Last week, I tweeted about Miramar landfill being the first municipal landfill in the nation to receive ISO 14001 certification. I was quoting the city from its own website, and was expressing concern that the request for qualifications for privatization of the landfill did not include the certification.
The Miramar landfill Environmental Management System website had the following statement in bold-face (see this screenshot):
“The Miramar Landfill is the first municipally operated landfill in the nation to earn ISO 14001 certification of an Environmental Management System!”
Today, the Miramar landfill website has been changed. There are no links to the Environmental Management System from the department’s homepage. And if you do type in the URL, the statement above has been removed.
An average San Diegan generates eight pounds of trash a day. You get a black container that you put out to the curb every week. If you’re disabled or have trouble getting the can to the right spot, the guy in the orange uniform helps you out.
The truck itself is part of a pioneering effort to reduce greenhouse gases. It follows a route through the neighborhood meticulously calculated by GIS technology, with the drivers’ input, to maximize speed and efficiency. The trash truck then goes to Miramar Landfill, the first municipally-operated landfill in the nation to earn international certification.
Your trash is then compacted and composted in a lined pit with environmental quality controls and an innovative process of re-vegetation with native plants.
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“It is no coincidence that two cities that have resisted paying for trash collection have the worst recycling rates (Houston: 2.9 percent; Philadelphia: 5.5 percent) in the nation.
We do not have this option in San Diego. The city of San Diego has a residential recycle rate of 55 percent and we need to do more. The need for price-based incentives to encourage waste reduction behavior is not just an ecological imperative, but a physical capacity one, since the Miramar Landfill will be full in three years. Read more »
