Meetings set on trash-sorting for recycling

The Costa Mesa Sanitary District is continuing its effort this month to inform the public about an organics recycling program that, for the first time, would require ratepayers to sort their trash.

Two meetings in Costa Mesa are planned to inform people about the program before the district’s board of directors considers approving it Feb. 25.

The first meeting is at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 6 at Halecrest Park, 3107 Killybrooke Lane. The second is at 9 a.m. Feb. 8 at Back Bay/Monte Vista High School, 390 Monte Vista Drive.

If the program is approved, it will require district ratepayers to sort their trash for its organics, which include gardening clippings and food scraps. The organics would eventually be converted into renewable natural gas.

The goal of the organics program is to reduce landfill waste. The recycling contract is estimated to cost $504,679 annually and be fulfilled by CR&R Environmental Services.

How the program will affect rates has not been determined. It would involve a separate truck that arrives the same day as the other trash collection.

— Bradley Zint