Massive changes coming to California trash disposal

[renard_ruse]

Most Californians probably have not yet heard about this, so be warned now. Massive and potentially confusing mandatory changes to what Californians can legally dispose of as trash and how they can dispose of it will soon be enforced by law on almost everyone living in the state.

A 2016 law that many if not most Californians are likely not even aware of yet mandates that most businesses and residences will have to separate trash three ways with separate disposal of non-organic, organic, and "other" waste. The rule has already gone into effect for many business but will soon be applied to private residences.

Californians will be legally required to separate leftover food, food scraps, and "food soiled paper" and dispose of it a special trash can. This so-called organic waste will then be used to create compose or fertilizer, or be fed to animals.

Residents will be expected to keep food waste in a pail under their sink until they take it out to a special trash can or bin.

This is not a joke by the way.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.co...o-comply-with-game-change-state-recycling-law

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/t...into-gear-heres-what-some-sites-do/ar-AALdJSY

 

[renard_ruse]

Can hardly wait to have a pail full of stinking rotting food waste under my sink. Oh joy.

 

[thør]

Time to get some worms.

 

[renard_ruse]

How will people keep the special "food waste" trash can clean after dumping unbagged rotting food into it? It will have to be hosed out every week after its picked up. What an absolute pain the ass, not to mention the entire thing is disgusting.

 

[pecksniff]

One thing I don't get about recycling: Why glass? There's no shortage of sand, is there?

 

[Hitchiker69]

A couple of reasons I can think of just off the top of my head.

First it takes less energy to turn glass back into another usable glass product. Much less than the energy required to turn sand into glass.

Second, by recycling we keep a lot material out of the landfill, where we're running out of space.

 

[CornusKousa]

California if covered in litter and can't get people to stop looting or crapping in the streets.

Just throw your trash on the ground or out the window of your car, it's the California way.

 

[Champakian]

Can hardly wait to have a pail full of stinking rotting food waste under my sink. Oh joy.

I have a special container that has a lid and thick filter and I put non-meat scraps,
eggshells and coffee grounds. I've never experienced an odor problem. I empty it out back and our regular compost pile, and it has never had an odor problem either.

 

[Champakian]

California if covered in litter and can't get people to stop looting or crapping in the streets.

Just throw your trash on the ground or out the window of your car, it's the California way.

Growing up, that's what we did, just chuck it out of the window to decompose.

Then attitudes changed and habits changed, so I don't do that anymore.

 

[colddiesel]

I was told that California was exporting its trash to Minnesota.

 

[HUNGRYHOLLOW]

Most Californians probably have not yet heard about this, so be warned now. Massive and potentially confusing mandatory changes to what Californians can legally dispose of as trash and how they can dispose of it will soon be enforced by law on almost everyone living in the state.

A 2016 law that many if not most Californians are likely not even aware of yet mandates that most businesses and residences will have to separate trash three ways with separate disposal of non-organic, organic, and "other" waste. The rule has already gone into effect for many business but will soon be applied to private residences.

Californians will be legally required to separate leftover food, food scraps, and "food soiled paper" and dispose of it a special trash can. This so-called organic waste will then be used to create compose or fertilizer, or be fed to animals.

Residents will be expected to keep food waste in a pail under their sink until they take it out to a special trash can or bin.

This is not a joke by the way.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.co...o-comply-with-game-change-state-recycling-law

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/t...into-gear-heres-what-some-sites-do/ar-AALdJSY

I opted out but you have to meet certain criteria

 

[GuyandDoll]

Other states, mostly in New England, have requirements about food composting and food waste. It's no thing. Obviously humans have made a mess of the planet and we're running out of places to dump stuff. Food waste is a tremendous problem at landfills. Time for the species to wake up and start cleaning up the messes we've made. By the way, there are plenty of kinds of containers that keep food scrap smells from leaking out. Once you get used to it, it's not a big deal.

 

[Champakian]

You have clearly never been to Kansas and states north.
There is plenty of empty space...

 

[GuyandDoll]

Obviously, that's not really the point. (And, yes, I've spent plenty of time in the upper midwest and west.) For one thing, food waste in landfills releases methane, which contributes to climate change. For another, shipping waste from California to South Dakota is expensive and environmentally unfriendly. But the real thing is that we need to stop producing so much waste, need to stop treating garbage as someone else's problem, and need to start acting like adults. There are endless reasons to clean up our space and act responsibly, and no good reasons (other than greed and laziness) to keep ignoring the issues.

 

[Champakian]

I'll wager that it is an insignificant amount of methane.

 

[JohnnySavage]

And landfills have gas recovery systems. Not because of concerns about climate change, but to keep the landfills from exploding.

 

[thør]

Gas from the local Muni landfill is piped to JBER where it's used in the power plant. It's estimated to supply about 1/4 of the energy needs.

 

[RoryN]

Residents will be expected to keep [organic] waste in a pail under their sink

This is terrible news, renard.

I mean, will you even fit in a pail?

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Without attempting to say if it's a good thing or a bad, my city has had a similar program for several years. Any organic stuff - food waste, including peels, table scraps, fats and bones, scrap wood, pizza boxes, dead leaves, garden trimmings, whatever - is picked up once a week and taken away to the city dump where it is mass-composted. This year for the first time the resulting compost has been available to anyone asking - about 50 lb of good soil for gardening and flowerbeds. Without debating any environmental benefits, it does reduce the amount of trash which has to be dealt with as garbage, something to be stored or buried or burned. That saves taxes (not that our city boneheads haven't squandered the savings, but that's another issue). FWIW, I haven't noticed any major stink from our bin. YMMV, of course.

 

[jaF0]

If it'll burn, I burn it. If not, it goes to the dump.

 

[GuyandDoll]

The methane released from landfills is not insignificant (and we should want to reduce greenhouse gasses regardless). Here's good ol' wiki:

--Landfill gases have an influence on climate change. The major components are CO2 and methane, both of which are greenhouse gas. Methane in the atmosphere is a far more potent greenhouse gas, with each molecule having twenty-five times the effect of a molecule of carbon dioxide. Methane itself however accounts for less composition of the atmosphere than does carbon dioxide. Landfills are the third-largest source of methane in the US.[2]

Because of the significant negative effects of these gases, regulatory regimes have been set up to monitor landfill gas, reduce the amount of biodegradable content in municipal waste, and to create landfill gas utilization strategies, which include gas flaring or capture for electricity generation.--

As Thor pointed out, there are some very promising ways of generating energy from landfill gasses.