In a move aimed at becoming compliant with a new state law mandating organic waste collection, the Eureka Recycling Center will close on Aug. 1 in order to be converted into an organic waste processing facility. The Humboldt Waste Management Authority plans to find another location for a recycling center, and is currently looking for a property that would suit a new recycling site, preferably one that is priced well and already zoned appropriately, according to the authority’s executive director, Peter Fuller. Fuller noted that the authority would prefer to find a new site in Eureka, but does not know if that will be possible.
The Eureka Recycling Center was chosen as an appropriate site for the organic waste processing facility because it already has the correct zoning and floor space the facility needs to operate. “It’s a good square footage, the permitting process is relatively easy and the traffic flow is going to take minor modification. There’s no one else doing it, Senate Bill 1383, this is one of their big mandates for our constituents. We want to ensure that we’re moving forward with the food piece of it and this was seemingly the way to go with that,” Fuller said.
The processing facility would be made in response to Senate Bill 1383, a state law passed in 2016 mandating local organic waste collection, with a deadline for Humboldt County’s compliance on Jan. 1, 2023, which is the month Fuller said the facility would open. The organic waste would be processed in Humboldt County, then delivered out to a so-far unidentified composting facility, as organic waste must be sorted before it can be composted.