iStalkr

by Topsy at Waygood

General Description
San Diego County is located in Califomia’s southenmost corner, along the United States-Mexico border, and constitutes the California Department of Commerce Region 9. With a population of over 2.6 million, the County of San Diego encompasses the cities of Carlsbad, Chula Vista, Coronado, Del Mar, El Cajon, Encinitas, Escondido, Imperial Beach, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, National City, Oceanside, Poway, San Diego, San Marcos, Santee, Solana Beach, Vista, and several unincorporated areas.

The City of San Diego is the second largest city in California, with a population of 1.2 million people. The southern portion of San Diego borders its sister city, Tijuana, Baja California, whose metropolitan area also contains approximately 1.2 million people. The two San Diego/ Tijuana international border crossings are, in fact, the most frequently used border crossings in the world. Implementation of the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement will very likely increase trade and manufacturing opportunities along this border area.

The existing transportation infrastructure in both the City of San Diego and the County of San Diego provides easy access to all parts of San Diego County and beyond. Four interstate highways, and a network of state highways and county routes, provide access to San Diego and Imperial Counties, the Los Angeles Basin, Arizona and Mexico. Rail transport is available north to Los Angeles or south to Mexico. San Diego County has four municipal airports and the San Diego International Airport at Lindbergh Field. In addition, the San Diego Unified Port District facilitates shipping via commercial shipping lines and charter vessels.

The San Diego region offers new and existing businesses an attractive business environment. San Diego forms the intersection of three distinct, though interdependent, markets: the United States, Mexico, and the Pacific-Rim. San Diego’s many universities and junior-colleges also provide a skilled labor force. In addition, the economic development network that is in place provides further evidence of the region’s great potential for successful recycling market development.

The San Diego Recycling Market Development Zone (RMDZ) encompasses the south-easternmost portion of the City of San Diego and an adjacent unincorporated area of the County of San Diego. The area, referred to as Otay Mesa, is being developed specifically for industrial and commercial uses. The RMDZ has over 6,300 acres zoned for industrial purposes, making it one of the largest contiguous industrial development areas in the nation.

The San Diego RMDZ is connected to the San Diego freeway system through its main transportation route: State Highway 905/Otay Mesa Road. An additional route, Highway 125, is planned which will enter the San Diego RMDZ from the north, with construction scheduled to begin by the mid 1990’s.

The City’s portion of the application area encompasses the entire industrial area of the existing Otay Mesa Enterprise Zone. The Enterprise Zone has approximately 3,500 acres zoned for industrial use. All of the financial incentives and technical assistance extended to businesses in the Enterprise Zone will automatically be available to recycling businesses wishing to locate within the overlaying portion.

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by Doug DuCap Food and Travel

Waste management within the San Diego region is a mixture of landfill disposal, recycling, and composting and source reduction activities. As AB 939 is complied with, however, the diversion and collection of recyclables and compostables will take on greater prominence. This section provides background on the County-wide landfill situation, discusses current and future waste generation projections, and provides estimates of secondary materials recovery rates.

There are six operating landfills in San Diego County. Five of these landfills (San Marcos, Ramona, Borrego, Sycamore, and Otay) are operated by the County of San Diego, while Miramar Landfill is operated by the City of San Diego. The area closest to the proposed San Diego RMDZ is serviced by the Otay Landfill.

The estimated remaining capacities of these landfills are identified below:

The four major landfills (Otay,San Marcos,Sycamore,and Miramar) form a regional solid waste disposal network distributed around the region’s primary population centers. The designation of the San Diego RMDZ will serve to extend the useful life of these landfills by encouraging the development of secondary materials consumers. As additional diversion programs are brought on line in response to AB 939 mandates, the need for expanded markets is essential for the success of integrated waste management programs.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to estimate the amount of landfill capacity that will be saved as a result of the designation of the San Diego RMDZ for three primary reasons. First, it is difficult to determine how recovery efforts will expand beyond those already being planned for in local Source Reduction and Recycling Elements, as well as various incentive programs such as the County’s Mandatory Recycling Ordinance and Tonnage Grant programs (described later in this Section). The amount of secondary materials that will be diverted will increase substantially with or without the San Diego RMDZ.

Second, materials collected in the San Diego region almost entirely end up in the Los Angeles basin remanufacturing or export markets. As San Diego materials are displaced by increased recovery efforts in the Los Angeles basin, the need for substantial local consumption becomes critical. As such, recovery of San Diego’s recyclable materials is dependent upon the establishment of new local market capacity. This understanding is already reflected in the estimated recovery rates described later in this Section.

Finally, a “wild card” exists in the form of the secondary materials generated in neighboring Baja Calffornia. Wastes generated by Baja California residential, commercial and industrial sectors may provide feedstocks for use by San Diego RMDZ industries. At this time, it is not possible to estimate the amount of secondary materials from these sources; however, there is great potential in exploring their development.

