Senate Bill 1383.

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 20 months ago

   Now, I am being mandated to put my food waste into the recycling bin;
   This includes fruit, vegetables, dairy, bread, cooked meat, cooked seafood,
   plate scrapings and expired food. I was informed that my recycling efforts will, "contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in landfill organic waste. This includes methane, a green house gas 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide."
   
   Food currently discarded in my trash barrel will now go into the green waste barrel. This is a mandate to comply with Senate Bill 1383. The residents in my area all received little buckets with a lid to collect all our food waste. We are to put a plastic bag into our buckets and then after they're full, drop them into the green waste barrel.
   
   So, how does this bagging of food waste help reduce methane?
   
   Wondering.
   
   https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/face … 0160SB1383

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      abwilliamsposted 20 months agoin reply to this

      Ridiculousness!!!
      This is why we choose to live in the middle of the woods, without H.O.A's, without government mandates, without mouth-breathers breathing down our necks.
      Although I am sure that this madness will catch up with us eventually, if this Country doesn't come back to our senses.....and soon!

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2. 76

   Kathryn L Hillposted 20 months ago

   "SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
   
   (1) Short-lived climate pollutants, such as black carbon, fluorinated gases, and methane, are powerful climate forcers that have a dramatic and detrimental effect on air quality, public health, and climate change.
   
   (2) These pollutants create a warming influence on the climate that is many times more potent than that of carbon dioxide.
   
   (3) Short-lived climate pollutants that are toxic air contaminants also are a significant environmental risk factor for premature death.
   
   (4) Reducing emissions of these pollutants can have an immediate beneficial impact on climate change and on public health.
   
   (5) To the extent possible, efforts to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants should focus on areas of the state that are disproportionately affected by poor air quality.
   
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to support the adoption of policies that improve organics recycling and innovative, cost effective, and environmentally beneficial uses of biomethane derived from solid waste facilities.
   
   (c) It is intent of the Legislature that the disposal reduction targets established pursuant to Section 39730.6 of the Health and Safety Code shall serve as a statewide average target and not as a minimum requirement for each jurisdiction."
   
   From
   https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/face … 0160SB1383

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   IslandBitesposted 20 months ago

   Great initiative.

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      Kathryn L Hillposted 20 months agoin reply to this

      How do they collect the methane and convert the methane?
      What happens to the methane?
      How is the methane funneled and through what sort of system?

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         IslandBitesposted 20 months agoin reply to this

         You really need to read. Google is your friend.
         
         Here, a start:
         
         https://www.npr.org/2022/02/07/10787772 … -composted

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 20 months ago

   The meat rotting in the bags is the disturbing thing to me.

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 20 months ago

   https://usafacts.org/data/topics/securi … gJh__D_BwE

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6. 76

   Kathryn L Hillposted 20 months ago

   I would like to know how my land-fill workers are going to manage the multitude of plastic bags filled with rotting food and meat. The plastic bags will break open in a couple of weeks and there you have it: plastic bags and rotting meat in a land-fill full of organic waste. It seems like pollution to me: Pollution of the organic, green section of the dump. Why pollute it with plastic and meat, I ask? It also seems like a health hazard to me. The rotting meat will attract flies and cockroaches without the proper heating and treatment required in true composting.

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7. 92

   Nathanvilleposted 20 months ago

   Kathryn, we’ve been doing this in Bristol for years (many years); and it does contribute towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
   
   For clarity, the food waste they collect does NOT go into landfill, it’s put into huge sealed containers where Anaerobic bacteria (bacteria that thrives where there is no oxygen) eats the waste, with the by-product being methane.  The methane is then collected (without leakage into the atmosphere).  Far better for the environment because in the extraction process of getting natural gas (methane gas) from the ground about 1% of it escapes into the atmosphere; and as we know, methane is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.
   
   While on the other hand, feeding anaerobic bacteria on waste food in sealed (air-tight) containers allows the methane to be safely drawn off with no leakage into the atmosphere.
   
   The green methane can then be put to various uses e.g. piped into the natural gas grid, turned into electricity and piped into the national electricity grid, and or used as a fuel for buses etc.
   
   In Bristol the food waste, along with Bristol’s sewage are all used to make ‘green’ natural gas for the homes; and is used to power all buses in Bristol.
   
   These couple of videos show you how your food waste will be used in the future to help reduce greenhouse gases escaping into the atmosphere, help reduce your carbon footprint, and help to reduce the impact of climate change (global warming).
   
   •    2018, sewage waste to produce natural ‘green’ gas in Bristol: https://youtu.be/PUpvAfWI_GA
   
   •    2019, Bristol bus companies start using energy created from domestic food waste, collected weekly from households: https://youtu.be/QV4VEprPfos

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 20 months ago

   "The food waste is put into huge sealed containers where bacteria eat the waste, with the by-product being methane GAS."
   Methane gas can be:
   1. Used as a fuel for buses, etc.   
   2. Piped into the natural gas grid.
   3. Turned into electricity.
   4. Piped into the national electricity grid.
   
   Q. How is the food that we put into plastic bags collected? We, here in CA, will be putting our plastic bags of rotting food and meat into the green bins along with the yard clippings, tree branches, weeds, leaves, palm fronds, etc. Will workers be collecting our bags from the organic waste land-fill section once they have been dumped?
   A. "The food waste they collect does NOT go into landfill. It’s put into huge sealed containers, where bacteria eat the waste, with the by-product being methane gas."
   
   Q. Will the workers gather the multitude of plastic bags containing food waste out of the green waste section of the landfill and put them in huge sealed containers? Does the green waste of yard clippings go into sealed containers as well, or is it chopped up as mulch. I have heard the latter.
   A. ?
   
