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Tag: landfill

  • California regulators approve rules to curb methane leaks and prevent fires at landfills

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    In one of the most important state environmental decisions this year, California air regulators adopted new rules designed to reduce methane leaks and better respond to disastrous underground fires at landfills statewide.

    California Air Resources Board members voted 12-0 on Thursday to approve a batch of new regulations for the state’s nearly 200 large landfills, designed to minimize the release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas produced by decomposing organic waste. Landfills are California’s second-largest source of methane emissions, following only the state’s large dairy cow and livestock herds.

    The new requirements will force landfill operators to install additional pollution controls; more comprehensively investigate methane leaks on parts of landfills that are inaccessible with on-the-ground monitoring using new technology like drones and satellites; and fix equipment breakdowns much faster. Landfill operators also will be required to repair leaks identified through California’s new satellite-detection program.

    The regulation is expected to prevent the release of 17,000 metric tons of methane annually — an amount capable of warming the atmosphere as much as 110,000 gas-fired cars driven for a year.

    It also will curtail other harmful landfill pollution, such as lung-aggravating sulfur and cancer-causing benzene. Landfill operators will be required to keep better track of high temperatures and take steps to minimize the fire risks that heat could create.

    There are underground fires burning in at least two landfills in Southern California — smoldering chemical reactions that are incinerating buried garbage, releasing toxic fumes and spewing liquid waste. Regulators found explosive levels of methane emanating from many other landfills across the state.

    During the three-hour Air Resources Board hearing preceding the vote, several Californians who live near Chiquita Canyon Landfill — one of the known sites where garbage is burning deep underground — implored the board to act to prevent disasters in other communities across the state.

    “If these rules were already updated, maybe my family wouldn’t be sick,” said Steven Howse, a 27-year resident of Val Verde. “My house wouldn’t be for sale. My close friend and neighbor would still live next door to me. And I wouldn’t be pleading with you right now. You have the power to change this.”

    Landfill operators, including companies and local governments, voiced their concern about the costs and labor needed to comply with the regulation.

    “We want to make sure that the rule is implementable for our communities, not unnecessarily burdensome,” said John Kennedy, a senior policy advocate for Rural County Representatives of California, a nonprofit organization representing 40 of the state’s 58 counties, many of which own and operate landfills. “While we support the overarching goals of the rule, we remain deeply concerned about specific measures including in the regulation.”

    Lauren Sanchez, who was appointed chair of the California Air Resources Board in October, recently attended the United Nations’ COP30 climate conference in Brazil with Gov. Gavin Newsom. What she learned at the summit, she said, made clear to her that California’s methane emissions have international consequences, and that the state has an imperative to reduce them.

    “The science is clear, acting now to reduce emissions of methane and other short-lived climate pollutants is the best way to immediately slow the pace of climate change,” Sanchez said.

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    Tony Briscoe

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  • Green bins clog L.A. curbs as city’s organic waste program goes into overdrive

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    Koreatown resident Scott Lyness was well aware that the city of Los Angeles was looking to tackle its food waste problem.

    While bicycling to work, he saw the growing number of green trash bins popping up on curbs. He read the notice sent to his home instructing residents to expect green bins to be delivered at some point.

    Still, Lyness was not prepared for what came next: 13 green bins deposited earlier this month outside the apartment building he manages on New Hampshire Avenue.

    That’s on top of the three bins that the city delivered the previous week at a smaller building he also manages next door, and the two green bins that those properties were already using.

    Lyness, 69, who works as a project manager at USC, said the two buildings don’t have anywhere near the room to store so many full-size cans — and don’t generate enough organic waste to fill them. He’s tried to have his tenants contact city offices to say they don’t need them. He said he’s even thought about throwing them into the street.

    “Our neighborhoods are being inundated with green waste bins,” he said.

    City officials are working furiously to get Angelenos to separate more of their food waste — eggshells, coffee grounds, meat bones, unfinished vegetables, orange peels, greasy napkins — to comply with SB 1383, a state composting law passed in 2016. They’ve even implemented Professor Green, an online chatbot that can help residents decide what can and can’t go in the green bin.

    SB 1383 requires that 75% of organic waste be diverted away from landfills by the end of the year and instead turned into compost. Food and other organic waste sent to landfills is a significant source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Methane has a global warming potential about 80 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.

