Dumping discards without even dirtying shoes
09:42 AM PST on Tuesday, March 6, 2007
BOB PRATTE
Slideshow: Lamb Canyon Landfill dumping station
The adventure is over at the Lamb Canyon dump.
People known as "mom and pop dumpers" no longer commingle with massive earth movers and gargantuan trash trucks. Noncommercial dumpers don't even get their shoes dirty.
A new section of the Riverside Canyon Landfill is nearly civilized.
The landfill, located in Lamb Canyon, between San Jacinto and Beaumont, is the burial site for garbage from the San Jacinto Valley, the San Gorgonio Pass and the Coachella Valley.
In the old days, which ended a few weeks ago, dumpers with pickups, vans and even station wagons stuffed with trash traversed the dirt landfill area of the dump. They cruised alongside big commercial haulers.
I found my visits to the dump to be thrilling. I jockeyed for my dumping spot along with the big trucks. I felt the ground shake as the big earth movers and tractors rumbled by.
Now, in a concept that is quite revolutionary in the Southern California landfill biz, mom and pop trash depositors follow a sign that leads them to a new, paved dumping area. They arrive at designated dumping lanes formed by concrete barriers. After backing in, they unload onto a concrete trash area. When they depart, their garbage is scooped up by tractors, dumped in big bins and hauled to the landfill area for burial.
The new facility does more than segregate the moms and pops from the heavy equipment and big trucks. The concrete barriers that mark the lanes offer another form of protection. "It protects them for each other," said Tom Lis, a supervisor at the dump.
The paved area also will be much better than the traditional dirt burial section on rainy days. The moms and pops no longer will get stuck.
The landfill's recycling area was moved from its hilltop location to the end of the new dump area. It will be improved with buildings in a later phase. For now, discards such as tires, televisions, computers, washing machines and scrap metal are placed in their own sections on dirt.
Matthew Hickman, a program administrator with the Riverside County Waste Management Department, is proud of the new dumping facility. He said there is nothing like it in Southern California. A few dumps in the northern area of the state are somewhat similar.
He should expect to be copied.
I sampled the Waste Management Department's creation Thursday when I dropped off an ancient computer, which means it is seven years old. Discarding computers in trash cans no longer is allowed.
I was directed away from the muddy fun in the landfill area and drove down to the new paved dump site. I then was sent into the adjacent recycling area.
The trash operation seemed to go smoothly as pickups backed into the concrete slots and tractors loaded garbage into bins.
The recycling area was busy. Landfill workers now can see the garbage that is reusable and direct dumpers to the adjacent recycling area.
It was an easy visit, but I miss the wild time of the old days at the landfill. I didn't even get my shoes muddy, but at least I did get to wear the orange safety vest they still hand out.
Reach Bob Pratte at 951-763-3452, bpratte@PE.com or 474 W. Esplanade Ave., San Jacinto, CA 92583.
