Every day, citizens of Los Angeles generate 3,500 tons of non-recyclable trash. This figure is down from just a few years ago, thanks to greater participation in the city’s recycling programs. Over the past several years, recycling programs have kept over 47 percent of all materials collected at the curbside from entering landfills. But despite the success of recycling, there is still a need to dispose of millions of tons of trash in a safe, responsible and environmentally friendly manner. Over the past three decades, many area landfills reached their capacity and have closed. The Spadra and Bradley West sites are scheduled to close in one year and Puente Hills Landfill is scheduled to close within three years. The Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College recently released a report stating that “our county landfill capacity will soon be exhausted.” Currently, there is a limited number of economically and environmentally viable options for the disposal of our trash. Some advocate that we should transport our trash to distant locations and dump it in previously undisturbed areas such as the Mojave Desert or across state lines. Others say we should put our trash on a train and send it to any location that would accept it, no matter what the cost to taxpayers. Neither of these alternatives addresses the enormous costs, both economically and environmentally. There is a simple axiom that states the further the trash has to travel, the greater the cost. In addition, “tipping fees” (the cost to place trash in a landfill) vary greatly from landfill to landfill. Exporting trash to distant landfills could cost the city of Los Angeles an additional $15 million to $19 million annually. The cost would be even greater if the trash is transported by rail. Browning Ferris Industries has proposed to extend its current landfill operations on the county side of Sunshine Canyon into the immediately adjacent, inactive city landfill. This proposal will benefit every resident of Los Angeles with lower trash disposal costs. Over its 25-year life, Sunshine Canyon Landfill will save the taxpayers of L.A. hundreds of millions of dollars in disposal fees. Sunshine Canyon has been a landfill since 1958 and the site was chosen because of its isolated location within close proximity to Los Angeles. Los Angeles County recognized the pressing need for landfill space and has permitted BFI to operate a safe, closely monitored and environmentally sound landfill on the county side of Sunshine Canyon since Aug. 5, 1996. BFI has a stellar record in the operation of this landfill. The landfill is closely monitored by federal, state and local regulatory agencies to ensure the operation has had no undue effect on the surrounding neighborhoods. In fact, when we surveyed local residents, the vast majority of them stated they weren’t even aware there was a landfill in the area. On Feb. 25, after an extensive review, the Los Angeles city Planning Commission approved the landfill extension proposal. In the process, it added more than 200 operating conditions that BFI must meet in order to ensure the landfill extension will operate at the same high safety standards as the current operation. The Planning Commission approval means that BFI’s Sunshine Canyon Landfill extension proposal has undergone a vigorous examination and extensive scrutiny by the city’s land use, planning, engineering and environmental experts. In June, the City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee will review the extension proposal. It will go before the entire City Council for a vote in the near future. The City Council vote on the Sunshine Canyon Landfill extension will have a profound effect on the cost of trash disposal and how our tax dollars are spent. The extension proposal is a clean, safe and logical continuation of an existing landfill. It is an environmentally sound proposal that will help meet the future demand for landfill space at a reasonable cost. Furthermore, approval of the landfill extension will have a positive effect on the level of other essential services the city can provide. Daniel Tempelis is district vice president of Browning Ferris Industries, responsible for day-to-day operation of Sunshine Canyon Landfill.
