Trash Talk. Part 2 - The Scoop on Garbage

In Part 1 we covered the new waste disposal program for the city. Here are some interesting facts about waste –

OVERALL

In 2011, 64,601 tons of waste were disposed of from Lake Forest. 30,607 tons were from commercial and multi-family and 17,254 tons were from single family residential.

In addition to the regular waste, in 2011 WM collected

·  712,000 lbs. of bulky goods (from residents)

·  126,000 lbs. of “white goods”

·  100,000 lbs. of holiday greenery

·  5,648 lbs. of E-waste

RESIDENTIAL

WM picks up from 16,052 residential customers, who collectively have 18,107 containers. 87% of the containers are big (96 gallon) and only 2% are small (35 gallon).

In September 2012 these 16,052 homes produced 17,254 tons of MSW, 7,533 tons of green waste, and 5,205 tons of “single-stream” recyclables.

In 2011 the biggest types of recovered materials from residential homes were:

·  Newspaper - 2,415 tons

·  Cardboard - 829 tons

·  Glass - 508 tons

·  Metals (aluminum and tin) - 95 tons

COMMERCIAL AND MULTI-FAMILY

There are approximately 81 multi-family units with 7,000 housing units. They require 583 waste bins and 202 recycling bins.

There are approximately 884 commercial accounts in the City.

The recycling program participation rate among Lake Forest’s business and multi-family community is estimated at 34%

Approximately 45% of waste collected in 2012 was commercial. This amounts to approximately 30,000 tons of waste, of which only 2,095 are currently diverted.

Of the 4 cities studied by the city’s consultant, Lake Forest has the worst commercial diversion rate

·  Tustin – 54%

·  Laguna Hills – 47%

·  Mission Viejo – 11%

·  Lake Forest – 7%

TRUCKS

To cover the city, WM uses 10 trucks for residential service and 8 trucks for the commercial sector. Of the 10 trucks available for commercial use, only 2 are CNG: the rest are diesel. Of the 11 residential trucks, 3 are CNG and the rest are diesel.

BTW - all the information listed here comes from the reports available at the city's website.

OK. This is probably more than you ever  wanted to know about waste. Next time I promise to offer some more interesting information.