For the above reasons, it is difficult to quantify the amount of additional recovery in the San Diego region that would result from establishment of the San Diego RMDZ.

Solid waste generation rates are subject to many factors, including variations in business and commercial activity, economic conditions, and individual purchasing and disposal habits. The waste generation projections provided in the following tables are based on a historical per capita waste generation rate of 1.8 tons per person per year, as well as the projected population growth of San Diego County.

1. Annual projections assume the 1990 per capita waste generation rate of 1.8 tons per person per year remains constant

2. Waste Disposal Projections are the combined rates of County and City of San Diego landfills.

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by Pictoscribe

August 1, 1996 edition of the San Diego Union-Tribune
BY Gregory Gross, Staff Writer

The cities of San Diego and Tijuana took a step yesterday toward solidifying their relationship with the signing of a pact continuing several cross-border initiatives between the two and adding new ones.

The Agreement on Binational Cooperation, signed yesterday in a brief ceremony, formalizes certain joint efforts, such as cooperation between the two police and fire departments, which have been going on for years. The new pact commits the two cities to mutual cooperation in six general areas:

• Libraries, arts, recreation and culture.
• Public works and service.
• Public safety.
• Planning and land use.
• Environment and recycling.
• Economic development.

San Diego Mayor Susan Golding, along with her Tijuana counterpart, Mayor Guadalupe Osuna Millan, signed the one-page agreement before a batter of television news cameras from both cities. Interpreters translated the remarks of the two mayors into English and Spanish.

“The areas of environment, economics and public safety are all extremely important,” Golding said. “One of the most important things is the fact that Mayor Osuna is here and desires to continue this relationship and build on it … and that is historic.”

For San Diego, it meant a continuation and strengthening of the San Diego-Tijuana ties first forged in 1993 between Golding and then-Tijuana Mayor Hector Osuna Jaime (no relation to Osuna Millan).

The two first began working together during the floods that struck the region in January and February 1993. Their friendship evolved into a working relationship between the two city governments for the first time ever. Officials and staff members from the cities have met regularly ever since.

Together, they sent letters to the federal governments of the United States and Mexico, criticizing them for not consulting with local governments in planning major construction projects in the two cities.

Yesterday’s signing ceremony represented the first major cross-border foray of Osuna Millan, who had maintained a somewhat lower profile than his predecessor, whom he succeeded last fall.

“We are building bridges and unbreakable ties,” Osuna Millan said yesterday.

The ceremony was attended by numerous officials from both city governments, including San Diego police Chief Jerry Sanders and his Tijuana counterpart, Jorge Alvarez Barriere.

In the area of public safety, the agreement calls for ride-along exchanges between San Diego and Tijuana municipal police, as well as shared intelligence on street gangs and cross-border weapons trafficking.

The agreement formalizes a 24-hour emergency communication link and a program during flooding season to aid American citizens stranded by floodwaters along the south bank of the Tijuana River, an outgrowth of the 1993 experience.

In the area of economic development, the two cities will conduct a binational campaign to promote economic development and tourism, possibly with Golding and Osuna traveling together in Asia to promote San Diego and Tijuana as a regional ceter for economic opportunity.

At the heart of this binational promotion is a cluster of four major businesses: Telecommunications, environmental sciences, electronics manufacturing and tourism.

The agreement also calls for expansion of the Geographic Information System, a computerized map that includes a zoning and land-use database from both cities.

The San Ysidro port of entry figures prominently in the agreement. Both cities will look for ways to improve the appearance, transportation and land use on both sides of the border crossing in an effort called Project San Ysidro Gateway/Puerta Mexico.

The environmental portion of the agreement includes cooperation on waste reduction and pollution prevention within the maquiladora industry on both sides of the border on Otay Mesa, as well as exploring possibilities in binational recycling.

One possible result could be a recycling market development zone to combine and recycle items generated in both cities, such as scrap metal and used tires.

Copied from SQLJ » Recycling Articles

by Canton Public Library (MI)

January 1, 1995 Edition of the San Diego Union-Tribune
by Sandra Dibble, Staff Writer

TIJUANA- San Diego and Tijuana want to turn trash into cash at a proposed binational recycling zone along the border at Otay Mesa.

The idea, expressed at a meeting here yesterday, is to entice recycling business to the border zone by offering them a huge supply of discarded stuff such as soda bottles, plastic, jugs, used tires and cardboard.

“We think that the two cities would create a (recycling) market that could effectively compete with the Los Angeles area”, said Gonzalo López, manager of the city of San Diego’s Office of International Trade and Technology.

“It opens up a lot of opportunities, ” Lopez added. “We think that we would not only benefit the environment, but create jobs in the process.”

