Courtesy of Mark zu Hone, Landfill Operations Program Manager, City of San Diego, Environmental Service Department:
The Miramar Landfill has proudly served the greater San Diego community since 1959. This 1,500 acre facility accepts nearly 900 million tons of municipal solid waste for disposal annually along with approximately 100,000 ton of greens waste including 10,000 tons of food waste at our co-located compost facility.
We are highly regulated by CalRecycle through their Local Enforcement Agency (LEA); the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB); and the County’s Air Pollution Control District (APCD). We are also responsible for compliance with other environmental laws enforced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife; the Army Corps of Engineers; and of course our landlord, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
Since the opening of the Miramar Landfill, the City has received a limited number of odor-related complaints regarding the Miramar facilities. However, the amount of complaints received through the winter months in 2016 are higher compared to the last several decades. We take these odor issues very seriously and are working diligently alongside our regulators and adjacent communities to identify the exact sources so we can implement successful solutions to eliminate them.
Since February, we modified our compost pile mixing procedure to eliminate mixing the compost on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays to minimize potential odor contact by the community. We also changed the mix ratio between the food waste and greens waste thereby reducing the density of each compost pile in order to reduce the potential odor concentration during mixing.
City staff have also contacted residents who submitted complaints and conducted multiple community inspections in several neighborhoods at similar times to the complaints to try and identify the odor and its source. The current monitoring efforts have shown a significant reduction in complaints in recent weeks.
The description of the odors have varied in the type, duration and hours making it very difficult to identify the source. Nevertheless, the City is continuing to evaluate its operations and take the necessary steps to mitigate potential odors from the landfill.
In addition to the above operational improvements, the City has investigated several odor neutralizing products. The food waste received at the landfill is primarily vegetables and fruits from restaurants and grocery stores which is mixed with green waste to enhance the quality of the compost. A pilot project is being developed to test the effectiveness of an environmentally safe product to mitigate odors and plan to have it field tested by the end of May 2016.
The City is also developing mid-to-long term plans to mitigate the odors including:
- Constructing two 40,000 tons per year aerated static compost piles with extensive odor control;
- Researching diverting organic materials from the landfill through private facilities;
- Pursuing the possibility of utilizing anaerobic digestion to eliminate organic wastes from open air landfilling and/or composting to a highly controlled, enclosed environment; and
- Implementing strategies outlined in the City’s Zero Waste Plan to reduce landfilling.
Future odor complaints should be submitted to the APCD at 858-586-2650. Additionally, we request you also contact the Miramar Landfill Program Manager, Mark zu Hone, directly at 858-518-3008 or at mzuhone@sandiego.gov. City staff will immediately be sent to the location of the complaint to attempt to identify the source of the odor. Our goal is for the Miramar Landfill to continue being a good neighbor to our surrounding communities.
Thank you for your continued feedback to address this odor issue.
For more information about the Miramar Landfill, operated by the City of San Diego, visit https://www.sandiego.gov/environmental-services/miramar
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