    To reach that goal, crews from L.A.’s Bureau of Sanitation have deposited huge numbers of 90-gallon green bins in front of some apartment buildings, including duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and larger buildings that have been grandfathered into the city’s curbside trash collection program.

    Scott Lyness, 69, stands near green waste bins outside the apartment building he manages in Koreatown.

    (Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

    Residents are already familiar with the green bins, which were long reserved for lawn clippings and other yard waste but now are the destination for food scraps as well.

    Most large apartment buildings in L.A. have been spared from the recent round of green bin deliveries, since they participate in recycLA, the city trash franchise program that relies on private waste haulers.

    Sanitation officials say that Angelenos who prefer smaller, more manageable containers should fill out a form to get a 30- or 60-gallon replacement. They point out that the bins are part of a much larger effort by the city to reach its zero-waste goals and “lead on sustainability.”

    Most of the green bins’ contents are taken to a facility in Bakersfield, where the resulting compost can be used by farmers, said Heather Johnson, a sanitation spokesperson.

    “While some may find [the bins] inconvenient at the moment, in the short term they will result in more diverted waste and cleaner air,” Johnson said in an email.

    Despite those serious intentions, Angelenos have been poking fun at the “Great Green Bin Apocalypse of 2025,” as journalist and podcaster Alissa Walker framed the situation on Bluesky. Walker recently shared a photo showing what appeared to be 20 green bins in front of one property, right next to a discarded sofa.

    “This one is probably my favorite,” she wrote. “I like how they lined them all up neatly in a row and then left the couch.”

    Green waste bins outside an apartment building in Koreatown.

    Green organic waste bins outside an apartment building in Koreatown.

    (Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)

    After Walker urged others to send in pictures, Silver Lake resident Tommy Newman posted a photo on Bluesky showing eight bins outside an eight-unit building, just south of Sunset Boulevard.

    “Unless they are running a juice bar in there, how could they possibly create this much organic waste on a weekly basis?” wrote Newman, who works at a county housing agency.

    Over on X, another observer summed up the absurdity in a different way. “LA gave every multi family unit a green bin due to a bureaucratic fever dream about composting,” the person wrote. “I have 5 personally.”

    In recent months, L.A.’s sanitation agency has sent teams of “ambassadors” into neighborhoods to educate residents about the need to throw food in the green bins.

    That means keeping food out of the 60-gallon black bins where residents have been accustomed to dumping most of their garbage, which ultimately winds up in landfills. Recyclable items, including glass and aluminum, will continue to go into blue bins.

    The changes were also spelled out on fliers sent out by the city last summer, with a clear warning in all capital letters: “Unless we hear from you immediately, we will deliver a 90-gallon green container to your residence.”

    Lyness saw those alerts and knew about the change. But he contends that most people would have missed the news or thrown the fliers away. Depositing an inordinate amount of bins around town is just not the way to encourage people to properly dispose of their organic waste, he said.

    The city’s new food-waste program, which is projected to cost $66 million a year, is one reason the City Council approved a huge increase in trash fees earlier this year, in some cases doubling them. Each 90-gallon green bin costs the city $58.61, tax included, though residents are not being directly charged for the recent deliveries.

    Sanitation officials say they have delivered more than 65,000 green bins across the city, with 4,000 to go. For residents waiting for them to be removed or replaced with a smaller bin, only 1,000 orders can be carried out in a regular workday, those officials said.

    Around the corner on North Berendo Street, Lyness’ neighbor Lucy Alvidrez agreed that the green bins were troublesome while dragging in her black bin Thursday afternoon.

    “They sure got carried away with it,” she said, pointing across the street to an apartment building with about two dozen green bins on its front curb.

    Alvidrez, 69, who has lived in the neighborhood for two decades, never had an issue with trash collection until the city dropped off four green bins, one for each unit in her building. She was more fortunate than Lyness: sanitation workers took two of the bins back, upon request.

    Alvidrez said she would prefer that the city “spend our money feeding the homeless” instead of purchasing bins that no one needs, she said.

    A dozen green waste bins occupy a street in Koreatown..

    A dozen green organic waste bins occupy a street in Koreatown..

    (Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)

    Nearby, Lyness opened a neighbor’s green bin, which was filled to the brim with trash that wasn’t compostable and should have gone in a black bin. If no one knows what to put in the green bins, nothing is going to improve, he said.

    “It’s trash,” he lamented. “It’s all trash.”

