Republic Services celebrated the grand opening of its new Otay compost facility.
The compost site will be essential in collecting organic items from residents now that recycling waste is required starting in January.
“Recycling organic waste into new products is a fast track to combating climate change,” Cara Morgan, California Recycle branch chief said.
In efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emission created by food scraps at the landfill, California passed SB-1383.
The law goes into effect next year for the majority of businesses and residents in California.
“Starting on January 1, 2022 you'll be placing the food waste in that green waste container to come to this facility and be composted,” Chris Seney, Republic Services said.
Seney is the organics operations director at Republic Services.
They’ve been working to open up the Otay Compost Facility for over three years.
In partnership with Chula Vista, Seney said they will be in charge of composting the city's organic waste, which is about 120 tons each year.
“Chula Vista is going to consume 60% of the capacity at this facility. The state of California acknowledges we need 100-150 more compost facilities to meet their aggressive goal of compost in SB-1383,” he said.
Seney’s been working in the organic industry for more than 20 years.
He said seeing this compost site come to fruition for a better sustainable future has been one of the most rewarding days of his career.
“Working with your city wherever you live you are doing the right thing. We’re putting green waste and food waste into that organics container to this facility we’re composting it and creating it into soil that can then be used here locally,” Seney said.
