What do we do when our landfill is full?

The County’s Buena Vista Landfill has less than 16 years of life remaining.  With our landfill filling up and landfill space across the state declining, it is time to start looking for a solution to our garbage disposal needs for the next generation.  State law also requires that counties and cities with less than 15 years of landfill space must begin looking for garbage disposal solutions. Now is the time to begin planning for new disposal and recycling facilities in our County to meet our community’s future needs.  The County of Santa Cruz and the Cities of Scotts Valley, Capitola, Santa Cruz, and Watsonville have joined together to look at a variety of options for handling our community’s garbage disposal and recycling needs in the future.  While running out of landfill space in 16 years seems like a long time, new landfill projects in California are now taking anywhere from 10 years to 15 years to complete.

WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO MAKE OUR LANDFILLS LAST AS LONG AS POSSIBLE?

 The County and Cities are now recycling between 50% and 70% of all garbage created in our community.  The County’s Buena Vista Landfill was built in 1985 and had an estimated life of 20 years.  Through a variety of recycling programs and outstanding public participation in these programs, the life of the Buena Vista Landfill has been extended for an additional 15 years.  We will continue to find new and innovative ways to improve recycling and reduce garbage, but we also have to be responsible and plan for the eventual closure of our existing landfills.

WHAT OTHER OPTIONS ARE THERE BESIDES A NEW LANDFILL IN OUR COMMUNITY?

A comprehensive multi-year study found that identifying new landfill sites in Santa Cruz County will be very difficult. The County and Cities are looking at other ways to handle our future garbage, including transferring garbage to an out-of-county landfill.  An integrated waste management system to handle our future garbage may also feature non-disposal components such as large-scale composting or waste conversion technologies.  However, there will always be a need for landfill disposal capacity, whether large or small and whether local or out-of-county.  Any out-of-county option will require a new local transfer station.

 WHERE CAN WE TRANSFER OUR GARBAGE OUT-OF-COUNTY?

 We have begun the process of looking for large capacity landfills with extra space that may be willing to sign long-term agreements to handle our garbage in the future.  However, many large landfills with extra space are located out-of-state or at distances that would require transferring our garbage by train.