People living and working in the city of San Diego are throwing less waste in the landfill and sending more organics to be recycled into compost, new city data shows.
The city rolled out its upgraded green bin recycling program to collect food waste – everything from grass clippings to meat bones – in January 2023. And while citizens weren’t totally sure how to use them, and the city wasn’t cracking down on bad green bin behavior (it still isn’t), the amount of organic waste the city collected increased by 106 percent in two fiscal years.
The city collects waste data by fiscal year which runs July 1 through June 30. By the end of 2023, San Diegans recycled 45,734 tons of organics. That total jumped to 94,313 tons in fiscal 2024.
Still, regular garbage collection that just grows the city’s landfill in Miramar has a long, long way to go if San Diego ever plans to reach its “zero waste by 2040” goal. That means no waste, zilch, nada, gets buried in a landfill by that date.
Garbage, or refuse as the city calls it, collection totaled 312,498 tons by the end of fiscal 2023. That number dropped by 10 percent the following fiscal year to 279,135 tons. That amounts to about 33,363 tons less garbage being landfilled.
What the landfill lost in waste doesn’t exactly match the gains in food waste recycling ton for ton. San Diegans recycled 48,580 more tons of food waste between those fiscal years.
I asked the city for an interview with the leadership at the Environmental Services Department, which handles waste collection. But they didn’t respond in time for this story.
The drop in landfilled waste could also be attributed to San Diegans buying less which turns into less waste in general. That’s the real key to reaching a zero-waste goal: A population facing a market that offers so many greener options beyond purchase-and-toss (aka reusable containers instead of single-use plastic packaging) that waste isn’t generated at the outset. We’ve got a long way to go there.
In the meantime, separating food scraps, storing them in your freezer and dumping them into your green bin just before collection time is one of the prime ways to combat ever-growing landfills. You’re single-handedly reducing the buildup and release of methane gas, a byproduct of organics that rots in the oxygen-depleted layers of landfills and leaks into the atmosphere – and one of the main drivers of warming the planet in the short term.
Hate unbearably hot summers? Separate your waste. Drop by drop, the cumulative benefit is quantitatively proven to work. We can see it here in San Diego’s own waste numbers.
Shape your future: The Environmental Services Department is holding public meetings now through Sept. 9 to gather feedback about an upcoming fee on trash collection for households and businesses that previously got free service under the People’s Ordinance, an old law overturned in the 2022 election.
And Now, Your Local Enviro News Round-Up (yee-haw):
- I cannot gush enough over the Union-Tribune photojournalist Ana Ramirez’ feature on San Diego’s local kelp forests. Replete with cool underwater photography which she publishes so often on her Instagram page, the story is that San Diego might get another Marine Protected Area to ban 16-miles of kelp forests off Point Loma from fishing. But in any enviro problem there’s trade-offs: Local fishermen say they too help care for kelp forests by diving for the profitable yet perilous for kelp forests, the sea urchin. Blocking that much mileage of good fishing ground will send fishermen further in search for local seafood fare.
- Though we didn’t see or taste a drop of water while we were there, Voice of San Diego social media journalist Bella Ross and I toured the construction of the city of San Diego’s sewage to drinking water recycling facility. I tried to break down the science in layman’s terms, because I for one want to be sure that water is clean before I make my coffee every morning. (Voice of San Diego)
- State reports show electric and gas bills are only going to get higher, though for the first time in awhile, San Diego Gas and Electric’s rates are rising slower than the other two investor-owned utilities in California. (Union-Tribune)
- Tammy Murga at the Union-Tribune continues to put pressure on the Air Pollution Control District to deploy an array of sewage-detecting odor sensors in South Bay. San Ysidro monitors show levels of hydrogen sulfide – a main chemical component of sewer gas – have climbed above state thresholds at times. Still there’s not enough data to draw any larger conclusions.
- In other air quality news, the Air Pollution Control District put the federal International Boundary and Water Commission or IBWC (which manages sewage treatment for some of Tijuana’s waste) on notice that their equipment failure is responsible for over 150 odor complaints. But the IBWC says the notice is misdirected and the river is to blame. (Voice of San Diego)
San Diego plans to reach its “zero waste by 2040” goal. That means no waste, zilch, nada, gets buried in a landfill by that date.
Can’t wait to hear how the city plans to handle all those plastic bags filled with pet poop. Cat poop bags will be intermixed with cat litter. Separating and processing all this will be one messy job. Green bin addition?
I wonder what the stats would have shown if the city didn’t double the greenery service? Do they know how much greenery was previously placed in garbage cans on the greenery off-week? Changes in greenery with the use of large green bins?
My guess is they doubled greenery for the net of a small amount of food waste on the extra week. At a huge cost increase for manpower, trucks, and fuel. How much extra CO2 is produced with the extra greenery service vs. the net change in greenery vs. garbage collection? The state in their infinite wisdom may have mandated this change.
Of course, with SFR being charged in the future, the city probably doesn’t really care as all the cost will be covered by citizens’ new and higher rates.
It’s a fantasy that food has made the big change – it’s all the greenery they wouldn’t let us put in the green bins until now. I can now put in ice plant, palm fronds from my neighbor’s tree, and other succulents and greenery that used to be no-no’s and had to go in the black bin. The first month, I put out two green bins of ice plant near 100 lbs each. There is no way I’d ever drop 100 lbs of food waste in an entire year (if I bothered to collect it).
Okay, I’m trying to be a good citizen and collect my food waste, but it really has become very unpleasant. I have never had flies or odor in my trash/greens/waste bins until now. I’m struck by a strong, foul odor near my greens/food waste bin, and flies are nearly a constant presence. I clean my bin every week after collection, but no improvement. I followed a suggestion by Walter Anderson Nursery and placed an adhesive trap inside the lid, and, while it catches flies, there are always more around. I have to wonder if enough food waste is being collected to make it worth the unpleasant side effects.
Try keeping your food waste in your freezer until collection day. -MacKenzie, VOSD
If you’re like me and don’t have room in your freezer, wrapping the food waste in newspaper or an old fashioned brown paper bag before dumping it in the green bin really cuts down on the flies. And if you have a bunch of yard waste, dumping that on top of the food waste really helps too.
Who comes up with these ridiculous timelines? Our utility rates have quadrupled because of a forced acceleration to unreliable and not ready for mainstream energy sources. Hope the same doesn’t happen to garbage too. Zero waste by 2040? So dumb.
I’m not sure why the media continues to say the garbage pick up is free. We are paying for it thru the city’s general fund which is paid for by us the taxpayers. Certainly homeowners get a better deal than commercial properties which have to pay for private service but saying it is free is totally wrong.
Where will the environmental services be holding public meetings for the Point Loma 92106 area