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    Sandra McDonald, David Zahniser

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  • Halloween pumpkin waste is a methane problem, but chefs and farmers have solutions

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    Don’t let your Halloween pumpkin haunt the landfill this November.More than 1 billion pounds (454 million kilograms) of pumpkins rot in U.S. landfills each year after Halloween, according to the Department of Energy.Video above: Halloween festivities in full swing in Salem, MassachusettsYours doesn’t have to go to waste. Experts told us your pumpkins can be eaten, composted or even fed to animals. Here’s how. If you’re carving a jack-o’-lantern, don’t throw away the skin or innards — every part is edible.After carving, you can cube the excess flesh — the thick part between the outer skin and the inner pulp that holds the seeds — for soups and stews, says Carleigh Bodrug, a chef known for cooking with common food scraps. You can also puree it and add a tablespoon to your dog’s dinner for extra nutrients. And pumpkin chunks can be frozen for future use.”The seeds are a nutritional gold mine,” Bodrug said. They’re packed with protein, magnesium, zinc and healthy fats, according to a 2022 study in the journal Plants.One of Bodrug’s recipes involves removing the seeds, rinsing and roasting them with cinnamon for a crunchy snack or salad topper. Then you can use the stringy guts to make a pumpkin puree for muffins. This version differs from canned purees in grocery stores — which typically use a different type of pumpkin or squash — because carving pumpkins have stringier innards and a milder flavor. A carving pumpkin’s guts can still be used for baking — you’ll just have to amp up the seasoning to boost the flavor.If you don’t want to eat your pumpkins, you can donate them to a local farm, which might use them to feed pigs, chickens and other animals. Edible parts should be collected while you’re carving and before they’re painted, decorated or left on your porch for weeks. Paint and wax aren’t food-safe, and bacteria and mold can grow on the skin in outdoor climates.Once you’ve cooked what you can and donated what’s safe to feed, composting the rest is the easiest way to keep it out of the landfill.”That way, even though they’re not safe to eat, they can still give back to the earth,” Bodrug said. Composting pumpkins keeps them out of methane-emitting landfills and turns them into nutrient-rich soil instead. You can do this at home or drop them off at a local farm, compost collection bin or drop-off site.”A large percentage of what ends up going to the landfill is stuff that could have been composted,” said Dante Sclafani, compost coordinator at Queens County Farm in New York. “So even just cutting down something like pumpkins could really help curb how many garbage bags you’re putting out every week.”Before composting, remove any candles, plastic, glitter, or other decorations — they can contaminate the compost. A little glitter or paint won’t ruin the pile, but it’s best to get it as clean as possible before tossing it in. Then, chop up the pumpkin into 1-inch (2.5-centimeter) pieces so it can break down more easily.”Pumpkins are full of water, so it’s important to maintain a good balance of dried leaves, wood chips, sawdust, shredded newspaper, cardboard, straw — anything that’s a dry organic material — in your compost bin,” Sclafani said. If you don’t maintain this balance, your compost might start to stink.According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a healthy compost pile should include a mix of “greens” — like pumpkin scraps and food waste — and “browns” like dry leaves, straw or cardboard, in roughly a 3-to-1 ratio. That balance helps the pile break down faster and prevents odors.And if your pumpkin’s been sitting on the porch all month? That’s actually ideal. “It’s never too far gone for compost,” Sclafani said. “Even if it’s mushy or moldy, that actually helps, because the fungus speeds up decomposition.””Composting anything organic is better than throwing it out because you’re not creating more refuse in landfills, you’re not creating methane gas,” said Laura Graney, the farm’s education director.Graney said autumn on the farm is the perfect opportunity to teach kids about composting since it gives them a sense of power in the face of big environmental challenges. “Even though they’re little, composting helps them feel like they can make a difference,” Graney said. “They take that message home to their families, and that’s how we spread the word.”

    Don’t let your Halloween pumpkin haunt the landfill this November.

    More than 1 billion pounds (454 million kilograms) of pumpkins rot in U.S. landfills each year after Halloween, according to the Department of Energy.

    Video above: Halloween festivities in full swing in Salem, Massachusetts

    Yours doesn’t have to go to waste. Experts told us your pumpkins can be eaten, composted or even fed to animals. Here’s how.

    If you’re carving a jack-o’-lantern, don’t throw away the skin or innards — every part is edible.

