MARINA — Although the dumpster fire that was 2020 is finally over, actual trash is still piling up, worrying local officials. More garbage is contaminating recycling bins and residential garb…
MARINA — Although the dumpster fire that was 2020 is finally over, actual trash is still piling up, worrying local officials. More garbage is contaminating recycling bins and residential garbage bins are filling up more quickly. If those trends continue, garbage rates will have to increase. “It’s a big problem and a big, bad step backward,” said Ted Terrasas, sustainability coordinator for the city of Monterey. Residential garbage is piling up faster as people spend their days at home generating more waste than they used to, often in the form of packaging from online orders and takeout containers. Additionally, the nation saw a surge in decluttering last spring with many people cooped up due to shelter-in-place restrictions and needing to make room to work from home. While Marie Kondo may have been proud, much of that clutter ended up somewhere else where it didn’t spark joy: the recycling facility at Monterey Regional Waste Management District. Contamination in the District’s single-stream recycling increased from 22% in 2019 to 30% in 2020, according to a waste characterization study performed by SCS Engineers last summer. “That was upsetting,” said Zoë Shoats, director of communications at the District. “We’d like our contamination rate much lower — ideally right around the 10% rate.” The increased strain on waste management could lead to rising garbage rates for residents, said Shoats. “If we have more time that we’re operating the facility and more time that we’re sorting through the recyclables and contamination — all of that comes at a cost to our district and ultimately, through the garbage bill that everyone pays,” she said. Since COVID-19 was such an anomaly, the district has decided to absorb the cost of the increased contamination for 2020 and not pass it onto their ratepayers, said Shoats, but if the contamination continues, rates could increase. Shoats said four main types of contaminants were particularly prevalent — and problematic — at the District this year: organic waste (typically food), textiles, film plastics and batteries. As the spring-cleaning craze hit Monterey, the District bore the brunt of aggressive pantry cleanouts, said Shoats. Among the normal recyclable goods, workers found metal cans and glass jars that were still full of food.
