About Inside America’s Finest City: In this series, FOX 5 highlights some of San Diego’s persistent problems and what’s being done about them.
About Inside America’s Finest City: In this series, FOX 5 highlights some of San Diego’s nagging issues and what’s being done about them.
SAN DIEGO – Our beautiful city has a dirty secret.
With a population of more than 1.4 million people, San Diego generates almost 1.6 million tons of garbage a year, according to city data. About 55% of that goes to the Miramar Landfill, but not every piece of trash ends up where it belongs.
“Mostly, we see a lot of household items,” said Shawn Rizzuto, division chief of maintenance in District 11. Refrigerators, refrigerators of all sizes, doors, refrigerator doors, you know, tables, chairs, couches.
Every day, Caltrans crews with District 11 pick up trash along nearly 4,000 lane miles of freeway. They call the trouble spots “significant garbage generation areas.”
“You have to go over Del Mar and then we will start to see a lot more trash being deposited on the roads,” Rizzuto said. “If we look at (state route) 52 and around Convoy (street), there is a landfill there and (state route) 94, there is a transfer station, so we see a lot of garbage and debris being deposited on the road. Also going down the 995, we see some of (Interstate) 805 from the border or split to join back to (Interstate) 5.”
He said road litter got worse at the height of the pandemic and these bad habits continue to pile up.
“It’s still a systemic problem,” he said. “It really is about education for the public. But you know, if you’re dragging one under your shelter to the landfill. Cover your load, secure your loads.”
From our highways to our beaches, plastic and Styrofoam debris is embedded in our environment.
“It’s not that everyone is a freak. It’s not about that,” said Mitch Silverstein of the Surfrider Foundation. “It’s just that if we’re dumping so much single-use plastic waste into the world, there’s no question that a lot of it is going to end up in our environment and in our ocean.”
At the current disposal rate, the Miramar Landfill will peak by 2025. It is currently 82% full.
The next option would be to haul most of the trash to the Sycamore Landfill just off State Route 52, west of Santee. The Sycamore Landfill is 33% full and is allowed to accept trash until 2042.
City officials are working to increase the height limit and locally implement a new statewide organic waste law that should keep operations in Miramar through 2028.
“The landfill is allowed to operate until 2031. However, we recently implemented a state Senate Bill 1383 that should have some positive impacts on the Miramar landfill,” said Matthew Cleary, the city’s deputy director of environmental services. “SB 1383 requires the reduction of organic waste disposed of in landfills. They are food scraps, food, salt paper from kitchens and food operations, yard waste, and wood waste. And these materials represent approximately 39% of what San Diego currently disposes of.”
Cleary adds: “Diverting this material from the landfill will not only extend the useful life, but also reduce the methane emitted from the landfill, which is thought to contribute to climate change.”
The other option would be to get our trash out of the county.
“Obviously, transportation will cost more and increase costs for paying residents in the city of San Diego,” Cleary said.
Once the Miramar Landfill reaches capacity, Cleary said the city plans to use the land as an organic waste processing facility. Organic waste collected from residents will be turned into mulch and soil and then used to replenish local soil in parks and other areas.
To beat climate change, experts say we have to change our habits if we want to keep California and San Diego clean.
Environmental leaders believe it can be as easy as learning where to put certain garbage items. The city’s website outlines acceptable items to throw away, recycle, and compost.
“I would really ask everyone to be a little more aware of how much single-use plastic is in our lives and to do what you can to reduce it. You know, that can be as simple as stopping buying plastic water bottles and starting using a reusable one,” Silverstein said.
Environmental organizations like the Surfrider Foundation San Diego County organizes beach cleanups every month.
Click here to find out how to volunteer or sponsor your own cleanup event.
What are the 4 classification of waste?
A breakdown of the types and sources of solid waste is provided in Table 8.1. For the purposes of this review, these sources are defined as those that give rise to four main categories of waste: municipal solid waste, industrial waste, agricultural waste, and hazardous waste. Each of these types of waste is discussed separately below.
What are the waste classifications? Waste sorting
- special waste.
- Liquid waste.
- dangerous residues.
- restricted solid waste.
- general solid waste (putrescible)
- General solid waste (non-putrescible)
What are the 3 classification of waste?
As defined below, the IAEA developed a system to classify these wastes into three main classes, including exempt waste (EW), low and intermediate level waste (LILW), and high level waste (HLW).
What is the waste called?
It is also often called trash, rubbish, rubbish, or junk. It can be solid, liquid, or gas, or it can be waste heat.
What is waste in the environment?
Many different types of waste are generated, including municipal solid waste, hazardous waste, non-hazardous industrial waste, agricultural and animal waste, medical waste, radioactive waste, construction and demolition waste, extraction and mining waste, petroleum production waste, and gas, fossil waste fuel combustion residues, and…
What are the 4 types of hazardous waste?
Class 1: Explosives. Class 2: Gases. Class 3: Flammable Liquids. Class 4: Solids or Flammable Substances.
What is an example of a hazardous waste?
Examples of household hazardous waste include: Solvent-based paints. Pesticides and other chemicals for the garden. Batteries (for example, car, mobile phone, or regular household batteries)
What are the 4 types of waste?
For the purposes of this review, these sources are defined as those that give rise to four main categories of waste: municipal solid waste, industrial waste, agricultural waste, and hazardous waste.
What is the meaning of municipal solid waste?
Municipal solid waste (MSW) (also called garbage) consists of everyday items such as product packaging, yard trimmings, furniture, clothing, bottles and cans, food, newspapers, appliances, electronics, and batteries.
What are municipal solid waste explain its characteristics? The characteristics of fresh municipal solid waste (MSW) are fundamental in the planning, design, operation or improvement of solid waste management systems. Physical composition, moisture content, compacted unit weight and permeability are the most important characteristics of MSW to consider when planning a system.
What is solid solid waste?
RCRA states that “solid waste” means any garbage or refuse, sludge from a sewage treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility, and other discarded materials, resulting from industrial, commercial, or commercial operations. , mining and agricultural, and community. activities.
What are 3 waste examples?
Many different types of waste are generated, including municipal solid waste, hazardous waste, non-hazardous industrial waste, agricultural and animal waste, medical waste, radioactive waste, construction and demolition waste, extraction and mining waste, petroleum production waste, and gas, fossil waste fuel combustion residues, and…
What are the 5 solid waste?
Food waste, paper, cardboard, plastics, textiles, leather, yard waste, wood, glass, metals, ashes, special waste (eg, bulky items, consumer electronics, appliances, batteries, oil, tires) and household hazardous waste. ).
What is municipal solid waste in India?
Municipal solid waste includes commercial and domestic waste generated in municipal or reported areas in solid or semi-solid form, excluding hazardous industrial waste, but including treated biomedical waste.
Why do we classify waste materials?
Careful and robust sorting of waste materials is important given the strict controls required for the storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous waste, in addition to the higher costs involved compared to other types of waste. It is also important to ensure that the waste is disposed of in the correct landfills.
What is the important classification of waste? Two main categories of waste can be established based on the different legislation and policy instruments normally in force: non-hazardous or solid waste; and hazardous waste. This classification is also used in the Basel Convention.