Why Doesn’t Long Beach Collect

Curbside Organic Waste?

Report from Isaac, 1/22/21

You may be asking why we dropped the letter-writing effort to persuade local officials to pick up organic waste like other nearby cities. The simple answer is we did a lot of research on the issue and learned that it is much more complex than we thought. Rather than write random letters, we joined others in the city in a more unified effort to influence policy. Matt, Amy, Liam and Terri joined the Long Beach Fresh Compost Working Group and will keep Carroll Park residents apprised of their efforts. Anyone can join this group by the way. If you are interested, let us know.

What’s the short answer?

The short answer to the question “Why Doesn’t Long Beach Collect Organic Waste Curbside” is:

1. Because all our non-recyclable waste is incinerated at the SERRF plant, the volume of organic waste is reduced by 90%, making it adhere to state guidelines for reducing organic waste to landfills.

2. The city will have to start picking it up in 2022 when new state guidelines kick in. They are researching the best option for what to do with it after they pick it up.

What’s the long answer?

Doesn’t it have something to do with state guidelines?

Yes, there is a sweeping legislative bill that gives organic waste disposal guidelines to every municipality in California. California Senate Bill 1383 mandates a 50 percent reduction in organic waste disposal (to landfills) from 2014 levels by 2020, and a 75 percent reduction by 2025. These goals were set to reign in the production of methane in landfills. Methane is a heat-trapping gas 80 times more potent than carbon.

Goals to Reduce Organic Waste Disposal

to Landfills

(from 2014 levels)

By 2020: 50% Reduction

By 2025: 75% Reduction

2020 is thankfully over.

Did the city meet the 2020 goal?

Yes! Even though the city of Long Beach doesn’t collect organic waste in separate bins, they were able to meet the 2020 goal.

How did they do it?

Instead of sending trash directly to landfills, Long Beach incinerates all its trash – including organic material -- at the Southeast Resource Recovery Facility (SERRF) by the Port of Long Beach (even a portion of the “recyclable” trash ends up here).

SERRF diverts much of the organic material collected from landfill because it reduces the volume by 90%. Because of this, the city of Long Beach was able to meet the 2020 goals.

In addition to reducing the volume of organic waste, the SERRF Plant utilizes processing methods that result in reduction of over 99% of particulate matter and 95% of Sulphur Dioxide and Hydrochloric Acid.

In addition to the efficiency of the SERRF facility, another reason that organic waste was not brought to a composting facility is that the nearest large composting facility is located many miles away. Transporting organic waste to these facilities would not yield much benefit because of the resulting vehicle emissions. As we prepare for the time that Long Beach is required to collect and dispose of organic waste separately, the fuel efficiency of waste disposal fleets will have improved.

More About SERRF

SERRF is known as a “waste-to-energy” plant because the incineration process produces energy that’s sold to electric companies. This generates revenue for the city of Long Beach through energy sales.

OK, that’s 2020. What about the 2025 goal?

Actually, there is a regulation that will change our lives in 2022, three years before 2025.

What will happen in 2022?

Beginning in 2022, SB 1383 requires every California jurisdiction to provide organic waste collection services to all residents and businesses and recycle these materials with:

• · Anaerobic digestion facilities that create biofuel and electricity.

• · New or expanded composters.

So in 2022, the city will be required to offer home collection services.

What is Anaerobic Digestion?

Anaerobic digestion is the natural process by which microorganisms break down organic materials. In this instance, “organic” means coming from or made of plants or animals. Anaerobic digestion happens in closed spaces where there is no air (or oxygen). The initials “AD” may refer to the process of anaerobic digestion or the built system where anaerobic digestion takes place, also known as a digester.

Fantastic! Story over?

Not exactly. There are still issues to grapple with. Here are two big ones:

• Will all of the waste go to an anaerobic digester or will a portion be composted?

• If a portion is composted, will it be composted locally and recycled back into local soil?

Many environmentalists support community composting alongside anaerobic digestion as a balanced solution.

What is the case for community composting?

Why bother?

Composting locally creates greener neighborhoods, improved local soils, enhanced food security, fewer food deserts, less exhaust from trucks hauling organic waste, and more local jobs. When materials are transported out of the community for processing, these benefits are not realized at the local level.

Here are “Guiding Principles of Community Composting” excerpted from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website:

1. Resources recovered: Waste is reduced; food scraps and other organic materials are diverted from disposal and composted.

2. Locally based and closed loop: Organic materials are a community asset,and are generated and recycled into compost within the same neighborhood or community.

3. Organic materials returned to soils: Compost is used to enhance local soils, support local food production, and conserve natural ecology by improving soil structure and maintaining nutrients, carbon, and soil microorganisms.

4. Community-scaled and diverse: Composting infrastructure is diverse, distributed, and sustainable; systems are scaled to meet the needs of a self-defined community.

5. Community engaged, empowered, and educated: Compost programming engages and educates the community in food systems thinking, resource stewardship, or community sustainability, while providing solutions that empower individuals, businesses, and institutions to capture organic waste and retain it as a community resource.

6. Community supported: Aligns with community goals (such as healthy soils and healthy people) and is supported by the community it serves. The reverse is true, too; a community composting program supports community social, economic, and environmental well-being.

What happened to Common Rot?

Why can’t small entrepreneurs collect organic waste for composting?

In August of 2019, Long Beach resident Sawyer Fox started a side-business called “Common Rot.” Through Common Rot, Sawyer collected organic waste from businesses and homes and delivered it to community compost sites.This was a godsend for businesses such as Portfolio which had no other means to dispose of their organic waste. Ultimately, Common Rot was not able to continue collecting waste because the city determined that it was subject to the same licensing fees as large contractors – prohibitive for a small entrepreneur like Sawyer. On top of that, the city disallowed the delivery of commercial procured organic materials to local composting sites. So – large fees, nowhere to deliver.

Is there a future for businesses like Common Rot?

In the future, will we be able to ensure our waste goes to local community composting efforts?

There are efforts underway to encourage the city to adopt micro-hauling permits for businesses such as Common Rot and to develop solutions that will keep organic waste within the city of Long Beach. Long Beach Fresh has a Compost Working Group formed to draft suggested policies in Long Beach. Matt, Amy, Liam and Terri recently joined this group.

The working group will be distributing a city-wide survey later this month to help Long Beach Fresh, city officials, and other local organizations understand the public’s opinions and interests in composting within the city limits. We’ll provide a link to the survey in the next newsletter.