On Friday’s Z107.7 “Up Close Show, host Gary Daigneault spoke with Chair of the County Board of Supervisors Dawn Rowe. Daigneault asked Rowe about state legislation requiring composting via green waste bins, and asked how those mandates are being implemented in our area at the county level.
Rowe said: “This is another one of those things that the state does and the county implements. The person who is doing it is hired by the county, but the state gives us the funds to do their bidding. This is a Senate Bill that actually passed back in 2016 under Governor Brown. Most of our state legislators weren’t around at that time.
It’s intent is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by diverting our green waste, that’s our yard waste as well as food waste, from going into our landfills by composting.
And they have said, ‘Counties go!’ And the counties say, ‘Solid waste providers, for example Burrtec in our vicinity, you get to implement this.’ And Burrtec says, ‘Well, you get to either have an extra can or you can bag separate food waste and put it into your green can, tie it up weekly, so as you scrape your plates, you can put it in your fridge, which they encourage, or a temporary bin outside, then it gets tied up and put into your green can, if you have a green and have paid for it. Because Burrtec Isn’t going to absorb that cost. They didn’t want this. Or you can self-haul to one of the four sites in the county. Twentynine Palms has a site in our area.
The state law requires periodic inspections. So you might see Burrtec peeking into your trash can to determine if you’re compliant or not.”
Rowe discussed discrepancies in how the state policy is being enforced, with neighbors on either side of the same street in Running Springs asked to approach their green bins completely differently.
“I am asking state legislators, including Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh and Tom Lackey to see if they would consider fixes on this legislation to see if they would help.
We’re hopeful we can get it stopped, but it’s not looking like that. So our solid waste haulers must move forward. The latest start date is February 1.”
You can hear the full interview with Supervisor Rowe by listening to the Up Close Show as a podcast or below:
