eliminating landfill waste: Napa County’s wA s TE R EDU c TI o N gUIDE offers a place to start Lfraction of the 29.9 million tons that California landfilled in 2011. Aast year, Napa County sent 114,851 tons of “waste” to a hole in theground (landfill). This locally generated waste represents just a small rational person might ask, with all the recycling and composting programs available to us, what are we still wasting and sending to landfills? The answer would be, mostly stuff that could be recycled or composted or, better yet, not created in the first place. By now we’ve all heard the expression “reduce, reuse, recycle,” but obviously we’re still not taking it to heart when millions of tons of resources are being buried in the ground every year. So what is a concerned, planet-loving Napa County resident to do? You can start by consulting the county’s Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Guide, which is packed full of information about reducing waste locally. This 24 page guide covers many topics, including what’s accepted in your curbside recycling bin, food donation organizations, and collection sites for cooking oil (which is made into biofuel). The guide was first developed by city and county staff in 2004 to provide the public with a convenient reference tool. It is updated annually and has been part of the yellow page sections of both local phone books since its inception (under “R” for recycling). The guide can also be found at get for your business, school, or community room and provides guidelines www.NapaRecycling.com, along with additional solutions to tackle our about planning for recycling at special events—large and small. “waste” problem. Although momentum is building for a plastic bag ban in Napa County, Although most Napa County residents do a good job putting recyclables for now the best option is to use one of fifteen drop-off locations. Many in our blue bins at home, when we’re at work or on-the-go, frequently our additional types of film plastics (dry cleaning bags, produce and ziplock good habits slip. The guide shows a selection of FREE recycling bins you can bags, etc.) are accepted at these locations and listed in the guide. Better yet, reusable bags are the best choice when shopping—for obvious reasons. Most of us are surprised to learn that lumber makes up about 15% of landfilled material in California (over 4 million tons) Special Waste – 3.9%(1.16 million tons) when here in Napa there are options to recycle 100% (bulky items, tires, ash) of any untreated or unpainted lumber. The guide Mixed Residue – 0.8%(240,000 tons) Household Hazardous Waste – 0.3% indicates where scrap lumber is accepted and how (90,000 tons) (paint, batteries, used motor oil) Paper – 17.3%(5.1 million tons) construction sites can save money by separating(cardboard, newspaper, office paper, magazines, etc) it for recycling. Glass – 1.4%(418,000 tons) Still wondering about items you know Metal – 4.6%(1.37 million tons) don’t belong in a landfill? Household toxics, Inerts –29.1%(8.7 million tons) batteries, fluorescent tubes, motor oil, or (lumber, concrete, asphalt, rock, roofing) Electronics – 0.5%(150,000 tons) expired medications, for example? Options to reduce and recycle these products are Plastic – 9.6%(2.87 million tons) available in the guide. These are just a few examples of the variety of topics addressed in the Reduce, Organics – 32.4%(9.69 million tons) Reuse, Recycle Guide. If we agree that a hole in (food, leaves/grass, branches, textiles, carpet) the ground is not a good place for millions of tons of valuable resources, then we all need to start California’s Disposed “WASTE” somewhere. Pick something you think of as garbage 29.9 million tons landfilled in 2011 and challenge yourself to treat it like a resource instead. J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 3 51
NVLife Jan-Feb 2013
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