Climate Protection Campaign, Sierra Club – Redwood Chapter, Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy, Sonoma Ecology Center, Sonoma County Conservation Action, Sonoma County GoLocal Cooperative, LITE Initiatives and Accountable Development Coalition recommend that the Board and cities reject the proposed Purchase and Sale Agreement with Republic Services for the Central Landfill because the deal undermines this community’s long term environmental and economic goals. Selling the solid waste system would permanently transfer an irreplaceable asset from public to corporate ownership. The proposed contract could increase costs to residents and thwart this community’s ability to meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets. It would also remove options for the future and diminish this Board’s reputation and legacy. Many of our reasons to oppose divestiture are aimed at the proposed Agreement’s financial weaknesses because long term economic goals align with a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Sonoma County has serious waste challenges as well as opportunities. Central Landfill, our publicly owned 400-acre disposal site near Petaluma, stopped landfilling operations in 2005 due to still unresolved Regional Water Quality Control Board liner and leachate issues. This means that five or more days per week, fifty-two weeks a [...]

Some Of The Outstanding Questions Facing Sonoma County  How will the sale of the entire waste disposal system affect existing businesses, county programs and diversion goals?   Will the cities sign flow control contracts? Why now, if not previously?   Will a private owner be satisfied with Sonoma County’s shrinking waste [...]