Thinking about Trash in Pomona

Thinking about having  much of the county's trash coming through my city has made me rethink my own disposal habits. How can I reduce and reuse? No more sparkling water in small bottles for me. What about green waste? I was shocked to learn recently that the green bin waste went into the landfill, as reported in the Daily Bulletin? Time to think about a bigger compost pile, or maybe a small scale community compost. And yes, let's reglue the cat scratching post rather than chuck it and buy another.

There is a Zero Waste movement in California, see here, here, and here. Wouldn't it be great if Pomona joined that trend? Becoming known as environmentally friendly (for real) would certainly complement the city's potential reputation as a place of music, learning, and art.

As Valley Vista Services gears up to build their 1500 ton-per-day trash station, I continue to be amazed that city council saw fit to approve it.  I also have to ask why is it so big? The current station only handles 150 tons per day. Certainly it is problematic because it is open air and it is so close to one school. But the proposed station is ten times bigger.

Most cities report their disposal statistics see here, but Pomona does not appear to do so. Still Glendale, which is a bigger city than Pomona only produces 135 255 tons per year; so why is the Pomona trash transfer station permitted to handle around 500 000 tons per year? Valley Vista says it will take Pomona only trash, but clearly that cannot be the case.

Maybe city council will rethink the idea of making Pomona a city of trash and instead pass a resolution to become Zero Waste by 2025.