Beginning of the end for Santa Cruz County landfill

Santa Cruz County is moving closer to their goal of being a “zero waste” county by phasing out landfills.

On Tuesday, county leaders celebrated the opening of the last remaining module at the Buena Vista Landfill. The opening signals the beginning of the end for the landfill; the county won’t be siting any more landfills.

Up to 500 tons of waste comes to the landfill everyday, and half of that waste is eventually recycled.The new module will extend the life of the landfill for 15 to 20 more years. According to the county, it has the latest technology to avoid leaks and odors.

Trash has been dumped at the Buena Vista Landfill for more than half a century and it’s slowly reaching capacity.

Recycling and solid waste service manager, Kasey Kollassa said, “It all depends how well people recycle and how much more diversion we can get.”

The county said 70 percent of it’s trash from the landfills is diverted and ends up being recycled and adds years to Buena Vista’s lifespan. Tuesday county workers celebrated the opening of the last open space at the landfill which cost $6 million and watched as the first trash load was dumped out. The last section open to dumping is 7 acres and expected to last about 20 years before it gets full. The question is what happens when the 250,000 sq ft. lot eventually fills up?

“Realistically there aren’t alot of waste facilities being built within the state and so we have to be able to live within our means and agree that we can go to a zero waste that would be ideal. If we had 100 percent diversion program then we don’t need the construction ofthese kinds of facilities,” said Santa Cruz County Supervisor, Zach Friend.

County supervisors and public works said they are looking into partnerships with other counties, exploring all options ahead of the landfill’s estimated closure in 2036.

“We’ll be looking at a transfer station where its a large facility building and you actually bring inside similar to our Ben Lomond facility we have a transfer station up there. We don’t actually, twenty years from now we won’t be doing any burying of our waste,” said Director of Public Works, John Presleigh.

When landfill space does run out, county residents trash will still be picked up. As for where it will go, that’s still unknown.