After years of public debate, the Santa Barbara County Supervisors unanimously voted to move forward with a revised expansion of the Tajiguas Landfill. The project is a combination of a complex sorting system and an anaerobic digester that will compost organic materials in an oxygen-free container. It extends the life of the dump by a decade, to 2036.
The decision came after environmental groups, namely the Community Environmental Council (CEC) and the Gaviota Coast Conservancy (GCC), raised repeated questions about the need for the technology involved and the development’s impacts to sensitive habitats. Opposition to the project has long united environmentalists and fiscal conservatives, who are usually at odds. The estimated $130 million project is expected to raise trash rates for county residents.
Scott McGolpin, director of Public Works, argued the project would significantly reduce greenhouse-gas emissions — equivalent to 24,000 cars on the road annually. “This is going to be one of the largest greenhouse-gas-reducing [projects] in this county’s history,” he said. “Today we are recycling 73 percent of total waste that we currently generate. We are hoping to divert 90 percent.”