Recyclables diverted to Neal Road landfill
Waste Management is temporarily diverting recyclables to the Neal Road landfill following the suspension of processing at the Sacramento Recycling and Transfer Station amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The company made the change as of March 30, according to an email sent to Butte County Public Works Director Dennis Schmidt. Regular curbside collection of waste and recycling will continue, but recyclables will be sent to the Neal Road Recycling and Waste Facility for disposal for a temporary, but undetermined, amount of time. Commercial recycling will continue, said a spokesperson for Waste Management.
It’s just one example of how companies providing services to the general public are making temporary adjustments in response to rapidly changing information about COVID-19.
Waste management is listed as “essential critical infrastructure work” under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stayat-home order, but recycling is not singled out. Public health guidelines from federal and state officials recommend employers keep employees at a safe distance from each other to limit the spread of the virus.
Paul Rosynsky, a spokesperson for Waste Management Northern California-Nevada, said the decision to suspend processing was due to “the configuration of the affected facilities sort lines, coupled with the high number of employees required to efficiently remove inbound contamination from the recycling stream.”
Five Waste Management materials recovery facilities in Northern California and Nevada have suspended processing of residential recyclables.
According to Waste Management’s website, bulky pickup and extra waste bag services is also temporarily suspended in Butte County. The North Valley materials recovery facility public access drop off and the Ord Ranch Transfer Station public access drop off are closed.
“It is our intent to process recyclables again at our facilities, so please continue to recycle during this time,” Rosynsky said in an email.
Meanwhile, in Oroville, Recology’s transfer station will be open and run as normal on weekdays. However, it will be closed on weekends starting on Saturday. The household hazardous waste facility will also be temporarily closed to the public.
The Neal Road landfill has already been a valve for another emergency. Around 800,000 cubic yards of Camp Fire debris ended up there, according to Schmidt. That is the equivalent of around two and a quarter years of landfill capacity, or “airspace.”
“Our goal at Butte County is always to improve diversion of any and all recyclable materials, to save airspace in the landfill, and allow those materials to be brought back to life with beneficial reuse,” said Schmidt in an email. “Unfortunately, with the current COVID-19 pandemic, that goal is superseded by the overriding goal of public safety, and making sure that the lives of the people that work on the recycling sorting lines are not endangered.”