Orange County Declines Landfill Ban

Policy makers in Orange County, Calif., have recommended against instituting a landfill ban on C&D materials,  discarding the options as unworkable.

Instead, according to Sue Gordon, manager, environmental programs, County of Orange Integrated Waste Management Department, the county is in the preliminary phase of researching options to divert recyclable C&D from its landfills.

As part of that research, more than 22 C&D ordinances in other jurisdictions have been reviewed. Additional research is being conducted nationwide on landfill-based C&D diversion programs.

Also, a major part of the C&D project is a self-haul waste characterization study conducted at the county's three landfills. The county is conducting this study to determine what materials are in the self-haul waste stream and what materials can be feasibly recycled.

Orange County has finished the summer characterization study and will be conducting the winter study in January and February of 2004. The data obtained from the study will be the foundation for further discussion and analysis of options.