The management of solid waste has become a major issue in Southern California and throughout the country. Not only are we producing an increasing amount of solid waste each year, but we are running out of places to put it. Because of concerns related to water and air pollution associated with landfills, as well as siting difficulties, the opportunity to develop additionally needed disposal facilities is limited.
To address these issues, the governor of California signed into law Assembly Bill 939 (AB 939) on September 29, 1989. The law fundamentally restructured the state’s approach to solid waste management. AB 939 established an integrated waste management hierarchy in the following order of importance:
AB 939 requires that all California jurisdictions prepare a SRRE (Source Reduction Recycling Element) report which shows how they will divert 50% of their jurisdiction’s waste stream from landfill disposal each year. The penalty for not diverting 50% each year is a $10,000 a day fine until the diversion goal is obtained.
According to the requirements of Cathedral City’s SRRE the following components need to be implemented in order to reach the 50% diversion goal for each year:
AB 939 is funded through grant funds and the waste management franchise agreement. The funds earned are set aside in a separate account to be used only for the development and implementation of the above mentioned programs. The City of Cathedral City has been and will continue to take an aggressive approach towards eliminating the amount of waste disposed of at the landfills.
Since 2000, the city has continued to surpass the 50% diversion goal. The following programs have been created and implemented on an on-going basis to accomplish this yearly goal:
City of Cathedral City, 68700 Avenida Lalo Guerrero, Cathedral City, CA 92234. Tel: (760) 770-0340