Colton City Council to adopt residential organic waste program, turning compost into renewable natural gas

In a complete consensus on April 5th, Colton City Council provided direction to city staff regarding a forthcoming residential organic waste program that will turn compost into renewable natural gas. 

At the meeting, a hearing was set for June 5th to adopt option A, one of the two options for organic processing presented by city staff. 

Brian Dickinson, Director of Public Works, explained the attributes of option A as follows, “The increase in cost is due to the removal of any contaminants in the commingled green waste and organics. The material will then be ground to a specific size and then placed into the Anaerobic Digester for a 14-day processing period.”

The processed material will then become compost and renewable natural gas, which could capture emissions of unused “waste” methane and reduce the need for conventional fuel.

“With this option, organics will be delivered and processed at the Perris Anaerobic Digester. The cost will go from $26.86 per month to $32.44 per month,” continued Dickinson. 

While the price of option B would only increase to $30.19 per month, it wasn’t recommended by city staff because it would require residents to bag their organic material. 

“I don’t think our residents would be pleased having to go through their trash to separate trash from organic waste to make it qualify for the Agua Mansa Materials Composting Facility,” said Mayor Frank Navarro.

Navarro also detailed that earlier that day he attended a webinar regarding SB 1383, where other municipalities discussed sending their compost to other counties and states. 

“Other municipalities were talking about sending their compost and organic waste to places like Arizona and Shasta County. But, Cal Recycle said you couldn’t just go across the border and give it to your neighbor; it has to stay within the confines of your county,” continued Navarro. 

At the end of the discussion, Navarro expressed his dissatisfaction with the lack of vetting that went into SB 1383, which requires counties to take the lead in collaborating with jurisdictions on planning for organic waste recycling and food recovery.

“Cal Recycle and the legislators that put SB 1383 into effect didn’t vet it out or consider how small communities like us would handle 42 tons of compost, and we don’t have a place to put it. So I guess it’s just one of those things that we have to deal with,” concluded Navarro. 

Should the city council adopt option A on June 5th, Colton’s organic waste will be processed at the Perris Anaerobic Digester later this year.

For more information, visit www.ci.colton.ca.us.