Channel 10 News: Waste Disposal Rates and How San Diego Stacks Up

In this segment airing on June 13, 2011, ABC Channel 10 News reporter Michael Chen looks at waste disposal rates throughout our region. As Chen reports, recently released new data support findings from Equinox Center's 2011 San Diego Regional Quality of Life Dashboard showing a distinct downward trend in average per capita waste disposal in San Diego County:

From 2008-2009, San Diego County residents reduced waste by approximately 1 pound per person per day, though the region's average waste disposal is still above California's. The slowing of the economy had a significant impact on the reduction of both personal and commercial waste. (Less consumption means less packaging and other trash, while less construction means less demolition and material waste.)

Reducing our overall waste disposal in the region is good news on all fronts. Landfills eventually fill up, and new ones are neither easy nor cheap to build. What's more, the "NIMBY" ("Not in My Backyard") challenge is more or less a given for any proposed new landfill, regardless of location, as are environmental and political concerns.

We also don't need a recession to cut back our region's waste production. There is still vast opportunity to keep our region's waste levels down even as the economy recovers. The obvious low-hanging fruit on that front is recycling and composting.

For more on this: http://www.equinoxcenter.org/sustainability-blog/Up-or-Down-Whats-Going-on-Wi...

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Equinox Center
• Quality of Life Dashboard
• waste disposal rates