Saving green by going green

Deborah Brasket, SB CAN Executive Director

 

Santa Maria Times - Looking Forward | Posted: Friday, June 11, 2010 12:00 am

 

Last year, Santa Maria conducted a six-month pilot Green Waste Program, in which participating residents disposed of yard waste in special containers for curbside pick-up. The organic materials were then delivered to a facility where they were ground into mulch for use in gardens and landscaping.

 

The purpose of the program was to determine the amount of yard materials that would be diverted from the Santa Maria Regional Landfill for recycling, and to evaluate the potential for a citywide implementation.

 

According to Santa Maria Public Utilities Director Rick Sweet, the pilot program was a huge success.

By providing curbside service every other week for 800 household in three test areas, a total of 346,180 pounds of yard materials were diverted from the landfill in the six-month period. As much as 37 pounds of recycled green waste were collected per resident per collection day.

 

Based on the pilot program, a staff report claims that “over $500,000 of landfill air space can be saved annually by recycling the yard materials collected from a citywide green waste program.”

 

In the report to the City Council last week, Sweet showed how implementing a Green Waste Program in 2011 could help extend the operation of the city’s current landfill by three years, thus delaying the $2.5-million construction cost of the new site at Las Flores Ranch. This could save the city and taxpayers millions of dollars.

 

While we wholeheartedly support implementing a green-waste program as soon as possible, we wonder why the city hadn’t started a program long ago.

 

Santa Barbara County started its green-waste program in 1997. That means for the past 13 years, residents of Orcutt and Santa Ynez, and even tiny Casmalia and Ballard, have been recycling yard waste and extending the use of their landfills. Lompoc implemented its green-waste program in 2001. Solvang and Buellton also have green waste pickup.

 

If starting a green-waste program in 2011 is expected to help extend the current landfill use by an additional three years, think for how many years’ use the current site could have been extended, if this program had been implemented 13 years ago when the county began its program.

Another 10 or 20 years? According to staff estimates, if the program had been started in 1997, as much as $6.5 million of landfill air space could have been saved.

 

While there’s nothing we can do now to turn back the clock, we can make sure we give the city our full support in implementing the program as early as possible in 2011.

 

Since the implementation of a citywide curbside program will require a rate increase, a process for increasing property-related fees established by Proposition 218 will be needed, including notifications, public workshops and public hearings.

 

If a majority approves, the city will then be able to purchase the equipment and hire the drivers needed to start the program.

 

Participants in the pilot program were asked in a survey if they would be willing to pay the additional $3.17 per month needed to operate the program. Fifty-nine percent said they would be willing. However, if customers downsized their refuse container from a 90-gallon to a 60-gallon container, they would realize no increase in costs per month, while benefiting from the green-waste service.

 

According to city staff, “Implementation of recycling programs within the community provides residents with an opportunity to enhance the environment, while realizing the economic benefits of deferring capital costs for the future solid waste disposal.”

 

Sounds like a win/win. I only wish the city had started the program years ago. 

 

Posted in Editorial on Friday, June 11, 2010 12:00 am Updated: 11:42 pm.

http://santamariatimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_6e7f3508-7524-11df-9fe3-001cc4c03286.html?mode=story