If you’re cleaning your closets and garage at home or purging at the office, the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency (SCWMA) provides the resources and expertise to help you responsibly manage unwanted items. The agency, formed in 1992, is the joint powers authority of the nine incorporated cities and the county of Sonoma. Its mission is diversion (as required by state law AB939) of household hazardous waste, composting and wood waste, as well as education and planning. Funding for its programs is derived from a surcharge on garbage delivered to county refuse disposal sites.
Fortunately, the agency is meeting state-mandated waste reduction goals as the amount of garbage produced per person, per day continues to decline. In 2008, 4.5 pounds of waste was produced per person, per day, a decrease from 5 pounds per person, per day in 2007. One of the reasons for the decline is the infrastructure of the municipal composting facility, a program SCWMA manages, where yard debris and vegetative food waste is collected curbside, dropped off at county refuse disposal sites and made into compost. SCWMA also manages the municipal wood processing program, where unpainted, recyclable wood is ground into mulch for use as landscape products and fuel to generate electricity.
While recycling and composting infrastructures are helping to reduce waste, another 70 percent of Sonoma County garbage could still be recovered for recycling or for composting—especially food waste, construction/demolition materials and recyclable paper. Packaging accounts for about 17 percent of potentially recoverable material.
Hazardous waste disposal
The most costly aspect of the agency’s programs is its Household Hazardous Waste program, which provides residents and businesses opportunities to properly dispose of items such as paint, garden chemicals, expired medications, spent fluorescent lamps, mercury-containing products, household batteries, syringes and needles, and treated wood. Organizing disposal options for these materials is the agency’s responsibility.
Sonoma County provides one of the most comprehensive systems for managing hazardous waste in California. For residents, there are three disposal options: free drop-off at the Household Toxics Facility located at the central disposal site; Community Toxics Collections every Tuesday at a different location around the county (go to www.recyclenow.org for a schedule); or Home Toxics Rover Pick-up Service ($50, but free pick-up is available for seniors over 80 and housebound residents).
Complementing the residential options, the Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generator program offers services for businesses that generate 100 kilograms (27 gallons liquid or 220 pounds solid) or less of hazardous waste per month. Among those taking advantage of this option are wineries, auto body shops, electricians, hardware stores, construction companies, building supply companies, painting contractors, fire and police departments, schools, nonprofits, doctors offices, apartment managers, churches and environmental consulting firms. Businesses generating larger volumes of hazardous waste can use the services of hazardous waste transporters.
Cost reduction efforts
Participation in the household hazardous waste program increases each year, which has resulted in increased cost for SCWMA. Funding the current collection and disposal system for household hazardous waste is unsustainable in the long term without dramatic change in policy.
The solution is relatively simple. Extended producer responsibility (EPR), or product stewardship, places responsibility for what happens when a product has reached the end of its life on the producers rather than local governments and their ratepayers. With EPR, for example, paint stores would take back leftover paint from customers. By incorporating the cost of treatment and/or disposal of a product in its purchase price, ERP acknowledges manufacturers have the greatest control over product design and waste reduction. The cost reduction to the agency and the added convenience to the public is significant. There are numerous examples of EPR—some legislated, some voluntary.
One example of how California legislature helps drive EPR is AB2901, passed in 2004, which requires retailers selling cell phones to take back used cell phones for recycling. Similarly, AB1125, passed in 2005, requires retailers take back rechargeable batteries from customers.
Local stewards
Some local businesses are voluntarily taking back hazardous products for recycling and proper disposal. This goes above what the law requires. As a convenience to their customers, Friedman’s Home Improvement and Home Depot take back compact fluorescent lamps. Sebastopol Hardware Center and True Value Hardware (Cotati and Guerneville locations) accept all kinds of fluorescent lamps. Alkaline and other household batteries are accepted at Cloverdale Ace Hardware, Computer Recycling Center, Flamingo Auto Repair, Guerneville Fulton Ace Hardware, REI, Sebastopol Hardware Center, True Value Hardware (Cotati and Guerneville locations) and Whole Foods Markets.
Burbank Housing, a Santa Rosa nonprofit managing 45 affordable family and senior housing communities in Sonoma County, requested technical assistance from SCWMA staff when designing a program to effectively manage batteries and fluorescent lamps from its 2,000 rental units. Diana Christopher, Burbank’s safety and training coordinator, says the motivation “stemmed from wanting to be good environmental stewards and role models.” Follow-up training for 50 onsite managers was conducted by garbage company staff.
Sonoma County already has considerable infrastructure in place to recycle and compost waste. The next hurdle is to not create waste in the first place. EPR provides an incentive to eliminate waste and pollution through product design and packaging changes. Business participation in EPR means being a leader in innovation, but the payoff is increased customer convenience and better protection of the environment.
Karina Chilcott is a waste management specialist with Sonoma County Waste Management Agency. Contact her at (707) 565-3668 or kchilcot@sonoma-county.org. Call the SCWMA’s Eco-Desk at (707) 565-3375 if you have questions or would like to have a 32-page recycling guide mailed to you.
