Quick Take
Santa Cruz County wants residents to dispose of waste responsibly, but the system can make that surprisingly difficult, writes Steve Smith, who experienced these problems firsthand. A simple garage cleanout can mean eight different waste streams, multiple destinations, limited hours and hundreds of dollars in fees. Illegal dumping is never justified, he writes, but a cumbersome legal alternative doesn't make the problem easier to solve. If Santa Cruz County wants cleaner roadsides, he believes it should make doing the right thing simpler, cheaper and more convenient.
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Illegal dumping too often mars the Santa Cruz County landscape.
Mattresses, appliances, construction debris, furniture, household junk and abandoned trash turn up along roadsides and in places where they clearly do not belong. But what we see is only part of the problem.
Improperly disposed paint, motor oil, batteries, chemicals and other hazardous waste can disappear into garbage cans, drains or the ground without ever appearing along a roadside.
The people who dump illegally are responsible for their actions. But the persistence of the problem also raises a question for Santa Cruz County: Have we made legally getting rid of unwanted junk unnecessarily difficult and expensive?
Santa Cruz is a community that takes environmental protection seriously. Recycling, hazardous-waste rules and requirements for handling different materials exist for good reasons.
The problem is what it takes for an ordinary resident to comply.
Santa Cruz County’s current disposal rate schedule alone runs four densely packed pages of fees, classifications, restrictions and special handling requirements. And that is only the rate schedule.
Residents must also navigate separate rules and guidance for hazardous waste, recycling, treated wood, medical waste and other materials, along with different quantity limits, destinations and operating hours.
The system did not become complicated overnight. Years of environmental protections and recycling requirements have created multiple mandates to handle household waste.
Consider cleaning out a garage, shed or home. What looks like one load of household junk can quickly become eight waste streams: paint, batteries, medicines and sharps, motor oil, electronics, thermostats, light bulbs and ordinary household waste.
Eight waste streams can mean eight different disposal destinations. And eight destinations can mean eight separate trips.
Then there is the calendar.
If you work a conventional Monday-through-Friday, 9-to-5 job, Saturday is essentially your one practical day to use the county’s disposal facilities without taking time off work. But at Ben Lomond there is no hazardous material drop-off on Saturday – only on Thursday. Watsonville accepts hazardous materials on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
That is government designing a public service around its own schedule rather than the schedule of the public it serves.
Even then, you might not be finished. Santa Cruz County limits household hazardous-waste drop-offs to 15 gallons or 125 pounds per trip. Have more? Drop off one load, go home, reload and come back again.
All of this assumes you have a vehicle that can haul it.
Then there is the cost. Landfill and transfer-station fees can push a household cleanup into the hundreds of dollars, not including fuel or transportation. Rent a truck or hire someone to haul the waste and the price climbs higher.
The system works reasonably well if you are self-employed or have highly flexible working hours, own a suitable vehicle, have plenty of time to figure out what goes where and can afford the fees and multiple trips.
Most people don’t check all those boxes.
Sort it. Separate it. Figure out where each item goes. Find the right day and hours. Load the vehicle. Drive there. Pay the fee. Unload it. Go home, reload and do it again.
Fees range from $25.00 to $50.00 minimum per visit. Fluorescent bulbs, batteries, paint, medication, thermostats, and solar panels can be dropped off at a variety of commercial locations for recycling during business hours and are subject to weight and volumetric limits.
The Buena Vista Landfill and Ben Lomond Transfer Facilities are open Monday through Saturday, 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and close an hour early on Wednesdays.
By the time everything has been legally disposed of and paid for, a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles almost sounds like fun.
No wonder we see so much illegal dumping.
That doesn’t excuse it.
Dumping trash along a road transfers the problem and expense to everyone else. But increased fines and enforcement don’t make legal disposal any easier.
Nor is the answer to weaken Santa Cruz County’s environmental protections.
The challenge is achieving those goals through a system designed around users, not bureaucracy. Make the choices simple. Expand operating hours. Put as many disposal options as possible in one place.
Keep prices predictable and, where practical, free. Provide realistic options for people who don’t own a truck – or a vehicle at all.
Residents measure success differently than bureaucrats: Are our roadsides cleaner? Is there less illegal dumping? Can someone clean out a garage and dispose of everything properly without taking a day off work or spending a small fortune?
Santa Cruz County wants its residents to do the right thing. It should make doing the right thing easier.
Good public policy makes lawful behavior easy. Bad public policy and cumbersome procedures encourage illegal dumping.
Steve Smith is a former Santa Cruz County peace officer and criminal justice instructor at Gavilan College. He has also served with the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in the Balkans and Central Asia.
