State Provides Funds To Clean Up Illegal Trash Dumps: Waste Board acts to protect public health and the environment

SACRAMENTO--The California Integrated Waste Management Board approved nearly half a million dollars in grants to help clean up illegal trash sites in Sacramento and Solano counties that have become a major problem with significant social, environmental, and economic impacts for California. It is estimated that hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent by local jurisdictions to clean up illegally dumped materials throughout the Golden State.

"Illegal dumping can be devastating to the environment and to public health," said Board Chair Margo Reid Brown. "The Board is proud to be a partner with local agencies to combat illegal dumping."

The Waste Board is sponsoring a bill (AB 2695, Niello) to bolster local enforcement efforts against illegal dumping. The proposal, which is pending in the Legislature, incorporates recommendations of a 2006 Waste Board task force to bolster local and State efforts to combat illegal dumping.

The grants awarded today are funded by the Solid Waste Disposal and Codisposal Site Cleanup Program, which accelerates the clean-up of dump sites that poses a risk to public health or the environment. The State steps in when the responsible party cannot be identified or is unable or unwilling to pay the cleanup costs.

At today’s meeting the Board approved the following cleanup grant allocations:

Suisun Resource Conservation District, $21,600

Grant funds will pay to remove the remaining large pieces of scrap metal and machinery that require renting machinery and a barge for removal of illegally dumped trash from Lower Joice Island in the Suisun Marsh wetlands. Non-recyclable items will be disposed and the scrap metal will be recycled. A wood chipper will reduce the woodpiles to a useable resource by providing an all-weather surface for the levee tops adjacent to the residences.

County of Sacramento, $421,000

The County will use this matching grant to bring the Franklin Field Landfill site into compliance. The proposed project will result in a secured site where refuse will be covered with a minimum two-foot cap of soils and graded to establish the required slope. The graded site will be hydroseeded to establish a vegetative cover.

The California Integrated Waste Management Board is the state's leading authority on recycling and waste reduction. It promotes reducing waste whenever possible, managing all materials to their highest and best use and protecting public health and safety and the environment.

The California Integrated Waste Management Board is one of six boards, departments, and offices within the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA).

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