Volume of town’s recycled material has increased 80% in the past
year
by BERT WILLIAMS – Staff Writer
Garbage rates are on the increase in Windsor. Residents can
expect a 1.9 increase beginning January 1, 2003. But that small
increase in monthly garbage bills — ranging from 15 to 26 cents —
may not be the only garbage-related cost increase looming over
Windsor and Sonoma County ratepayers.
Sonoma County is facing a deadline to increase the amount of
solid waste it diverts from the county landfill, and missing tthat
deadline could be costly. The county is in the second year of a
three-year extension granted by the California Integrated Waste
Management Board to meet a 50 percent recycling diversion rate
mandated by the board.
Rather than levy fines when the deadline was missed at the end
of 2000, the board granted a three-year extension that ends Dec.
31, 2003 when Sonoma County is expected to come into compliance
with the state mandate.
The most recent available figures show that Sonoma County’s
diversion rate was hovering around 40 percent. There is the
possibility that if the rate doesn’t incrase by 10 percent by the
2003 deadline that the Waste Management Board could fine the county
$10,000 per day.
If the county does miss its deadline, it won’t be because
Windsor isn’t doing its part. Pam Davis, recycling coordinator for
West Sonoma County Disposal Service reports that Windsor’s curbside
single-stream recycling program is going very well, and the numbers
she cites are recent ones. For the first three quarters of 2002,
Windsor produced an 81 percent increase in the volume of recycled
material compared to the same period in 2001.
Davis also anticipates good results from the
soon-to-be-implemented construction and demolition recycling
program. There is a large volume of recycleable wood, metal and
paper products produced by these activities, Davis pointed out.
Windsor Assistant Town Manager Matt Mullan is enthusiastic about
the town’s residential single stream recycling program. “The amount
of recycleable tonnage has mushroomed,” Mullan said. He noted that,
in the past, a third of Windsor’s residents have been “really good
recyclers,” a third haven’t recycled at all, and a third would have
recycled more if it had been easier.
“Now,” Mullan said, “it’s much easier than the old stacking
bins, and the amount of diversion has really taken off.”
Donna Caldwell, Sonoma County Integrated Waste Specialist does
not expect fines to become a reality for two reasons. First,
Caldwell is optimistic that the county will achieve the 50 percent
diversion target by the end of 2003. She believes the current
diversion rate is already well beyond the official 40 percent
figure. That cannot be known for certain, however, because the
State Board of Equalization has not yet determined how much sales
tax was collected in Sonoma County in 2001.
Sales tax? Yes, sales tax.
The diversion rate, it turns out, is a theoretical calculation
based on four factors: county population, the rate of employment,
the consumer price index and sales tax. Since the Board of
Equalization does not yet have its 2001 sales tax numbers, the 2001
diversion rate calculation cannot be completed. But Caldwell is
sure that it’s more than 40 percent, and it’s going to keep getting
better, she insisted.
Caldwell said that several recycling programs will contribute to
improved numbers. Her office has projected that county-wide
residential single stream recycling (like the system implemented in
Windsor in January 2002) will bring about a 2.1 percent
improvement. Another .7 percent is expected from single stream
recycling at multi-family housing units.
Weekly curbside yard debris pickup is expected to yield a 2
percent improvement. Increased vigilance in trash separation at the
county’s central landfill site is expected to produce another 2
percent.
And the biggest increase of all is expected from a program to be
implemented in January 2003. Four and a half percentage points are
expected from a plan to recycle construction and demolition
debris.
Add it all up, and Sonoma County, hypothetically, exceeds a 50
percent diversion rate before December 31, 2003.
Caldwell added that, even if the target is not reached on time,
she would be very surprised if fines were levied on the county.
“They do that only in really severe cases,” she said. “They don’t
use it as a hammer … We’ve implemented a lot of programs in good
faith.”
Single-stream recycling has been effective. But not all
materials can be recycled through the single stream container.
Toxic waste must not go in that rolling blue cannister, and failing
to handle it properly generates long-term consequences. Proper
management of toxic waste also costs tax payers a lot of money.
Persistent metals such as lead and mercury, found in computer
monitors, household thermometers and thermostats, and fluorescent
light tubes, never degrade. If they get into a river, they become
part of the food supply for fish, which may be eaten by other fish,
which may be eaten by people, who’s bodies absorb and never release
the dangerous heavy metals they ingest. Brain damage to children is
one result of these nefarious substances. Other examples could be
multiplied.
From this sobering reality, a paradox emerges: It is much more
difficult for local residents to properly dispose of truly
hazardous waste than it is to recycle cardboard or tin cans. A
person might be forgiven for thinking that’s backwards.
Garbage collection companies such as West Sonoma County Disposal
Service are not responsible for disposing of hazardous waste.
Sonoma County Waste Management Agency is charged with that
responsibility.
Leslie Daniels, Household Hazardous Waste Program Manager for
the agency, explained why recycling dangerous materials is not so
easy.
“Because of the risk involved we’re not ever going to do
curbside service,” she said. The dangers of leaving hazardous waste
out where children or pets can get into it, or where a car can run
over it, are just to great.
Although citizens can take advantage of free drop off
opportunities for hazardous waste, it is very costly for the Agency
to deal with it, and this cost is ultimately borne by tax payers.
Daniels said that when one car pulls into the Agency’s soon-to-open
new Household Toxic Waste Facility (HTWF), it will cost the Agency,
on average, $100.
Therefore, Daniels urges residents to take responsibility for
their decisions about toxic materials by considering these
guidelines:
- Don’t buy it unless you definitely need it.
- Buy the least toxic product for the purpose.
- Buy no more than is needed for the job.
- Use it up, or give it to someone who will.
- As a last resort, pass off the problem to the Waste Management
Agency.
Daniels said that, because of permit problems and other slow
downs, the opening of the Household Toxic Waste Facility at 500
Mecham Road near Petaluma has been delayed. She anticipates it will
finally be open by the spring of 2003. Once the HTWF is operating
there will be three ways for Sonoma County residents and small
businesses to dispose of their toxic waste:
- The HTWF will accept drop-offs without charge on Thursday,
Friday and Saturday, 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
- Each Tuesday, 4-8 p.m., the Toxic Rover, which Daniels likens
to a Bookmobile, will be somewhere in the county, accepting
household toxics at no charge. Schedules for the Toxic Rover will
be posted on the Agency’s website.
- Wednesday home pickup of toxics can be arranged by appointment.
A $35 fee is charged.
Residents or small businesses with questions about toxic waste
should call the Eco-Desk Hotline at 565-3375, or check the website:
www.recyclenow.org.
