2000 Trash Cutter Awards Program Case Studies

City of San Diego: Best Organics Management Program

• Program Description
• Program Summary
• Benefits
• Contact

Program Description

San Diego's Environmental Services Department (ESD) offers free yard waste recycling for the city' residents. Through free curbside collection, drop-off sites, and backyard composting education, the city has a comprehensive organics management plan.

Program Summary

The city's ESD operates the Miramar Greenery, a 29-acre organics recycling facility located on a closed portion of the Miramar Landfill. Cost to dispose of trash at the landfill is $42 per ton, while green wastes are recycled for $22 per ton. The mulching operation started in 1985. In late 1997 ESD began composting its mulch on a large scale in order to improve the quality of the material being produced. Since then, over 240,000 tons of yard waste have been diverted from the Miramar Landfill.

Currently, an average of 85,000 tons per year are processed at the Greenery (compost and mulch). This includes yard waste from free city curbside collection (140,000 homes) and self-haul by homeowners, landscapers, and the military. ESD set a goal to provide free green waste curbside collection to all 280,000 single-family residents by 2004. Plans include use of automated collection trucks fueled by liquefied natural gas collected from the landfill. Each truck converted from diesel to liquefied natural gas is the air quality equivalent of removing 100 autos from the freeway.

When the city expands its free curbside green waste recycling collection to the entire city, it is anticipated that over 100,000 tons per year of green waste will be recycled at the Miramar Greenery each year. To minimize contamination of the yard waste, the city banned plastic bags and encourages residents, who were provided new automated trash carts, to use old trash cans as yard waste receptacles. Currently, homes without curbside yard waste collection may take it to the Greenery and recycle at no charge.

Marketing efforts have included a "Got Mulch?" campaign that started in 1998. Banners for use at the landfill and bumper stickers of the same design were printed and given to people who came to the Greenery to pick up material. A video promoting the benefits of recycling green waste, and the use of mulch and compost was produced by ESD and has been shown on the city access channel. Local weather reporters and environmental reporters have done a series of pieces on the Miramar Greenery that aired during prime time viewing. 

Current markets include roadside beautification projects, soil amendment, dust and erosion control for municipal, residential and commercial use, closed landfill revegetation, disease prevention and water conservation in local avocado and citrus farms, and as a base product for a local topsoil producer. Beginning in November of 1999 the city began to market compost, generating over $200,000 in revenue in the program's first nine months.

A local revegetation project became an innovative use of ESD mulch. The local Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) planned to revegetate 88 acres of native plants on land covered with non-native annual weeds. ESD partnered with Bitterroot Consultants to provide over 68,000 cubic yards of mulch necessary for the project. By spreading the mulch 5 inches thick, growth of annual weeds is inhibited and native perennial plant growth is encouraged.

A positive effect of the city's Greenery Program is the impact it has on landscaping. By tilling compost into poor quality soil, soil texture is improved by adding water holding capacity and nutrient value. Compost improves poor soil drainage, which is commonplace in San Diego. This also helps conserve water and reduce nonpoint source pollution from stormwater runoff. The use of mulch and compost also reduces the need for chemical fertilizers by supplying nutrients to the soil.

Benefits

ESD has provided employment to a number of agencies and groups at the Miramar Greenery, including the State of California (Department of Corrections, Donovan Prison), County of San Diego (Department of Probation, Public Service), and the nonprofit Alpha Project (Homeless Job Rehabilitation). In addition, ESD employs eight full time workers to maintain the Greenery.

The public is educated through newspapers, television, and radio on where to take their trees. Movie theater slides, sponsored by the San Diego Association of Realtors, are used to promote the program in cinemas. The city works with "I Love A Clean San Diego" and Urban Corps to distribute flyers to schools, and also to pass out free mulch samples at busy shopping centers after the holidays.

San Diego also sponsors a backyard composting program for residents who would rather complete the recycling loop themselves. Once a month, hour-long workshops are scheduled at various composting demonstration gardens across San Diego. Master composters volunteer to teach the workshops as part of their service requirement. The demonstration gardens have up to 10 different types of working composting bins, including vermicomposting bins as well. The classes are free to any San Diego resident.

Three of the four demonstration gardens are located within popular attractions: Sea World, the Zoo, and the Wild Animal Park. The fourth garden is located at the Environmental Services Department's Green Building. Through public/private partnerships, the city is able to spread the word about organics recycling to the millions of visitors to these parks each year.

For Further Information, Contact:

City of San Diego
9601 Ridgehaven Ct. Ste 320
San Diego, CA  92123-1636
(858) 573-1284
(858) 492-5089 (fax)