Challenge
- Californians have been disposing an increasing amount of waste in landfills since 2012. Californians exported or sent to landfills 42.6 million tons of waste in 2019, up 2.7 million tons compared to 2018. The increasing amount of waste sent to landfills also means California’s recycling rate has been falling since 2014; 2019’s recycling rate was 37 percent, down from 40 percent in 2018 and just half of the 75 percent goal for 2020.14 The increase in disposables sent to landfill leads to an increase in landfill emissions. In 2019, landfill emissions (as part of the included emissions) reached 8.5 MMTCO2e (up 1.2% compared to 2018) and landfill emissions from biogenic materials were 7.9 MMTCO2e (up 1.0% compared to 2018). 2020’s recycling rate (data is not available yet) is expected to be even lower, as the pandemic has led to an increase in one-time use disposables.
14 Specifically, The Executive Order has the following additional goals: (1) 100 percent of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles in the State be zero-emission by 2045 for all operations where feasible and by 2035 for drayage trucks; (2) California to transition to 100 percent zero-emission off-road vehicles and equipment by 2035 where feasible. Executive Order N-79-20 can be viewed here: https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/9.23.20-EO-N-79-20-Climate.pdf
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