{"id":93359,"date":"2025-08-19T03:06:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T03:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/93359\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T03:06:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T03:06:11","slug":"new-recycling-program-for-food-waste-rolls-out-long-beach-post-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/93359\/","title":{"rendered":"New recycling program for food waste rolls out \u2022 Long Beach Post News"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was originally published by LAist<\/a> on Aug. 18, 2025.<\/p>\n

Long Beach residents are getting new green bins as the city rolls out a new recycling program for food waste.<\/p>\n

The final phase of the rollout in L.A. County\u2019s second-largest city is set to wrap up by the end of the year. It comes three years after a state law went into effect that mandates food waste be kept out of landfills.<\/p>\n

Officially called\u00a0SB 1383<\/a>, the law requires all cities, counties, institutions, residents and businesses to divert food and other organic waste from landfills. Instead, that waste will be\u00a0composted<\/a>, donated, or\u00a0turned into fuel<\/a>. California is the second state in the U.S. after Vermont to pass such a law.<\/p>\n

The reason? Landfills are filling up and much of the stuff in them is food waste. Food waste in landfills across the U.S.\u00a0has tripled<\/a>\u00a0since the 1960s, and when it decomposes, it releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that heats up the planet. Because of that, landfills are California\u2019s\u00a0third largest source<\/a>\u00a0of methane emissions.<\/p>\n

How the program works<\/p>\n

The city of Long Beach took a different approach to rolling out its program from most major cities \u2014 they started requiring businesses to use the bins first.\u00a0That program<\/a>\u00a0has been in action since 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are one of the largest food generators and also there are fewer accounts,\u201d said Dalia Gonzalez, with the city\u2019s public works department, of the reasoning.<\/p>\n

On the residential side, the city rolled out its pilot program for single-family homes last year in October<\/a>. Now they\u2019re in the final phase of rolling out green bins to homes and apartments across the city, with the expectation that everyone will have green bins by October, Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to make sure that this program was implemented the right way and that we didn\u2019t just roll out carts across the whole city,\u201d Gonzalez said, adding that the city has worked on staffing for the program, as well as community education and outreach.<\/p>\n

It also took time to negotiate new contracts with waste haulers and identify where all the food waste will go, Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n

All of the food and yard waste in the city\u2019s new green bins will go to three large-scale composting facilities, according to the city: \u200aRecology Blossom Valley Organics near Bakersfield, Sage Ranch Compost in Riverside County and American Organics in Victorville. Those facilities then sell the compost to nearby farms.<\/p>\n

As part of the program, the city\u2019s purple bins for recyclables will be retired and recycled, then replaced with blue bins. That rollout will start in early 2026.<\/p>\n

How to use the green bin<\/p>\n

Long Beach residents simply need to toss all their food waste \u2014 vegetable scraps, chicken bones, coffee grinds, egg shells and any other organic waste \u2014 into the green bin.<\/p>\n

You can store the waste in your freezer to prevent smells, and toss it in the bin in a paper bag, which can also be composted. Plastic bags may contaminate the compost, so officials urge residents to put their food waste in paper bags, paper towels or go without a bag instead.<\/p>\n

So-called \u201ccompostable\u201d bags are also a no-no \u2014 the composting facilities are unable to break that material down, Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n

Read LAist\u2019s full guide on how to compost, with answers to frequently asked questions,\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Will my bills go up?<\/p>\n

Yes. Diverting food waste is more expensive than tossing it in a landfill, so trash rates are going up across California. At the same time, SB 1383 is an unfunded state mandate, so cities have to figure out how to cover the cost themselves.<\/p>\n

In Long Beach,\u00a0rates are going up<\/a>\u00a0about $15 this month and depend on bin size.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez said the city is urging residents to try out their new bin for at least two weeks before requesting a smaller green bin.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does take a while to get used to this new service,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want them to get a smaller bin and then realize, actually I did need that size.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article was originally published by LAist on Aug. 18, 2025. Long Beach residents are getting new green…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-93359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}