Solid waste reduction and recycling help address global climate
change. The manufacture, distribution and use of products – as
well as management of the resulting waste – all result in
greenhouse gas emissions. Waste prevention and recycling reduce
greenhouse gases associated with these activities by reducing
methane emissions, saving energy, and increasing forest carbon
sequestration.
The California waste stream is primarily composed of organic
(food) waste, paper products, and construction and demolition
debris. Harder to decompose items such as plastic, glass, metal,
electronic and hazardous wastes are also present in the waste
stream in significant amounts. Traditional solid waste management
has relied heavily on large landfills, and to a lesser degree
incineration. However Federal, state and local laws and
regulations are forcing a move towards waste prevention and
minimization, including greater reliance on recycling and
diversion.
California Integrated Waste Management Act
The California
Integrated Waste Management Act (AB 939) requires that
local governments prepare waste diversion plans. Now, recent
legislation, AB 341, requires that 75% of the waste stream be
recycled by 2020 and planning is underway to achieve that goal.
The current State Agency dealing with waste issues is
the Department of
Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle).
Waste Prevention & Recycling
SCAG is responsible for looking at both short and long term
solutions to effectively address the regional waste problem. In
the short term, the region will still need to rely heavily on
landfills and, when local facilities have filled to capacity,
exporting the waste to other areas, leading to higher trash rates
and added traffic congestion and air pollution. In the long term,
SCAG will assist the region in changing the way residents and
businesses think about trash and move towards a system of waste
prevention and minimization. The move towards this system will
take time and require a variety of waste management strategies,
including extensive use of recycling. The SCAG region will need
to achieve maximum diversion from landfills through emerging
technologies, policies and best management practices.
SCAG SOLID AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT
SCAG works with local jurisdictions to help develop local and
regional solid waste policies that help support state solid waste
goals while supporting SCAG’s plans, such as the 2016-2040
Regional Transportation Plan / Sustainable Communities
Strategy currently under development. In addition, SCAG
monitors the development of hazardous waste management planning,
pursuant to the California Health and Safety Code.
METHANE REDUCTION
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved a new
regulation that reduces emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas,
from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. The regulation, which
became effective June 17, 2010, is a discrete early action
greenhouse gas emission reduction measure, as described in the
California Global Warming Solutions Act (“AB 32”). The regulation
primarily requires owners and operators of certain uncontrolled
MSW landfills to install gas collection and control systems, and
requires existing and newly installed gas and control systems to
operate in an optimal manner. The regulation allows local air
districts to voluntarily enter into a memorandum of understanding
with CARB to implement and enforce the regulation and to assess
fees to cover costs.
INCINERATOR EMISSIONS REDUCTION
The use of incinerators to burn solid waste is an old technology.
Historically, incinerators have created a number of undesirable
by-products (solid, liquid, and gas). Conversion technologies
(CTs) refer to a set of processes designed to reduce the
by-products of incineration, and to create useful products such
as industrial chemicals or gas, liquid, and solid fuels. The
attraction of CTs is their ability to convert landfill waste into
products that can take the place of fossil fuels mined from
natural resources. One such process is Thermal (thermochemical)
conversion, and is characterized by the use of high temperatures
to achieve high conversion rates of dry, organic material. This
process can include these techniques: gasification, pyrolysis,
plasma arc, and catalytic cracking.
ENERGY CONSUMPTION EMISSION REDUCTIONS
One strategy to reduce GHG emissions is from reducing energy
consumption. Recycling saves energy. Manufacturing goods from
recycled materials usually requires less energy than producing
goods from new materials. Waste prevention is even more effective
at saving energy. When people reuse things or when products are
made with less material, less energy is needed to extract,
transport, and process raw materials and to manufacture
products. In short, when energy demand
decreases, fewer fossil fuels are burned and less CO2 is emitted
into the atmosphere.
CARBON SEQUESTRATION
When CO2 is removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis or
other processes and stored in sinks (like forests, landfills or
soil), it is sequestered. The principal carbon storage mechanisms
under consideration are forests (related to paper and wood
recycling), long-term storage of carbon in landfills, and the
accumulation of carbon in soils resulting from compost
application. Studies are under way to determine the value of
these techniques to long-term greenhouse gas reduction efforts.
However, the EPA currently includes estimates of carbon storage
from landfills and forests in its national GHG inventory.
