Written by Maggie Zhang and Emily Zhang
Three months ago, Jim Ambroso of EDCO led five members of a youth-led environmental policy nonprofit called Go Greenish on a tour of the San Marcos recycling facility. From advanced optical technology for waste separation, to Anaerobic Digestion facilities, the Go Greenish team observed the behind-the-scenes process of how EDCO manages waste. Recognized for its consistent efforts to recycle and stay green, EDCO is one of San Diego County’s leading waste and recycling facilities.
However, not everything has been easy for EDCO.
At the time of the Go Greenish visit, the EDCO San Marcos facility had just ordered more trucks, as two facility trucks were no longer of use. With California mandating heavy-duty trucks to convert to cleaner air systems, trucks with an engine manufactured between 2007 to 2009 had to be abandoned by last New Year’s Eve. EDCO alone had 75 of these trucks, all of which were operating.
“[Trucks] cost us a lot of money,” says Ambroso. “For example, that truck we bought in 2007 probably cost around $110,000. To replace it today was about $350,000.” Furthermore, the size of these trucks and supply chain issues–which have been worsened from COVID-19–have resulted in extensive wait times to receive newly ordered trucks.
Since then, EDCO has converted around 80% of its trucks to renewable natural gas produced onsite from their organic waste system, which, although expensive, is much cleaner for the environment. Through the compost collected from residents, the nutrient rich organic material is fed to microorganisms, which subsequently produce methane. Major advances in environmental and microbiological technology has allowed for the sequestration of the produced gasses to fuel EDCO’s own trucks, completing the cycle of renewables.
In the next couple years, EDCO projects that 100% of its trucks will run on renewable natural gas. However, with California’s recent requirement on the electrification of all vehicles, 10% of EDCO trucks must be electric by 2024; ten years later, the entire fleet of EDCO trucks must be electric.
“We just made a big investment in all these trucks, and these trucks have a 20-year lifespan,” reports Ambroso. “Again, those trucks would last 10 more years, so we’re gonna get half the value on these trucks that we just spent a great deal of money on. That’s a big deal for us.” Especially for the residents EDCO collects waste from, the sustainability of trucks directly impacts the efficiency and quality of waste collection.
The lack of information and coverage on how climate policy is directly affecting companies like EDCO may possibly further harm our environment and agencies which are actually working towards combating excessive waste.
The bigger issue, however, is that no electrical garbage truck has been invented that can last more than four hours. For EDCO, a facility that runs trucks for 10-12 hours a day, this is a major issue. “We will probably need to purchase a third more trucks, if not double the trucks we already have,” Ambroso confirms. Policy pushing for a switch to electrical systems when technology is not fully advanced to accommodate current truck trip time and weight drastically changes the ability of waste collection companies to actually collect waste. Furthermore, the disposal of non-electrical trucks still in good condition exhausts supply chain issues and increases wasted materials.
