THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA IS always patting itself on the back for being a leader in recycling and other sustainable practices to protect the environment. But, in reality the City’s efforts are only in words, not deeds. So, just how “green” is Santa Monica? Not very.
Some seven years ago (almost to the day), City Hall explored changes in the way the City deals with solid waste — or “garbage” to you and me. One proposal called for expansion and upgrading the current antiquated and open-air city yard. Other suggestions involved bringing in a private operator to provide services such as collection, sorting, processing, recycling and/or hauling under the Director of Solid Waste Management, Craig Perkins.
A week from Tuesday, City Council will be reviewing proposals for handling City trash in the future. Their decision on this will dramatically affect recycling efforts and the rates we pay for garbage and sewage for years to come.
The City is required by State law to report information about its solid waste operation. AB 939, passed in 1989, was designed to encourage solid waste “diversion” (from landfills) including both source reduction of trash generated and recycling. Targets are set and fines are called for when goals are not met. Using 1995 as a base year, the State developed a formula, which includes population and economic growth, employment and taxable sales. The final figures are an “estimate” of the City’s progress with little basis in 2007 reality.
In its most recently submitted 2005 AB 939 report, the City used the State formula to calculate expected trash generation at a whopping 373,636 tons. In 2005, Santa Monica actually sent 142,604 tons of waste to landfills. The difference between 373,636 and 142,604 is 231,032 tons or a 62 percent “diversion" credit. The 62 percent diversion rate is a key “green” bragging point for the City.
The City’s own figures tell a different story. According to multiple public sources, In 2005, Santa Monica sent 142,604 tons of trash, to landfills, 6,380 tons for incineration, and recycled somewhere between 30,000 and 45,000 tons. Bottom line: Over 70 percent of the trash collected in Santa Monica ends up in a landfill, three percent is burned in a “waste-to-energy” incinerator and less than 25 percent is recycled.
The exact amount of recycling is unknown because there are significant differences between the figures reported to the State, to the County Health Department’s Environmental Health Division, and to the City’s solid waste consultants, Gershman, Brickner and Bratton, Inc. who looked at July 2004-June 2005 fiscal year figures instead of calendar (January to December, 2005) figures.
Because the City’s “environmental” effort is an embarrassment and falls far short of its goal of 50 percent source reduction and recycling, the City’s environmental progress is limited to phony claims and puffery. Even worse, the City’s trash programs are headed in the wrong direction as tonnage sent to landfills and incineration in 2005 is up over seven percent from 2004 and up 16 percent from its 2002 low. GBB was retained in 2006 to review our solid waste management system and make recommendations for its future. They confirmed solid waste services were not performing to optimum level, the City’s transfer facility was losing nearly $1 million annually and that single and multifamily residential customers pay overly high rates which subsidize commercial trash collection service for Santa Monica businesses. Two approximately 10 percent rate increases for garbage and water have been implemented since 2005 to Band-Aid the financial losses in the City’s solid waste fund.
Next Tuesday, City Council will look at possibly bringing in a solid waste-handling partner to get things on track. City staff has a list of bidders under consideration to collect, process and transfer the city’s trash. However, a couple of companies on the City’s bid list raised my eyebrows.
Athens Services, a large City of Industry-based commercial collection, transfer, recycling and disposal operator had seven violations from the L.A. County Environmental Health Department or the South Coast Air Quality Management District and 32 notices about “areas of concern” from January 2005 through March, 2007. Other actions include an unfair labor practices ruling from the National Labor Relations Board.
By comparison, the City’s own transfer station had three violations and 17 notices for “areas of concern” during that time period.
Athens and other bidders including Allied Waste (Previously BFI) a large national company headquartered in Phoenix, AZ. and Consolidated Disposal Services, Santa Fe Springs, CA (AKA Republic) have been involved in complaints and litigation in a number of areas including price fixing, rate disputes, discrimination, pollution and spillage issues. How these companies with their troubled environmental and compliance histories could “help” Santa Monica become “green” is anyone’s guess.
Meanwhile, one thing’s for sure. The garbage continues to flow — apparently into landfills.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 22, 2007. Read the original PDF.