Originally published at https://www.escondido.org on December 16, 2021.
Recycling is changing in the new year. Starting on January 1, 2022 all Californians are required to put food waste scraps in their green bins, along with their yard trimmings and other organic waste. Food waste includes, fruit, vegetables, bread, pastas, processed foods, fast foods, and meat and bones. Additionally, compostable paper such as used pizza boxes, paper coffee cups, tea bags, or other food soiled papers excluding wax or plastic coated papers can now be recycled in green bins.
The Mandatory Commercial Organics Recycling Law (Assembly Bill 1826) was signed in 2014 to help achieve California’s aggressive recycling and greenhouse gas emission goals. Currently, organic waste in landfills emits 20% of the state’s methane, a short-lived super pollutant approximately 84 times more potent on a 20-year timescale than carbon dioxide. When diverted from landfills, this material can be composted or used to produce renewable energy, and edible food can be diverted to feed Californians in need.
Escondido waste collection business EDCO has been planning for this change and the company is helping their customers ease into the change.
“This new change affects both residential and business facilities,” said Jennifer Schoeneck, Deputy Director of Economic Development. “We are fortunate to have EDCO, a thriving business and active local employer, as a California leader in recycling and waste management, here in Escondido.”
EDCO presents information and detailed videos regarding the new changes in waste disposal on its website. Californians can also learn more about Organic Recycling, and have a better understanding of what can go in the green bins. EDCO also offers a free kitchen caddy so residents can store their waste in their home before they take it out to the bin.
A kitchen caddie for kitchen waste scraps.
Today, EDCO continues expanding sustainable solutions by opening one of the first Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plants in Southern California located in Escondido. This state-of-the-art advanced technology system works like a giant compost bin where microorganisms break down the food waste, green waste, fats, oils, and greases and convert it into renewable fertilizer, compost, and natural gas. The fertilizers and compost will then be used in farming and agriculture while the natural gas will fuel the company's trucks.
Examples of food waste for the green bin.
Recycling at the curb may seem ordinary today, but it wasn't always that way. EDCO was always ahead of its time and grew from just a waste hauler to a waste and recycling collector and processor. One of the first curbside recycling programs in the State of California was launched by EDCO in La Mesa in 1990. EDCO has always embraced and has successfully evolved with changing environmental regulations, which has made the company a leader in the industry. From the development of Material Recycling Facilities (MRFs), well ahead of its time in the early 1990s, to recent conversions of old diesel trucks to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles, EDCO continues its trend of sustainability.
EDCO was founded in 1967 by Ed and Sandy Burr and has flourished from a business that began from one small trash collection company into a hugely successful business and California's largest family-owned and operated waste and recycling company. In more than 50 years, Ed and Sandy have grown EDCO into a combined fleet of more than 700 collection vehicles and is home to more than 1,100 employees. From one city 54 years ago, they’ve expanded into the current collection service of 21 cities in Southern California.
EDCO has embraced its unique role as a family-owned and operated premier service provider that is firmly committed to its employees and customers. There are currently three generations of Burr family members active in the company with the fourth generation growing up quickly and on the horizon.
“We are also honored and humbled to have generations of employees working within the company as well,” said Ed Burr. “The real success has been because of our people. There's actually no other reason. This most essential facet of EDCO has not changed through 54 years of service!”