A stink over plan to haul trash to Nevada desert
In the dusty Nevada desert, about 30 miles east of the playa where Bay Area artists and hipsters gather annually to build a temporary city at the Burning Man festival, a San Francisco garbage company wants to build a dump for Bay Area trash.
click this link to read the article and comments.
Posted by: nevadansagainstgarbage | September 16, 2009
The San Francisco Chronicle
Posted in Uncategorized
Nevadans Against Garbage 
Whoa nellie! I thought we were recycling and composting most of our stuff. If we’re still producing so much stuff we’re trying to ship it across state lines, or an ocean, we need to reconsider how we live and trash. No way should San Francisco–of all cities–send its garbage anywhere out of state, or even all that far from San Francisco. If we’re anywhere near as progressive as everyone huffs and puffs we are then let’s solve this problem, and not by shipping it abroad–not a solution, it’s just plain wrong. Very San Franciscan, but very wrong none the less.
By: gryphonisle on September 16, 2009
at 2:50 pm
What a PERFECT point: How would Marin County feel if they wanted to ship trash to them?!
In fact, with respect to environmental concerns, that would be a more preferrential option. There should be a law that prevents counties from exporting their waste out of their boundaries, hust like some counties that prevent their water from being exported away. That would force recycling and reduction of waste and cause all of the supposed environmentalists to ‘compost’ in their boots about their real huge environmental footprint.
By: dudeman1961 on September 16, 2009
at 1:05 pm
The Marin Headlands is a better place for a dump. It’s possible to hide a 200 foot tall pile of garbage in the canyons. When full the trash heap can be covered with dirt and seeded with vegetation. A hundred years from now you wouldn’t know the trash pile is there beneath the soil. In the dry desert the trash will linger for many hundreds of years…perhaps thousands.
By: mutza4u on September 16, 2009
at 12:14 pm
Shipping trash 400 miles to bury it seems a bit eco-unfriendly. A quandary in Northern California, to be sure. What the bay area needs to do is take care of our trash locally. If the price to haul garbage goes up the public will be motivated to reduce their waste. Also, I ‘love’ the people with the attitude that the desert is a valid place to toss your cr@p. May you all acquire a painful rash in your nether-regions.
By: drivedude on September 16, 2009
at 12:00 pm
Hopefully the good people of western Nevada will buy some land in Marin County and ship their garbage there. The Bay Area treats poorer browner foreign people like absolute crap. Whether it is shipping e-waste to China – or mountains of tires to Mexico. Morally – all that stuff should be recycled locally. Killing someone else kid with it is DISGUSTING and WRONG.
By: publius1979 on September 16, 2009
at 10:20 am
Recology: Formally known as Norcal Waste Sysyems.
Why did they change there name after millions of dollars went in to branding it.
Answer: All the bribary scandels. San Bernadino San Jose and all the other stiff there into.
That is sacred Indian land up there. Fight them. Nevada does not want these players in there community NO WAY
By: northbeachmob on September 16, 2009
at 8:05 am
And on a more local note, SOLANO COUNTY does not want your garbage, either, and dumping it in the Delta????? Are you nuts? And we don’t want your “recyclables,” delivered by daily trucks – every one of which leaks plastic bags from under its tarp as it travels. You use it, you deal with the refuse – what’s so tough about that to the greenest of the green? Or might you be simply the color of hypocrisy??
By: Puffer on September 16, 2009
at 6:41 am
The hidden issue is Groundwater. Valleys in Nevada are like big bathtubs filled with groundwater, it’s just not at the surface. Big Cities like Las Vegas are already working to steal this groundwater from the Utah-Nevada border to pipe it to LV! Think a little bit ahead and soon, the Winnemucca groundwater will be more valuable to thirsty Californians than Gold…BUT, the trash dump will have leaked and contaminated the groundwater (The “double liner” always fails at the gold mines). The “impermeable liners, built by lowest bidders won’t protect your future drink of water, California. Hope you like the taste of aged diaper, petroleum products, heavy metals, household cleaners, and those nasty chemicals used to soften plastics like your water bottles oh yeah Bisphenoyl-A isn’t it.
The problem NEVER GOES AWAY when you just ship it elsewhere. It’s all connected in our four dimensions.
By: cvn_70 on September 16, 2009
at 5:26 am
Great article.
1. Critics don’t say the trash pile could grow to 200 feet, Recology said it.
2. In Recology’s original application for a special use permit, they said the # of jobs would be 20-25. In a meeting with Humboldt County Commissioners, they said MAYBE 25. In your article, Recology is now claiming 25-35 jobs for this site. Winnemucca is close to some of the highest gold producing mines in the country. These job numbers are squirrley and not significant.
The real LOL: Recology offered Winnemucca $1MM for a projected 1,040,000 tons per year to take on the risk of being one of the largest dumps (with toxic waste) in the country. Since, we’ve seen press quotes noting they pay the state of CA $1.85 a ton even if it’s stored in NV; and, they’ll pay Yuba County an extra $1.5MM for taking only 400,000 tons per year from San Fran.
There are major risks. There are homes, water sources, and livestock by the site. Get involved, stop this. http://www.nevadansagainstgarbage.com
By: TracyAA on September 15, 2009
at 5:57 pm