21st Century Policy Project

Text from Opening Remarks by Ralph Chandler, Executive Director of the California Integrated Waste Management Board

My role this morning is to set a context for the effort we are embarking upon here today and also to provide an overview on how the Board intends to complete this effort--which we are calling the 21st Century Policy Project for Integrated Waste Management.

The purpose of this project can be described as bringing interested parties together to form a new consensus for the future of solid waste management in California. This issue summit marks the beginning of this effort. Before I describe the steps we intend to follow during the course of this project, I thought it would he helpful to today's effort by giving an overview of the last 10 years and what has been accomplished.

Looking back 10 years to 1989, I believe it is accurate to say that the issue of growing concern over the environment was high on the national public agenda. Perhaps the best evidence of that can be illustrated by this January 1989 issue of Time magazine. In this issue, the publishers of Time made the unorthodox choice of "endangered Earth" as "Planet of the Year," in lieu of the usual Man or Woman of the Year.

Scientific articles, seminars and summits on the future or the Earth’s environment were all increasingly evident as people's concerns grew. National and international solutions were being called for in the areas of declining biodiversity; global warming; the dangers of CFCs; overpopulation; proliferation of wastes, both hazardous and nonhazardous; and the alarming rate at which the planet's natural resources were being consumed by a rapidly expanding world economy.  Perhaps most ominous of all...the destruction of the tropical forests, home to at least half the Earth's plant and animal species, continued at a rate equal to one football field a second.

Through most of man’s 2 million years or so of existence, we have thrived in earth's environment. By 1800, there were 1 billion human beings on the planet. That number doubled by 1930 and doubled again by 1975. In 1989, we were told that if current birthrates held, the world's present population of 5.1 billion would double again in 40 more years.

Here in California in 1989, our increase in annual population--measured by new births and migration into the state--had reach a record level of nearly 800,000 per year. Put another way, California was adding a city the size of Boston every year. In 1989, Californians were generating nearly 50 million tons of solid waste annually--a ton every second--and decision makers were beginning to take note.

In 1989, the Los Angeles County Sanitation District and the City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works published a report concluding that if no actions were taken "a significant portion of the waste stream would have no place for disposal beginning in the early 1990s. It was almost universally agreed that California was facing a landfill capacity crisis. Compounding the situation was the fact that approximately 90 percent of all waste generated was either landfilled or incinerated, with the remaining 10 percent being recycled or reused.

Against this backdrop, the State enacted Assembly Bill 939 by Byron Sher--which established a focused hierarchy of source reduction, recycling, composting, and environmentally safe disposal, while requiring local governments to meet stiff solid waste diversion requirements of 25 percent by the year 1995 and 50 percent by the year 2000.

So what has been accomplished over the past 10 years since 1989?

• California's diversion rate is 32 percent, with more than 100 million tons of material diverted from landfills since 1990.
• 173 cities and counties have met or exceeded the 25 percent diversion requirement.
• 42 cities and counties have met or exceeded the 50 percent disposal reduction requirement.
• Stringent solid waste regulations were enacted at both the State and federal level to greater insure environmentally safe disposal.
• Recycling business development zones were established throughout the state, serving as a catalyst for new entrepreneurial enterprises.
• Business waste reduction programs were adopted statewide.
• Used oil and used tire cleanup and recycling programs were enacted.
• Public education efforts at the local, state, and national level called attention to the importance of buying recycled-content products as a way of closing the loop.

And as we close out the decade the question can be put forth: What lies ahead?

To me one thing is clear--as California enters the new millennium, many issues remain while new issues and waste streams are on the horizon.  Given where we've been and what we've accomplished statewide, I know I speak for the Board when I say "we would like your help in evaluating what course California should take over the next 10 years and beyond."

This 21st Century Policy Project establishes a process to explore issues the Board may face in the first part of the next century, and identify ways the Board can meet those challenges. Let me take a minute to describe the approach, process, and timeline we intend to follow.

First, the approach we have selected is one in which the Board Members themselves will lead. 

We intend to utilize a process designed to foster creativity and "outside the box" thinking--incorporating perspectives of a wide range of stakeholders and utilizing an understanding of issues and options.

The process we intend to follow can be described in three phases:

• The first phase is to explore current and emerging waste management trends and issues. With your assistance today, we intend to develop a list of trends and issues.
• The second phase will utilize a framework to expedite the analysis of the issues. This too will be led by the Members of the Board and will develop possible future scenarios stemming from the issues and trends identified today. We will then hold a "Future Search Conference" on March 9th. At the conference we will analyze alternatives, options, and possible approaches to address the issues and scenarios.
• In phase three we will craft policy proposals for 21st century waste management, specify goals and measures, and the role of the various stakeholders in achieving them.

The draft policy proposals will then be considered for adoption by the Board later this year. Upon final acceptance by the Board, the 21st Century Policy for Integrated Waste Management will he transmitted to the Legislature and Governor Davis.

In nearly eight years I've served as the Executive Director for this organization, one of its true hallmarks has been the manner in which our policies, procedures, and regulations are formulated in a public setting with significant opportunity for input from the public and affected stakeholders. This project will follow that standard, ensuring that the best thinking is being utilized to move us toward our goal.

Thank you for participating today, for your contribution will play an important role in the future of solid waste management for our great state. As it was stated one decade ago in Time magazine--"it is now abundantly clear man has reached a point in his evolution where...he has the power to affect, for better or worse, the present and future state of the planet."

Thank you and now I would like to turn the podium back to incoming Chair Danny Eaton to introduce our guest speaker this morning.

Last updated: October 18, 2007