Pilot Program Tests Feasibility of Recycling San Diego’s Organic Wastes

A pilot program testing the feasibility of converting organic waste such as leaves and tree clippings into mulch for use in city parks and along freeways will begin Friday in three San Diego communities.

Called the Greenery Curbside Pick-up Program, the program affects 14,000 households in Del Cerro, Grantville and San Carlos. Residents are being asked to participate in the program by separating their “green” waste from other waste and placing it on the curb for collection.

City officials predict that 300 tons of mulch--about 25 full trash trucks--will be collected monthly during the pilot program. The communities normally use 125 trash trucks a month, said Ellyn Hae, the city’s recycling coordinator.

If the effort succeeds, it will be expanded citywide within the next four months, according to Marlene Mariani of the city’s Waste Management Department.

The city hopes to save landfill space by reusing the tree and shrub clippings, lawn cuttings and other organic material. These now compose 15% to 25% of San Diego’s residential waste. The collected green waste will be converted into mulch by two tub grinders at the Miramar landfill just north of Kearny Mesa. The mulch will then be used in planted areas in parks, recreational areas and areas bordering freeways.

The pilot project, the first of its kind in the county, will determine the level of participation that can be expected citywide and the tonnage that will be diverted from the landfill, said Mariani.

“Everyone is very anxious to get some kind of recycling program in the community,” Mariani said. “One of the things that this pilot project will do is give a fairly decent estimate of how much participation we can expect.”

The program, which has no definite ending date, will use existing garbage trucks and personnel for the pickups. City officials could not provide figures on the cost of the pilot project, saying those costs will be computed as the project continues and all costs are being absorbed into the existing budget.

“We will compare the cost (of the program) versus the diversion rate from the landfill,” Mariani said. “When you look at green materials making up 15% to 25%, it’s costing a lot in terms of capacity in the landfill.”

It is projected that the Miramar landfill, the city’s only solid waste landfill, will be full by 1998, said Mariani. That’s an improvement over the 1995 projection issued a year and a half ago before the Waste Management Department was formed.

The department’s goal is to recycle 25% of the city’s annually generated 1.3 million tons of garbage by the year 1992 using the greenery collection and other recycling programs, and to push Miramar landfill’s closing date back to the year 2005.

The greenery collection program is similar to one started in Seattle early this year that has generated almost 11,000 tons of mulch.

Mariani said the amount of greenery recycled will depend on the area and the time of year. She expects the time before the holidays to be slow, but said recycling should pick up once people begin to dispose of their Christmas trees.

The city will continue the Christmas tree recycling program begun last year.

“Last year the city collected about 45,000 (trees), and this year we hope to go above and beyond that to 50,000,” said Mariani.

The county’s Solid Waste Department also will run a Christmas tree program. A hot line run by the organization I Love a Clean San Diego gives drop-off sites for the trees. The toll-free number is 1-800-237-2583.

Together, the two programs plan to recycle as many as 100,000 dead trees, affecting all six of the county’s landfills, which Mariani said are already at “crisis levels.”