   Q. How is the methane gas collected? 
   A. "The extraction process involves getting methane gas from the ground." (I thought it was was put into "huge sealed containers.")
   
   Q. How is methane gas put into and then extracted from the ground? What is the process?
   A. ?

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      Nathanvilleposted 20 months agoin reply to this

      Things maybe done differently where you are than how it’s done in Bristol, England; so all I can do is describe what happens here.
      
      In Bristol the domestic food waste is NOT put into the same bin as the garden green waste (clippings, tree branches, weeds, leaves etc.
      
      In Bristol we have a large green wheelie bin for all the organic garden waste ((clippings, tree branches, weeds, leaves etc.); which our local government collects once a week, and the garden waste in those bins are taken away to large warehouses where they are composted down to make organic fertilizer for agricultural use.
      
      The food waste in Bristol doesn’t go into plastic bags, its placed straight into small brown bins that are also collected once a week to be put into the gigantic digester to make methane gas.
      
      So in both cases, in Bristol, neither the garden green waste in the large green wheelie bins, nor the domestic food waste in the small brown bins go anywhere near landfill; in both cases they are taken straight to their appropriate destinations for processing.
      
      This is what happens to our garden waste in the UK: https://youtu.be/QJSD5e2MaN0
      
      The natural gas that we use for heating and cooking around the world is methane gas; it’s a fossil fuel that formed naturally millions of years ago and is trapped in air pockets under rock deep in the ground, and in cracks in the rock.  To extract this natural (fossil fuel) gas requires drilling down through the rock to reach the air pocket e.g. like bursting a bubble, and then the gas (which is under pressure) rushes to the surface (through the hollow pipes that replaces the drilling rig) to be collect in sealed containers or piped straight into the national gas grid etc. 
      
      However, in extracting the gas in this way about 1% escapes into the atmosphere (greenhouse gas) adding to global warming.  The methane trapped in cracks in the rock deep underground is more difficult and more expensive to extract, to extract the gas in cracks in the rock (which is not under pressure) involves pumping water down into the cracks to force the methane gas up to the surface; and again some of that gas will escape into the atmosphere before it can be collected.
      
      Whereas the process of making methane gas from sewage and or domestic food waste, is done in a controlled sealed environment, ensuring that NO gas escapes into the atmosphere; making it a clean, green, carbon neutral gas.
      
      At the moment about 1% of natural (methane) gas used in British homes for heating and cooking, and electricity comes from green renewable (carbon neutral) sources; such as the system used in Bristol.
      
      This short video answers your last question in simple terms e.g. how did the methane gas get into the ground in the first place, and how is it extracted from the ground:  https://youtu.be/-njmj0diWu8

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      CHRIS57posted 20 months agoin reply to this

      Other countries do this waste separation for decades. Doesn´t and didn´t hurt anyone. In Germany even the most notorious freedom loving anarchist throws his waste accurately into separate bins.
      
      With respect to the discussion topic this article may be helpful:
      https://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/ne … n-gas.html
      
      Of course you need to organize: No plastic bags for food waste. No waste grinders in your kitchen sink, so all food waste has to go into the bio-garbage bin...
      
      We have 4 waste bins at home: 1. Plastics, 2. Paper, 3. Biomass/kitchen waste, 4. remaining garbage not belonging into first 3 bins. Plastic bottles have a return fee, so you can return them and collect money. Glass bottles for reuse same with fee.
      And the bins are collected in intervals. Performed by robotic systems, no worker needed to pick up the bins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq5aqdKeBog
      
      I would agree that putting food waste into a plastic bag doesn´t get you anywhere. That is why you need more than a senate bill, you have get organized and think the matter to the very end, at least close to the end ... just saying.

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         Kathryn L Hillposted 20 months agoin reply to this

         ... me too!

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            Nathanvilleposted 20 months agoin reply to this

            Below is a short video of a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) operating in the Nottinghamshire local government area, to sort recyclable waste (similar plants operate throughout the UK):  https://youtu.be/dNjZPcsVLqc

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         Nathanvilleposted 20 months agoin reply to this

         Wow, I loved the video; very impressive.  In Britain bin collection is still done manually; we have separate collections, the recycle rubbish collection lorry collects once a week, putting the different types of recyclable waste (from the different bins) into different parts of the lorry to keep it separated for easier processing at the sorting plant; and the general waste is collected by a different lorry once every two weeks.
         
         Unlike your video link for Germany, in Bristol, when the recycle bin lorry arrives, it crawls along the street at a slow walking pace, with two bin men walking behind it picking up and emptying the various bins from the frontage of each house.
         
         In Britain there is no countrywide standard for collection and recycling of waste, each local government makes its own arrangements, and some local governments are enthusiastic about recycling (predominantly the left-wing local governments like Bristol who have a zero waste to landfill policy) while others (generally right-wing local governments, like Portsmouth) are less organised and less dedicated to recycling, and do use landfill more than recommended by the central government  – and they have to be forced to do more by the central government e.g. the central government imposes a steep landfill tax on those local governments who can’t be bothered to do more to recycle.
         
         The bin system in Bristol is:-
         
         •    Green bin = plastics and metals (all separated at the sorting plant).
         
         •    Black bin = glass, electronics, batteries, clothes/shoes etc. (all separated at the sorting plant).
         
         •    Brown bin = food waste.
         
         •    Large Blue canvas bag = cardboard including food packaging and containers, and cardboard boxes etc.
         
         •    Large Green Wheelie Bin = Garden organic waste e.g. grass clippings, hedge trimmings, weeds etc.
         
         •    Small Black Wheelie Bin = Remaining waste e.g. anything that’s not easy to recycle (this bin is collected just once every two weeks, while all the recyclable bins are collected weekly).

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