Landfills are the third largest source of methane in California. Organic waste in landfills emits:
- 20% of the state’s methane, a climate super pollutant 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
- Air pollutants like PM 2.5, which contributes to health conditions like asthma.
“Organic waste” includes food, green material, landscape and pruning waste, organic textiles and carpets, lumber, wood, paper products, printing and writing paper, manure, biosolids, digestate, and sludges. Reducing Short-Lived Climate Super Pollutants like organic waste will have the fastest impact on the climate crisis.
In September 2016, Governor Brown signed into law SB 1383 (Lara, Chapter 395, Statutes of 2016), establishing methane emissions reduction targets in a statewide effort to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP) in various sectors of California's economy. The new law codifies the California Air Resources Board's Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy, established pursuant to SB 605 (Lara, Chapter 523, Statutes of 2014), to achieve reductions in the statewide emissions of short-lived climate pollutants. Actions to reduce short-lived climate pollutants are essential to address the many impacts of climate change on human health, especially in California's most at-risk communities, and on the environment.
As it pertains to Mendocino County, SB 1383 establishes targets to achieve a 50 percent reduction in the level of the statewide disposal of organic waste from the 2014 level by 2020 and a 75 percent reduction by 2025. The law grants the County the regulatory authority required to achieve the organic waste disposal reduction targets and establishes an additional target that not less than 20 percent of currently disposed edible food is recovered for human consumption by 2025.
SB 1383 Materials
SB 1383 Requirements
SB 1383 Forms
Additional SB 1383 Resources
