Fighting for Life
East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice – 2317 Atlantic Blvd. Commerce, CA. 90040 March 22, 2022
Mayor Robert Garcia and City Councilmembers of Long Beach411 West Ocean BlvdLong Beach, CA 90802 Sent Via Electronic Mail
Re: Agenda Item No. 20 (22-0329) “Recommendation to request City Manager to workwith the Energy Resources Department to schedule a study session for the City Councilto review the operation of the Southeast Resource Recovery Facility (SERRF). The scopeof the study session should include reviews of SERRF’s incineration process,operational costs, energy production, recycling capabilities, greenhouse gas emissions,and possible alternatives.” Dear Mayor Garcia, Vice Mayor Richardson and City Council of Long Beach, On several occasions, the City of Long Beach and its staff has expressed interest in pursuingzero waste and creating a Zero Waste Plan. However, to date, the city’s actions havecontradicted these efforts by its continued use of SERRF which is incongruous of a zero wastefuture. What follows are zero waste definitions from different entities:
According to the Zero Waste International Alliance, Zero Waste is the conservation of allresources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery ofproducts, packaging, and materials without burning and with no discharges to land,water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.
According to the C40 cities, Zero Waste is a philosophy that refers to wastemanagement and planning approaches that emphasize waste reduction and prevention,as opposed to end-of-life waste management. This vision promotes the redesign ofresource lifecycles so that most materials can be reused and waste generation iscontinuously minimized. Rather than being an absolute term, zero waste is one ofcontinuous improvement with the ultimate goal of progressively reducing the maximumamount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators as possible.
According to the City of San Francisco, Zero waste means that we send zero discards tothe landfill or high-temperature destruction. Instead, products are designed and usedaccording to the principle of highest and best use and the waste reduction hierarchy:
Fighting for Life
East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice – 2317 Atlantic Blvd. Commerce, CA. 90040 ● Prevent waste● Reduce and reuse first● Recycle and Compost These definitions clearly define that burning trash is not zero waste, and that approaches towaste should be focused on waste prevention and reduction, reuse, followed by recycling andcomposting.
A simplified life cycle of many of our products include the extraction of fossil fuels and rawmaterials, distribution of materials, manufacturing of materials into products, distribution ofproducts to retail stores, consumption of products, and disposal of products into waste facilitiesor the environment. At every stage, there are impacts to the environment and to our health,which is why the systems we currently rely on have to be reimagined to create less waste andharm.
Our city cannot continue to ignore that the continued operation of SERRF is an issue ofenvironmental racism. Many of the communities surrounding the incinerator, includingcommunities outside of our city, are predominantly low-income communities of color who aredisproportionately burdened by several polluting industries from oil & gas to the goodsmovement.Therefore, the goal of the study sessionshould instead be focused oncommunity-rooted, localized zero waste alternatives to plan a just transition away fromSERRF and fossil fuels.Furthermore, any alternativesthat include technologies whoseend-products will be burned or pose a threat to the air, land, and water should not be consideredas this will only contribute to the region’s poor air quality and climate change.
There are various studies and reports that detail the harms of incineration. I want to call the CityCouncil’s attention to the reportVestiges of Environmental Racism: Closing California’s LastTwo Municipal Waste Incineratorsthat examines theenvironmental, financial, and public healthharms of incinerators and delves specifically into SERRF and Covanta Stanislaus and requestthe City Council and staff hear a presentation from Earthjustice who released the report inNovember 2021 in collaboration with Valley Improvement Projects and East Yard Communitiesfor Environmental Justice.
According to the report, SERRF has repeatedly exceeded the emissions allowable by theirpermits, but have avoided accountability by claiming equipment startup, shutdown, malfunctionexemptions. In addition to air pollution, SERRF has also mismanaged the resultant toxic ash tothe point that a CalRecycle inspector noted difficulty breathing, and that still requires landfilling
Fighting for Life
East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice – 2317 Atlantic Blvd. Commerce, CA. 90040 where there are great risks of the contaminants in that ash leaching into the soil andgroundwater.
We also ask that the city council and staff receive a presentation from East Yard Communitiesfor Environmental Justice to report back on the feedback we heard from community groups andresidents regarding the types of zero waste policies, programs, and infrastructure they wouldlike to see in Long Beach - which includes, but is not limited to, phasing out single-use plasticsand just transition away from fossil fuels, tool lending libraries, repair clinics, reuse swap shed,textile recycling center, community composting hubs for every neighborhood, and expansion ofexisting programs like bulky item and household hazardous waste collection.
For far too long our city has wasted financial resources on a facility that makes no financialsense. According to a presentation made to the Sustainable City Commission, SERRF wouldrequire an investment of $66 million to continue operating past 2024. Instead of investing on anoutdated, inefficient, polluting technology, the City of Long Beach needs to begin investing in azero-emission, zero waste future now.
In summary, please direct staff to read the report released by Earthjustice to learn about theharms of incineration and SERRF, receive a presentation from Earthjustice and East YardCommunities for Environmental Justice to learn about the policies, programs, and infrastructurecommunity members want to see in our city, and have a study session focused oncommunity-rooted, localized zero waste alternatives to inform a Zero Waste Plan and transitionaway from SERRF. We ask the City Council to please read the report and support therecommendations which include 1) closing the incinerator at the end of its contract in 2024, 2)Creating & implementing a Zero Waste Goal & Plan that centers community voices by EarthDay and the end of this year, respectively, as a sign of commitment to our communities andcleaner air.
Thank you,
Whitney AmayaZero Waste Community OrganizerEast Yard Communities for Environmental Justice