The City of Carlsbad is strengthening partnerships with local businesses to increase commercial recycling. According to 2008 data, businesses generate nearly 75 percent of the solid waste in California. Most of this trash could be recycled rather than placed in a landfill.
Mandatory commercial recycling was one of the measures adopted by the state of California in 2012 as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This measure requires businesses that generate 4 cubic yards or more of commercial solid waste per week to arrange for recycling services.
The City of Carlsbad currently offers several options to help businesses comply and recycle their waste. Smaller businesses can order the same 96-gallon carts that homeowners use to sort their waste among trash, recyclables and green waste. Larger businesses need larger containers, and the city’s waste hauler, Waste Management, offers large bins to meet those needs. A business can choose between either 3-cubic-yard or 4-cubic-yard recycling bins.
Sometimes finding the space for two bins for both recycling and trash can be challenging. Businesses that are limited on space can order a split bin, with one half for trash and the other half for recycling. The truck drivers who pick it up can lock one side closed while they empty the other, to keep trash and recycling separate. And pickups are flexible, as companies may schedule pickups one time a week or as many as six times a week, depending on their needs.
Waste reduction is another important way to cut down on the amount of material going to landfills. Waste reduction can also help businesses save money. The first step to implementing a waste reduction program with your business is to complete a free waste assessment. This helps you understand where your waste is coming from, what it is composed of and how much it costs you. Waste Management, the city’s hauler, can help businesses perform a waste assessment and to “right” size their recycling and trash services. Please contact them at (866) 967-3292.
The next big goal is to reduce the amount of organics – green materials like lawn clippings and food waste – that goes into our landfills. Recyclable organic waste accounts for about 40 percent of the material Californians send to landfills annually, according to the state Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery. And we throw away nearly 6 million tons of food scraps or food waste each year, which makes up about 18 percent of all the material that goes to landfills.
Much of this waste can be diverted by better planning – reducing the amount of food we purchase and prepare – and by donating unused food to people who need it. Spoiled food and scraps can be recycled through composting and mulching, and through anaerobic digestion, which processes the waste to produce renewable energy and fuel.
New regulations, called AB 1826 – Mandatory Commercial Organics Recycling, went into effect earlier this year requiring businesses and multifamily residences to recycle this waste. (The rules do not affect single-family homes.) AB 1826 applies to businesses generating 8 cubic yards of organic waste per week. As of Jan. 1, 2017, the rules will apply to businesses generating 4 cubic yards of organic waste per week, and in 2019 that list will expand to businesses generating 4 cubic yards of solid waste, or trash, per week.
This program has just begun and the City of Carlsbad, along with its neighbors and waste hauler, is working on the logistics to make it work.
The City of Carlsbad has held workshops to introduce this program and will hold more in the future. We look forward to increased commercial recycling and working with our local business community to achieve the state goal of 75 percent waste diversion by year 2020.
Businesses should always consider the 3 Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Taking the right steps toward reducing consumption, reusing what we can and recycling what we can’t reuse will make a huge difference.