More than a decade after Sonoma County lost its commercial composting facility, county officials are moving forward with a proposal for a new regional site northwest of Santa Rosa they say could process most of the county’s residential green bin waste locally.
At an April 28 meeting, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors authorized the environmental review for a prospective compositing facility at 5200 Slusser Road, immediately west of the county’s airport at the former county landfill site.
Should the facility move forward, the site would process up to 70,000 tons of residential green bin waste annually, accounting for around 80% of the total amount of compostable waste generated across the county.
County officials say the centrally-located facility could help reduce truck traffic and greenhouse gas emissions associated with hauling the material out of the county, while fulfilling state requirements to divert organic waste from landfills.
Residents will have the opportunity to provide feedback and ask questions about the proposal at one of two open house-style public meetings.
The meetings are slated for Thursday, May 14, from 5 to 7 p.m. and Saturday, May 16, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Zero Waste Sonoma building located at 195 Concourse Blvd., Suite B. in Santa Rosa. Spanish translators will be available at both meetings.
“Community input is an important part of this process,” Johannes J. Hoevertsz, director of Sonoma County Public Infrastructure said in a news release.
The county has not had its own commercial composting facility for nearly 11 years when operations ended at its previous site following years of regulatory and operational challenges. The site, located at the county landfill west of Cotati, was shuttered in October 2015 after a searing Clean Water Act lawsuit accused the operators of polluting nearby Stemple Creek. The lawsuit cost ratepayers more than $1.1 million.
Since then, the county has spent years searching for a viable replacement facility and previously explored several proposals, including a controversial $50 million compost facility between Llano Road and Walker Avenue that proposed taking in about 100,000 tons of material a year, using anaerobic digestion to create biogas and employing other methods to create compost and mulch. The project drew significant opposition from residents amid concerns about odor, truck traffic and environmental impacts and was eventually axed.
As a result, Zero Waste Sonoma, the government agency that partners with the county and local cities to encourage residents to reduce waste, has continued to partner with four Bay Area composting facilities, shipping the county’s compostable refuse to either the West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill, Redwood Landfill in Marin County, Cold Creek Compost in Ukiah or Napa Garbage and Recycling.
Contact Staff Writer Anna Armstrong at anna.armstrong@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @annavarmstrongg.