    After carving, you can cube the excess flesh — the thick part between the outer skin and the inner pulp that holds the seeds — for soups and stews, says Carleigh Bodrug, a chef known for cooking with common food scraps. You can also puree it and add a tablespoon to your dog’s dinner for extra nutrients. And pumpkin chunks can be frozen for future use.

    “The seeds are a nutritional gold mine,” Bodrug said. They’re packed with protein, magnesium, zinc and healthy fats, according to a 2022 study in the journal Plants.

    One of Bodrug’s recipes involves removing the seeds, rinsing and roasting them with cinnamon for a crunchy snack or salad topper. Then you can use the stringy guts to make a pumpkin puree for muffins. This version differs from canned purees in grocery stores — which typically use a different type of pumpkin or squash — because carving pumpkins have stringier innards and a milder flavor. A carving pumpkin’s guts can still be used for baking — you’ll just have to amp up the seasoning to boost the flavor.

    If you don’t want to eat your pumpkins, you can donate them to a local farm, which might use them to feed pigs, chickens and other animals.

    Edible parts should be collected while you’re carving and before they’re painted, decorated or left on your porch for weeks. Paint and wax aren’t food-safe, and bacteria and mold can grow on the skin in outdoor climates.

    Once you’ve cooked what you can and donated what’s safe to feed, composting the rest is the easiest way to keep it out of the landfill.

    “That way, even though they’re not safe to eat, they can still give back to the earth,” Bodrug said.

    Composting pumpkins keeps them out of methane-emitting landfills and turns them into nutrient-rich soil instead. You can do this at home or drop them off at a local farm, compost collection bin or drop-off site.

    “A large percentage of what ends up going to the landfill is stuff that could have been composted,” said Dante Sclafani, compost coordinator at Queens County Farm in New York. “So even just cutting down something like pumpkins could really help curb how many garbage bags you’re putting out every week.”

    Before composting, remove any candles, plastic, glitter, or other decorations — they can contaminate the compost. A little glitter or paint won’t ruin the pile, but it’s best to get it as clean as possible before tossing it in. Then, chop up the pumpkin into 1-inch (2.5-centimeter) pieces so it can break down more easily.

    “Pumpkins are full of water, so it’s important to maintain a good balance of dried leaves, wood chips, sawdust, shredded newspaper, cardboard, straw — anything that’s a dry organic material — in your compost bin,” Sclafani said. If you don’t maintain this balance, your compost might start to stink.

    According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a healthy compost pile should include a mix of “greens” — like pumpkin scraps and food waste — and “browns” like dry leaves, straw or cardboard, in roughly a 3-to-1 ratio. That balance helps the pile break down faster and prevents odors.

    And if your pumpkin’s been sitting on the porch all month? That’s actually ideal. “It’s never too far gone for compost,” Sclafani said. “Even if it’s mushy or moldy, that actually helps, because the fungus speeds up decomposition.”

    “Composting anything organic is better than throwing it out because you’re not creating more refuse in landfills, you’re not creating methane gas,” said Laura Graney, the farm’s education director.

    Graney said autumn on the farm is the perfect opportunity to teach kids about composting since it gives them a sense of power in the face of big environmental challenges.

    “Even though they’re little, composting helps them feel like they can make a difference,” Graney said. “They take that message home to their families, and that’s how we spread the word.”

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  • U.S. EPA will lead efforts to extinguish mystery fire smoldering in L.A. County landfill

    U.S. EPA will lead efforts to extinguish mystery fire smoldering in L.A. County landfill

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    As landfill operators struggle to extinguish a damaging fire deep within Chiquita Canyon Landfill, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced that it is taking the lead in efforts to contain the problem.

    Since at least spring, acres of garbage have been smoldering in a closed portion of the Castaic landfill, causing contaminated water to burst onto surrounding hillsides and sending putrid odors into surrounding neighborhoods.

    The intervention of federal regulators has underscored the gravity of the situation, which has placed Los Angeles County’s second-largest landfill under intense scrutiny, and prompted calls for its closure.

    The fire, which experts say may be due to the buildup of oxygen within the landfill, has also raised question about the oversight of local air regulators, who were aware of the increasing oxygen levels, public records show.

    “I welcome the U.S. EPA’s involvement,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger. “They are stepping up to the task of helping identify solutions and bringing resources to the table for an incident that has gone on for far too long.”

