Garbage hauler proposes compost operation for Sonoma

Eloísa Ruano González, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
For years, the solid waste hauler Sonoma Garbage Collectors has picked up the city of Sonoma’s trash and green waste for transfer to the county-owned central landfill west of Cotati, where yard trimmings are composted.
The hauler now wants to build its own composting facility in Sonoma Valley to process not only the city’s yard waste but also an assortment of food scraps that would include meats and dairy. The move would divert at least 8 tons of green waste a day from the county’s embattled compost operation, which neighbors have been trying to shut down, advancing complaints about odor and runoff polluting a nearby creek. They filed a federal lawsuit three months ago after the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency decided to keep open the 25-acre compost operation it oversees as it searches for a new site.
John Curotto Sr., president of Sonoma Garbage Collectors, said his family company sees an opportunity to add services for Sonoma customers.
While the county landfill does compost vegetables, it doesn’t take meats or dairy products, such as cheese, according to Ken Wells, a solid waste consultant who was hired to help the Curottos open their facility. That’s discouraged some businesses and residents from recycling food scraps, he said.
“Because there is a limit, that gets a lot of people to hesitate,” Wells said.
The proposed facility would take all food scraps instead of burying them in the landfill, which will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, said Wells, who served as executive director of the county’s waste management agency when it opened its composting operation in 1993.
The Sonoma waste hauler contends that a local composting operation would limit cross-county truck traffic, eliminating loads of green waste to the central landfill.
Read more via Garbage hauler proposes compost operation for Sonoma | The Press Democrat.

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