California is known for it’s ambitious waste reduction goals.  We noticed that they have moved back to a measurement strategy that looks at disposal rather than diversion.

–Lake County News–

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law Senate Bill 1016, legislation by State Senator Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa) that shifts the focus, from 50-percent diversion to 50-percent disposal reduction, of the current requirement that a local jurisdiction reduce its solid waste disposal over what it would have been given local growth factors.”

According to the CIWMB, Wiggins noted, “California diverted more than 46 million tons of solid waste away from landfills into recycling, composting and transformation programs in 2005, for an estimated statewide diversion rate of 52 percent. Diversion has increased nine-fold since the Integrated Waste Management Act was passed in 1989.”

Wiggins added that her bill is “intended to focus on disposal reduction and enhanced program implementation efforts.”

According to CIWMB, the benefits of moving to a disposal-based system include: increases timeliness and accuracy; streamlines review by allowing jurisdictions that are in compliance to be reviewed every four years instead of every two; and, maintains allowances for rural jurisdictions.  See the link to this article here.