Best Practices: Require Productive Market Use of Yard Debris and Other Organic Materials
Contracts can specify that collected organic material goes to a permitted compost or anaerobic digestion facility. Contract language can also clearly disallow yard trimmings and other organic materials to be used in landfills for Alternative Daily Cover (ADC), alternative intermediate cover, slope stabilization or final cover.
Case Studies: San Jose, CA | Fresno, CA
Advantages
- Reduce disposal of organic materials: Disallowing disposal-based uses of organic materials will increase the highest and best uses of organic materials and reduce disposal of nutrient-rich materials.
- Market development: Requiring the use of permitted diversion facilities develops local composting and anaerobic capacity.
Disadvantages
- Potential increased costs: If local markets do not exist, hauling costs may rise.