So this is where we keep our green bin, right next to the coffee and the sink, said Keri Libby-Legett, a resident of San Diego’s Rolando neighborhood.
She’s just one of many San Diego residents who are getting to know the smelly, smelly side of their trash as organic recycling expands.
The plastic jar that Keri lifts off the counter is full. It contains coffee grounds, banana peels and most of a sandwich her son couldn’t get to eat.
This organic waste is what San Diego officials are asking residents to separate from other trash and recyclables.
Instead of just a brown and blue bin, Legett also has a new green bin that city officials say is made from recycled material.
All right, so this is our green waste bin and right now it’s about half full of leaves and other green waste I’ve collected over the week, Legett said as he opened the lid and looked inside.
The stinky rotting stuff that was contained in a plastic bag before the change is now under the leaves raked from the yard. There is no smell or flies.
A wet winter means greenery to cover waste is easy now, but Legett wonders how that will work later in the year when garden pruning becomes scarcer.
Her husband, Christian Legett, is enthusiastic, but also worries about bugs and rodents.
There are flies. There is mold. It stinks, Christian said. But honestly, the juice was more worth it to us. Just to know that they were able to make some sort of positive impact. It’s a minor inconvenience.
The Legetts have enthusiastically embraced the city’s state-mandated biowaste program, a response San Diego officials hope to see from everyone.
The city is turning garden waste and scraps into compost as part of an effort to reduce climate-warming methane emissions that come from landfills. And, so far, the amount of green waste composted at the Miramar landfill has significantly increased this year compared to last year.
We’ve done over 12,000 tons in this new program and this one with 104 online runs, said Renee Robertson, director of the San Diego Department of Environmental Services. So, we’re really seeing a significant amount of material that must have been in the garbage bin going into the organic waste bins.
Robertson admits that this year’s wet winter may have created extra clippings, possibly responsible for much of that increase. But he said keeping garden waste out of the landfill is also important.
But separating food scraps from your regular trash is the biggest change because of the yuck factor.
It was a bit mind boggling at first. He was like, oh, do I have to line this up or do I have to do something because yeah, if you put the coffee grounds in the little bucket, you empty the bucket, so the coffee grounds will go everywhere.”
Adrienne Hotaling, University area resident
Wrapping the waste in old newspaper or paper towels can help contain the mess, but decaying food is decaying food.
If you measure and put your food waste in the green bin all week, it’s going to start decomposing as soon as we make those cuts, right? Robertson said. So keeping it refrigerated or under the sink in a cool setting will reduce that.
Robertson said planning helps. Some people even freeze their food waste before taking it out on garbage day. For people feeling intimidated by the new requirements, Robertson suggests starting slowly. Separating coffee grounds, fruit peels and vegetable scraps from other waste is a good place to start and can develop good habits.
Eventually we’ll get to the point where everyone is going to participate and put everything in, but we expect it to take years and we want people to feel comfortable starting small with what’s manageable for them, Robertson said.
But California may not have the luxury of joining the program. The state is fast approaching the 2025 deadline to divert 75% of the state’s organic waste from landfills.
The Little Hoover Commission, a state advisory committee, is suggesting California temporarily halt ambitious efforts to reduce methane emissions from landfills.
The commission found that the state missed its 50 percent reduction goal by 2020 and is unlikely to do better by 2025. The panel points out that half of the communities in the state don’t even participate in organic waste recycling.
The 2016 law went into effect in early 2022 and includes fines for municipalities and individuals who do not participate.
How the state of California will respond to the commission’s report remains to be seen. But for San Diego residents, high climate goals aren’t the primary concern.
Adrienne Hotaling lives in the college area near San Diego State University. She said some of her neighbors are participating and some are not. She uses the pail and a leak-proof paper bag in the refrigerator to store the waste until garbage collection day.
It was a bit mind-boggling at first, Hotaling said. He was like, oh, do I have to line this up or do I have to do something because yeah, if you put the coffee grounds in the little bucket, you empty the bucket, then the coffee grounds will go everywhere. And then someone’s going to have to clean out that big garbage can.
San Diego officials hope the long-term goal of helping the environment will trump the short-term inconvenience of dealing with smelly food scraps.
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