Public hearing set on plans to send San Francisco trash to Vacaville landfill

Dive Brief:

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing Sept. 29 to discuss the Solano County Orderly Growth Committee's appeal of the San Francisco Planning Department's decision that a proposed project to haul 5 million tons of garbage from San Francisco to Recology's Hay Road Landfill in Vacaville, CA would have no significant effect on the environment and that no environmental impact report was necessary.
The appeal notes, "there is substantial evidence that the project will have significant environmental impacts" and also states that the city and county of San Francisco "failed to properly consider reasonable alternatives to the Hay Road Landfill agreement including the transporting of city garbage to the Altamont Landfill."
San Francisco and Recology would enter into an agreement during a probable period of 13 to 15 years. The trash would be transported by long-haul semi-trucks, primarily from the Recology San Francisco transfer station. There would be several additional trucks hauling residual waste from Recology’s Recycle Center facility, located at Pier 96 in San Francisco, as is presently the case.
Dive Insight:

San Francisco's pact with Recology is no stranger to controversy, as Waste Management sued to stop the contract.

The San Francisco Planning Department already noted that no new construction or changes in current Recology operations within the city are proposed and no new construction or change in existing permits would be required at the Hay Road Landfill, the Vacaville Reporter said.

But as the Reporter editorial noted, "The plan just doesn’t sit well with some people. It's the idea of the big city trash being dumped in 'our' landfill. But the truth is that the infrastructure is already in place to make this happen. Why slow down the inevitable."

The objection to landfills taking trash from other areas is not unique to Northern California.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-PA, last month introduced the Trash Reduction and Sensible Handling Act of 2015 to restrict the flow of out-of state waste into Pennsylvania. "Pennsylvania shouldn't be a dumping ground for trash from other states," Casey said.