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02-07-1995 - Receipt of Waste from Other Counties for Disposal0 City of Waat Covina Memorandum AGENDA To: City Manager ITEM NO. F-2 City Council- DATE 2-7-95 From: Environmental Services Director Subject: Receipt of Waste from January 30, 1995 Other .Counties for Disposal SUMMARY: This is a report on the issue of receiving out -of - county waste for disposal in Los Angeles County as requested by the City Council. The Waste Management and Environmental Quality Commission reviewed whether the City should act to have such wastes banned from the Los Angeles County. On December 20, the City Council briefly discussed the issue of receiving out -of -county wastes for disposal in landfills in Los..Angeles County.- The City Council requested the Waste Management and Environmental Quality Commission to review the issue and make a recommendation on whether the City,i should act to have such wastes banned from the Los Angeles County. The.Commission reviewed the implications of any, such action. The Waste Management and Environmental Quality Commission recommends that the City Council not pursue a ban of out -of -county wastes for disposal in Los.Angeles County. This issue was brought to our attention as a result of a news article. This article was about waste from the City of Carlsbad going to a landfill -in Los Angeles County. Staff had previously.reported to the'Commission that waste from the City of Oceanside was being deposited at the BKK Landfill. In addition to a report the Commission from staff,. Don Nellor of the County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles'' County also provided information to the Commission. This information assisted the Commission in their discussion!',of this matter. He was also able to discuss what happenedlto the landfill capacity and waste,disposal "crisis" of a few years ago. This report to the City Council incorporates'! his information. The points the Commission believes the City -Council should consider are as follows: 1. The landfill capacity crisis of a few years ago has diminished.because of the decline in the economy and the waste diversion efforts under AB 939. The amount of disposed waste is a reflection of the activity of the economy. -Several years ago the amount of deposited waste in Los Angeles County was 45,000 tons per day and climbing. Today, the amount of waste disposed of in the County is about 35,00011 tons per day. 2.. The landfills operated by the County Sanitation . Districts.receive very limited amounts of wastes from other counties. The Sanitation Districts activities and policies are as follows: A. They actively keep out wastes from Orange County since the tip fees in each county are relatively equal and the transportation cost differential'' is not significant. ComWastel/26/95 1 B. They receive several hundred tons of waste at.the Calabasas Landfill, located west of the San Fernando Valley. This waste comes Ventura. County, mostly the Thousand Oaks and nearby unincorporated area in the Ventura County. This waste volume is .more or less balanced with wastes from northern Los Angels County going to a nearby Ventura County landfill. C. They receive a very small amount of waste at Spadra Landfill from San Bernardino County. This is probably from the Chino Hills area. D. They can receive San Diego County wastes, but the higher transportation cost usually means this is not cost-effective to do. E. The Districts are here to serve their members, the cities and the County. The Districts' boards are representatives from each of the cities. 3. By law a city or county cannot prohibit a private landfill from receiving out -of -county wastes for disposal. If there is a proposal for a new landfill and there is a significant impact identified that may be lessened by banning such wastes, the city or county may act.. Absent a connection between the impact and the out -of -county waste, the -city can not act. The matter also has to be within the powers given to a city or county. 4. The Los Angeles County Solid Waste Management Plan currently lists the location and capacity of facilities needed to adequately process the wastes generated in this County. Each county has such a plan. The County Integrated Waste Management Plan will soon replace this plan. 5. Later this year the'Los Angeles County Integrated Waste Management Plan will issue the draft plan. This will use the information in the individual Source Reduction and Recycling Elements (SRREs) for each city and the county.unincorporated area. A number of waste disposal facilities with an adequate daily disposal capacity to meet this county's needs must be in the plan. If SRREs call for the exporting of wastes to other counties, that county will have to be sure that the waste facilities in that county are adequate. Likewise, if wastes from other counties are shown in their SRREs as coming to facilities in Los Angeles County, it will be necessary to'locate and size Los Angeles County facilities accordingly. 6. Bottom line, we are all in the same situation. We have to have an answer to the question: "Where will our waste go?" Then each county has to plan accordingly. ..7. Any action to stop other counties' wastes from coming here for disposal could come back to bite us later. When the landfills start to close later this year and up to 2000+, the rail haul option will become more attractive. Carbon County, Utah is just.one.of the rail haul landfills that are available. If a city acts to today to -stop wastes from other ComWastel/26/95 2 i 9 i 0 counties, that city is open to others attempting to, stop that city from exporting waste out -of -county at a later date. San Diego County Wastes The transportation of waste to a more remote landfill isi merely a function of availability and price. This is the case for the!City of Oceanside in San Diego County. San!' Diego County does not permit Oceanside to dispose of waste in a San Diego'County landfill unless the waste is first'' processed through the San Marcos Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). It has been .reported that the tip fee at this MRF is $55 per ton.1 Waste Management has contracted with Oceanside to transport their waste to BKK for $46 per ton for a one year period.! Oceanside will save.money during this year,. Staff is not 4ware of the arrangements for the City of Carlsbad. We imagine that the circumstances are the same. It was reported that Carlsbad was also transporting their waste to the.!Lancaster Landfill in this county for one year. This is a privately owned landfill. It is not clear where it will go after the first year. Landfill Capacity j BKK is scheduled to close later this year. Spadra Landfill is closing in 1997. Later this year we expect Sunshine Canyon in the San Fernando Valley to open the expanded portion of their landfill. Instead of the landfill capacity in the county shrinking, it will -probably remain about the same. B If the economy improves, the waste volumes will increase. This will occur despite waste diversion efforts. Diversion will slow the rate of any increase. This means the Los.', Angeles County landfill capacity.may extend beyond 2003. Summary The Commission and Staff believe it would be short-sighted to act to push for the establishment of a ban on out -of-'' county wastes. We could be the next city who will need to transport our waste out of the county. Pursuing such a ban at private landfills would leave the city open to legal challenge. County Sanitation Districts already restricts the disposal of such wastes. Recommendation It is the recommendation of the Waste Management and Environmental Quality Commission that the City Council not pursue a banl,on disposal of out -of -county waste at Los Angeles County. i Michael L. Miller Environmental Services Director ComWastel/26/95.I 3