San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer announced in 2015 that the projected life of the city’s main dump had been extended from 2022 to 2030 thanks to new city recycling policies, trash compaction methods and other innovations. But recently city officials launched an environmental analysis of the potential impacts of increasing the height of the 1,400-acre dump from 485 feet above sea level now to 510 feet above sea level.
A vertical expansion is the city’s only option. The last possible horizontal expansion of the landfill, into the western portion of the site, took place in 2008. But recently city officials launched an environmental analysis of the potential impacts of increasing the height of the 1,400-acre dump from 485 feet above sea level now to 510 feet above sea level.
The city’s proposal to expand the dump comes in the wake of China’s decision in 2018 to sharply limit the amount of recycled goods it buys from the United States.
That policy has left cities across California and the nation with tons of recycled goods they must sell at much lower prices, or that they simply can’t sell at all. San Diego officials have said China’s move is jeopardizing the city’s ability to meet the goals of its zero waste policy, a plan to stop dumping into the landfill by 2040 at the latest.
While San Diego wouldn’t literally recycle 100 percent of its trash in 2040, no material would be deposited in landfills to the maximum extent feasible. The plan calls for that to be achieved by encouraging more recycling by residents and businesses, producing less waste citywide and fostering development of new markets for recycled and composted materials.