Tom Fudge: If you live in the San Diego region, it may be a familiar experience, putting grass clippings and the like in your green waste bin. It probably makes you feel good knowing, or at least thinking, that your green waste is going to be disposed of in some environmentally-correct manner, such as being put into a big compost pile or something like that.
But here's a rude news flash: a lot of that green waste you conscientiously separate from your trash just gets jumped in the landfill. Here's the best part: the state calls that recycling, and the cities that do it get credit for recycling. Keep in mind, whether this happens to your green waste or not depends on where you live, and who collects your garbage. But some environmentalists see this as a big problem, mainly because putting green waste in the landfill is a big source of greenhouse gases.
To find out if your city is 'recycling' green waste into its landfills, visit our interactive map at kpbs.org/landfills .
Guest
- Joanne Faryon , reporter who investigated the state of green waste recycling in San Diego for KPBS's Envision special: Global Warming: San Diego's Carbon Footprint.
