Aug 27 - States, Group Sue EPA for Failing to Regulate Emissions (Waste News)

Aug 26 - Biggest Land Use Bill in California in 32 Years is One Step From the Governor’s Desk (CA Progress Report)

The City of Los Angeles has voted to enact a pilot curb-side food waste composting program to roughly 5000 households. Along with a blue bin for recycling, a green bin for yard waste, and a black bin for garbage, the city will distribute a fourth, smaller container to accept table scraps.

A convenient curbside food waste collection option will increase the city's waste diversion rate:

A survey conducted by city officials in 2002 found that single-family homes generate 230,000 tons of food waste annually that could be turned into compost. That survey found nearly 27% of the garbage in the black bins was food waste.

Read the L.A. Times Article>>

CAW and Composting

CAW feels that composting of organic waste not only addresses landfill capacity, but is also an effective green-house gas mitigation measure.

The ARB has released a draft of the AB 32 Scoping Plan, and we are very disappointed with the lack of strong recycling recommendations in the plan.

The Scoping Plan will serve as the blueprint for achieving the AB 32 greenhouse gas reductions and CAW, along with several other environmental organizations, has advocated for the inclusion of waste reduction, recycling, and composting. We believe the ARB should incorporate the recommendations of the Economic and Technology Advancement Advisory Committee, as well as taking other bold action to increase recycling and composting in California.

Actions:

• Attend ARB's public workshop on Thursday, July 17th in Sacramento.
• Read the draft.
• Submit comments to the ARB by August 1st.