group, has released its own AB 939 Progress Report, in which it judges the success or failure of communities’ efforts to reach the 50% goal, and also offers recommendations to reach the target.

Among the successes listed:

-57% of Californians now have curbside recycling service

-The statewide diversion rate in the 1990s increased from 17% to 32%

-Cities and counties have implemented programs beyond curbside pickup, ranging from yard waste composting to C&D programs and business waste audits.

And among the group’s recommendations:

-Address the difficulties of plastics recycling, with resin numbers three through seven having shown a lack of end markets when they are collected

-Improve recycling collection at apartment complexes, only 23% of which are served in California

-Stop referring to alternative daily landfill cover as a recycling use, since such material is ultimately landfilled with other non-recyclables.

Sixty-four cities and counties that are failing to meet the 1995 deadline have been targeted by the California Integrated Waste Management Board and they are required to implement programs to raise their rate.

In its report, Californians Against Waste says "the public is doing a tremendous job at recycling," but admits that some re-energizing could be helpful, especially if targeted toward producer responsibility issues. "We need to mobilize the public—just as we did in the late 1980s with the garbage barge—to get involved politically in expanding recycling policies to hold manufacturers accountable for reducing waste and recycling.