Reading the "Chico News and Review" today, I came across an article by Alastair Bland titled "Trash Evolution Local Disposal Company Focuses on Reusing and Recycling". Basically, the article, at this link, http://bit.ly/aHqj3K covers how Recology Butte Colusa Counties will focus on diverting the Butte Counties waste stream to renewable energy production. Several great innovative recycling approaches and the economic potential of this direction are covered in the article.

Bland starts off the article stating "...landfills will go the way of the dinosaur...". The article notes that "...Recology's vice president and manager, Joe Matz, believes that the county and its economy will benefit in other-and greener-ways as landfills lose significance."

For almost 30 seconds there, I got very excited. It was short lived when I realized these references were ONLY about California. My bad. Recology still plans to work very hard, including their army of lawyers, to take all the NON-RECYCLEABLE stuff from several counties in California, put 4000 tons of it a day, 5 days a week, for 95 years, on a train, and ship it to Jungo Road in Nevada.

So, California and Recology get to claim "0-waste!" "No landfills!" and benefit economically from a growing green industry and recycling innovations. And then there is this dirty little secret, growing into an unnatural mountain of stuff Recology can't make money out of in California, on the playa of the Black Rock. The landfill isn't going away, it's moving (recycling efforts should contribute to smaller landfills overall; but the Jungo landfill is credited with becoming one of the largest in the US).

The economics proposed by Recology for this landfill are shaky and of little consequence based on the environmental risk (see http://bit.ly/cm4YkA for a pretty good write up from UNR Journalism student, Scot on the numbers). And, as Recology noted above, landfills are a 'declining industry' (by the way, shouldn't that statement concern any county official looking to sign a deal with these people for a 95-year landfill; but I digress...). The hosting fee at roughly a $1 per ton given what Recology will gain via recycling opportunities in California, and lower regulation and lower costs in Nevada is insulting.

The community around this landfill does not produce any where close to the level of waste that will come into Jungo Road. People live out here for clean air, clean water, open space, ranching, farming and use the land for recreation. Vetter and Iroz at landfill site

This is not simply a NIMBY issue. This is about looking at the sum of the parts. The math does NOT add up to reduced or no landfills for all. The math DOES add up to the worst of the waste, given today's recycling technology, going where people chose to live to avoid it that didn't create it in the first place. And the math adds up to the fact that Recology will be making more money on their landfill in Nevada than they would in California, while positioning themselves as the king of reycyling in California, and home to zero waste.
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Update on activities people are working on to stop the landfill:

-Bob Dolan, Massey Mayo, local attorneys are rescheduled to present their appeal against the 5 year extension of Recology/Jungo Road conditional use permit at a Humboldt County Commissioner meeting on Monday 4/5/10. You can read the appeal here: http://bit.ly/bPT4Ox

-Dolan, Mayo also filed an appeal of the Operating Air Permit issued by the Nevada Department of Environmental Protections' Beaureau of Air Pollution Control. That appeal is available at: http://bit.ly/cGx6LO

-Registered Humboldt County voters can sign the petition to get the landfill issue on the general election ballot in November. Dates and locations: 3/20, 12:00-3:00pm Paradise Bar, Paradise Valley; 3/21,12:00-3:00pm Denio Junction; 3/28, 12:00-3:00pm in front of Ideal Market, McDermitt; Everyday, 12:00- 3:00pm Spare Time Bowl, 50 E Railroad St., Winnemucca Every Saturday, 10:00am-4:00pm in front of Freightliner of Winnemucca(across from WalMart), 3095 Potato Road, Winnemucca.

For more information on NAG: www.nevadansagainstgarbage
Join us on Facebook at: http://bit.ly/dwMQCk
Show your support, sign and share: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stoplandfill/
Follow DesertPlaya for updates and news on the landfill on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/DesertPlaya
See blog on www.friendsofblackrock.org

by Tracy Austin