Often overlooked, the City of Redlands owns and operates its own landfill at the north end of California Street. Owning and operating our own landfill provides us with local control of our solid waste operations and helps us avoid the costs many cities incur with private landfills and contractors.
Tipping fees – the cost to dump loads of trash into a landfill – are rising faster than the rate of inflation at many landfills and the number of publicly-owned landfills are declining across the country. Privately run landfills often accept waste from surrounding cities, with more dense population, which leads to more collection trucks traveling through the City.
And cities without their own landfills also pay the additional cost of shipping trash to landfills miles away – sometimes across state lines.
The County of San Bernardino began waste disposal operations at the landfill in 1963. In 1970, the City took possession of the site and has continued solid waste disposal there ever since.
In 2017, the City Council adopted new rates, which included funding for capital improvement projects and the purchase of more efficient equipment at the landfill. Many routine alterations and additions to the landfill and equipment have occurred over the past 50 years; but, these recent changes have provided the most significant positive impact on the landfill in more than two decades.
Proactive measures by the City to improve the life expectancy of the California Street Landfill, including equipment upgrades and operational changes, have increased the usable capacity of the facility by 42 percent, saved approximately $8.5 million over the life of the landfill, and provided savings to ratepayers in equipment and operator costs of $63,000 annually. With these recent improvements, the City has also extended the life of this important asset by more than a decade to 2053.
Improvements to the California Street Landfill ensure that this valuable asset will continue to serve the residents of Redlands for many more years.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to threaten not just the physical health of our residents but they have a devastating effect on the economic health of communities like Redlands. Be assured, your City Council and the City’s employees are constantly looking at ways to be good stewards of the resources you entrust to us. It’s just one way we work to make Redlands a better place to live and work.