THE SOLID WASTE PROBLEM

In Los Angeles County 38,000 tons of trash are thrown away each day. Mainly due to recycling, and partly due to the economic recession, this amount is down from the 50,000 tons per day rate of the late 1980s. 8 If all those garbage trucks for one day lined up from bumper-to-bumper, they would form a convoy 13 miles long. 9 The graph below displays the typical makeup of refuse in Los Angeles city and how much COULD be recycled. 10

Trash is Getting More Expensive

The problem is that even with recycling programs reducing the refuse stream, Los Angeles County is faced with more expensive ways to dispose of the remaining trash. Of the nine present landfills that accept at least 100 tons per day, as many as four might close in the next six years. One of the largest, the B.K.K. which accepted 10,000 tons per day in Covina, closed in September 1996.

The present cost of disposing of one ton of trash will probably quadruple from $25 to $100 per ton in the next 4-5 years. Many east coast cities are already paying over $100 per ton for trash disposal.

Presently Orange County, in an effort to ease its financial problems, is accepting 4,000 tons per day from Los Angeles County. But that agreement is not expected to last more than four or five years. At that time the first of a series of trash trains is expected go into operation. Trucks in L.A. will transfer their refuse to trains which will haul the trash at least 100 miles to landfills in the Mojave desert.

Pollution and Other Problems

Besides the increased cost, how much more pollution will be created by trucks and trains that will ship the trash more that 100 miles to new landfills? How much more fuel will be burned daily just to move trash? And how will this affect the dessert communities that contract to accept more solid waste?

Los Angeles County residents generate about 3-4 pounds of residential trash each day. That is typical for residents around the country. Yet another six pounds per resident of commercial trash is created to make and transport the products we use. In the future Los Angeles will no longer have the luxury of inexpensive trash disposal and low landfill rates. And as the population grows into the next century, are residents ready to pay higher bills just to take out the garbage?

Our options boil down to the now familiar saying, "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle". Much of the waste that we throw away still contains usable resources. Yet what do we do with trash that we can not recycle? By State law cities and countys are required to reduce their waste stream to landfills by 25 percent in 1996, and 50 percent in 2000. The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) is responsible for managing California's solid waste stream, and for helping California reach those waste management goals by the year 2000. Let us take a closer look at the problem in Los Angeles County and what we can do about it.

Project Home: Waste Not, Want Not. Copyright © 1996 Target Science