Residents across California will soon see changes to the way organic waste is disposed of and recycled. Organic waste decomposition in landfills is a major contributor to methane emissions and global climate change. To address this issue, the state of California introduced Senate Bill 1383 (SB 1383) in 2016 to establish statewide methane emission reduction objectives to curb short-lived climate pollutant (SLCP) release. SB 1383 strives to reduce the amount of organic material in landfills by 75% by 2025 and to donate 20% of recovered edible food to organizations who help feed people in need.
As mandated by the state, Laguna Hills has partnered with CR&R Environmental Services to ensure that all customers—including residential and multi-family properties and commercial businesses—participate in the City of Laguna Hills’ three container collection system to recycle their organic waste properly. All organic waste should be disposed of in the customer’s existing green bin and/or cart.
Organic waste includes:
Kitchen | Yard |
Fruit
Bread
Fish
Meat
Vegetables
Dairy
Coffee grounds
Compostable bags
Cooking fats, oils, grease | Grass clippings Leaves Weeds Prunings Flowers Wood scraps/chips Horse manure and Stable bedding (UNACCEPTABLE ITEMS: Palm fronds and pet waste) |
CR&R will conduct quarterly container contamination audits of residential, multi-family, and commercial customer containers in Laguna Hills and place a contamination notice tag if contamination is discovered. Contamination, for example, is when organics or recyclable material is discarded in the trash container or organic materials is placed in the recyclable materials container. Separating organic waste from your regular trash, similar to recycling, allows the material to be repurposed. Rather than harm our environment by sending organic materials to the landfill, organic recycling instead benefits the environment by processing the waste into mulch and compost.
To help make collection of food scraps in your kitchen easy, the City and CR&R distributed complimentary 2-gallon kitchen pails along with educational material to single-family residential premises. Kitchen pails serve as temporary storage for your food scraps before they are placed in the green bin. To use, simply dispose of your everyday food scraps into the pail and empty regularly to reduce any potential odor.
To offer additional assistance to residents adjusting to the new organics recycling program, the City of Laguna Hills and CR&R will host quarterly Town Halls throughout 2023 to discuss the new recycling. The next virtual Organic Waste Recycling Town Hall meeting is scheduled for February 9, 2023 at 6:30pm.
For more information on organic recycling efforts in Laguna Hills, visit our website https://bit.ly/3V3b5jl and CR&R’s Laguna Hills website: https://bit.ly/3WNDN9m