California Reduces Landfill Use

Tor the seventh straight year, residents and business owners in the state of California are throwing away less waste materials and garbage in their landfills.

In a recent report from California’s CalRecycle (the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery), it was published that throughout the state, slightly over twenty nine million tons of garbage were disposed of in landfills in the year 2012. That averaged out to a little over four pounds per person per day and down slightly from 2011 when close to thirty million tons of trash was disposed of. What is most impressive is that in addition to the amount of waste decreasing, the total population in the state of California saw an increase of close to three hundred thousand people over the year.

CalRecycle has a state-wide recycling goal of seventy five percent so year over year improvements in waste recycling and waste reduction are essential. California has seen steady progress on meeting this recycling goal since 2005. In that year, forty two and one half million tons of waste materials were discarded. Unlike other states, California’s waste stays “at home” with ninety nine percent of all trash going to landfills in the state. Only one percent of all garbage is shipped outside of state lines.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: If your business is looking to cut costs and improve recycling, it’s important to have both long-term and short-term goals. Set a target of where you would like to be in five years and then develop smaller steps to get there. Evaluate your progress monthly or quarterly and make changes as needed. You’ll soon be saving money on waste disposal fees and helping to preserve the environment!