    Temperatures within the landfill have risen over 200 degrees, causing gases to expand and water to boil. The resulting pressure increase has sent piping-hot water bursting through the landfill’s cover and emitted foul odors.

    The intense heat has also melted portions of a gas collection system, which consists of long polyvinyl chloride pipes that vacuum out methane and odorous sulfur gases.

    Although it’s unclear if the underground fire is continuing to spread, the 30-acre affected area could take 2-4 years to cease burning, according to a Dec. 12 report from CalRecycle, the state agency that oversees waste management.

    Eight state and local regulatory agencies have assembled under the EPA to discuss what steps need to be taken to prevent the underground fire from chewing through more of the 639-acre landfill and spewing dangerous chemicals.

    The landfill operator, Waste Connections, is anticipating significant financial liabilities due to the burning, according to a financial report the company filed in November. It estimates that efforts to resolve the situation could cost around $30 million in the second half of 2023, $75 million in 2024 and $40 million in 2025.

    Waste Connections has already installed several dozen new gas wells, some made with steel casings that can withstand the intense heat. The landfill has also installed a new flare to burn off flammable gases and a concrete drainage system to better collect polluted water so that it can be trucked offsite.

    But state and county officials want the landfill to do more. Specifically, they have called on operators to apply 2 feet of dense soil, such as clay, to seal any cracks and better suppress fumes that have sickened residents in nearby Val Verde.

    CalRecycle has also encouraged Waste Connections to review steps taken by an East Sparta, Ohio, landfill that experienced an underground fire in 2005. That fire burned for more than a decade and spread to nearly 90 acres.

    Republic Services, the operator of the Ohio landfill, ultimately constructed a fire break — a trench separating the affected area from other parts of the site. The $6 million project was supervised by the U.S. EPA and state regulators.

    Steve Cassulo, Chiquita Canyon’s district manager, said the landfill doesn’t believe installing a 2,000-foot-long fire break or barrier is necessary or feasible. Chiquita Canyon would need to excavate and relocate at least 20 million tons of waste to construct an effective buffer.

    “The potential risk to human health and the environment in undertaking an excavation of such magnitude is incredibly great,” he said.

    Cassulo noted that such work has been done in some extreme cases, such as in Bridgeton, Mo., where landfill operators needed to isolate areas of radioactive waste. However, those circumstances don’t exist at Chiquita Canyon, he said.

    The landfill is expected to install temperature probes next month that will help regulators better monitor the fire at Chiquita Canyon. If it continues to spread, agency officials will discuss the possibility of mandating action.

    As environmental regulators and the landfill debate over how to control the situation, the cause of the fire still remains uncertain.

    However, the leading theory is that the landfill’s gas extraction wells may have overdrawn methane and other gases, inadvertently introducing oxygen deep inside the landfill’s well system. This oxygen can speed up the decomposition of organic waste, produce heat and eventually spark a fire.

    Chiquita Canyon’s records show it had struggled with high oxygen levels in hundreds of wells in the year leading up to the fire. Elevated temperatures were also observed in dozens of wells.

    Local regulators were also aware of these issues long before the incident, according to public records.

    Between 2011 and 2016, the South Coast Air Quality Management District signed off on several of the landfill’s requests to operate its wells with higher oxygen levels and temperature limits, which experts say could increase the risk of an underground fire.

    This includes the gas well that CalRecycle has identified as the “point of origin” and others nearby — which were approved to operate at 145 degrees rather than 131.

    Other gas wells in other portions of the landfill were allowed to operate with up to 10%-15% oxygen present, two to three times the previously permitted amount.

    The air district didn’t return several requests for comment.

    “Frankly, I would not have allowed it,” said Mike Mohajer, a retired engineer with the L.A. County Department of Public Works. “It doesn’t make sense. Oxygen increases the chance of a fire. And higher temperature — the same thing — it’s a higher potential for a fire.”

    Although landfills in Southern California are still bound by stricter local permits, the U.S. EPA in 2021 relaxed temperature requirements for landfill gas wells, increasing the allowable levels from 131 degrees to 145 degrees. It also removed the requirement for oxygen limits, previously set at 5%.

    Experts say it could set the stage for more incidents like Chiquita Canyon.

    “From my standpoint, there’s a lot of things happening that show we have to be conservative when we’re constructing, operating and maintaining landfills,” Mohajer said. “We can’t lose control of them.”

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    Tony Briscoe

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