Waste Management Sonoma Style Part 2

Connie Madden, SONOMA COUNTY GAZETTS

In Part 1 on Waste Management – Sonoma Style, we looked at how Sonoma County waste management programs are operating currently – more plastics going to landfill since the few remaining centers no longer accept soft plastics as the resale price of plastic has fallen off, glass deposits not collected by residents, so money from broken glass goes to our hauler, The Ratto/North Bay Corporation.

Since our Sonoma Compost facility closed, we now haul our green waste to Marin County to the tune of $4.5 million per year hoping for a new facility within three years, according to Patrick Carter, Executive Director of Sonoma County Waste Management Agency, and an amazing 100 small recycling booths closed last year due to low income – seems we’re on a downward trajectory. Of course, the low point can also be part of a renewables upcycle.

Pamela Davis, a waste management consultant working with C&S Waste Solutions, sees light at the end of our waste management tunnel through contracting with the best possible hauling services and by choosing to end the use of plastic water bottles. Reaching those two benchmarks, much more recycling will be possible.

It is encouraging that the City of Windsor has set a goal of 50% recycling and its contract for services is out for bid with a new contract that came up in November 2016 while the City of Sonoma uses a different hauler than other Sonoma cities, John Curatto, inventor of The Curatto-Can (claimed to be The Future of Automated Collection). By mounting an automated container to the front forks of hauling trucks, operators can easily spot contaminants that should be removed from the trash stream, according to Curatto. One wonders if the good record of Curatto-Can, recently purchased by Environmental Solutions Group, a division of Dover Corporation, Fort Payne, AL can continue with an out of state home office.