Officials from San Diego and Tijuana discussed the proposal yesterday at a meeting of the Binational Planning and Cooperation Commitee, a group formed by the cities in April 1993 to promote joint projects.

The recycling project would get started with $ 340,000 that has been requested from the U.S. Congress.

Most of the money would help create a computerized data base to keep track of the different recycling commodities available in the Tijuana-San Diego region. San Diego, California and Science Applications International Corp. of San Diego are seeking $ 280,000 to establish the data base.

The $ 60,000 balance, requested by San Diego and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, would be seed money to launch the binational recycling, market development zone at Otay Mesa.

Tijuana and San Diego, “have almost 40 percent of the population of the (US-Mexico) border” said Richard Hays, San Diego’s Director of Environmental Services. “Why not have a recycling development zone for both cities?”.

Hays said San Diego officials worked closely with their Tijuana counterpartsin developing the proposal. “It was done totally together, with both staffs”, Hays said, “We’ve been trying to reach a joint decision that is in the best interests of both” cities.

The zone could take advantage of relaxed import and export restrictions under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Hays said, and use waste products generated in Tijuana’s assembly plants.

The data base “would let both sides of the border know what recycling materials are available almost instantly”, he added.

Tijuana has had a recycling program since 1991 and currently recycles aluminium, glass, cardboard, paper, and plastic, said Marco Sarabia, Chief of Maintenance for the Baja California city. But Tijuana sometimes has problems finding buyers for the materials.

“Of what use is it for us to recycle if there is no one to buy the products? Sarabia asked.

“The fact of the matter is that many of the products that we generate here are used on the other side”, said Zefarino Sánchez, Tijuana’s Public Works Director, refering to the U.S. side of the border.

A recycling zone would not only generate jobs, he said, but also reduce Tijuana’s garbage disposal problem, saving money for the financially strapped city.

“We’d all come out winning.” Sánchez said.

By recycling its waste materials in the region, San Diego would save money on transportation, said San Diego’s López. “Everything has to go to Los Angeles now” he said, especially items made of glass. Tijuana and San Diego have been working together on a variety of iisues since the binational commitee was formed. Yesterday’s gathering brought together members of the panel’s environmental subcommittee for the annual meeting. Other subcommittees focus on culture and the arts, planning and land use, public works, economic development and public safety.

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by Urban Woodswalker

In the 21st century the San Diego-Tijuana region will face a series of opportunities to ensure a sustainable future for its citizens. We believe that among the most significant of these opportunities are the following:

• Positioning the region in the global economy. Effective collaboration for the planning, financing and management of border infrastructure will be crucial determinant of San Diego-Tijuana’s future position in the global economy. Despite the region’s status as a leading manufacturing center, recent research by San Diego Dialogue has suggested that we are currently losing out on even greater opportunities. An effective trade infrastructure system can help to position San Diego-Tijuana to continue to take advantages of opportunities in the North American markets, as well as to tap emerging opportunities in Latin America and other parts of the world.

  San Diego-Tijuana also has a unique opportunity to position itself as a leading center or the development and manufacturing of next generation personal electronics. The convergence of television, computing and wireless communications, all of which are well-represented in the region’s industrial clusters, offers the possibility of new, economic development that can take advantage of indigenous capacity, leverage preferential trade regimes and link to distribution systems capable of serving a global market. A pro-active work force development and technology transfer strategy should be explored to capture opportunities in this new sector of the “digital economy”.

• New public/private partnerships. The possibilities of privatization and public/private partnerships have been vigorously explored in the San Diego-Tijuana region. Recent examples of these efforts include joint trade missions to Asia and Sempre Energy International’s new pipeline to supply natural gas to the Presidente Ju´rez Power Plant in Rosarito. The Rosarito project will be the first private pipeline to provide a long-term supply of U.S. natural gas across the border to a Mexican power plant.

  We believe opportunities exist to build on the lessons of these efforts for other policy issues facing the region. In the area of water supply, for example, policy makers are considering the merits of public/private cooperative efforts to construct a binational aqueduct from the Colorado River to San Diego-Tijuana. Such a project would help ensure more sustainable water supply alternatives for both cities.

• Closing the income gap and promoting social development. The challenge of social equity in San Diego-Tijuana is inextricably tied to sustainable regional development. Given the significant population growth projected for the region over the next 20 years, creating strategies for closing the income gap and securing sustainable housing and employment opportunities is critical to the region’s future.

  A binational agenda for reducing poverty and promoting social development should be embraced by government agencies, foundations, private companies and community-based organizations on both sides of the border. Such an agenda would include expanded opportunities for primary and secondary education (including assurances for equal access to high-quality education), clear pathways for local residents to move into employment opportunities in higher-paying manufacturing and expanding of affordable housing supplies.

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by Urban Woodswalker

May 20, 1999 Edition of the San Diego Union-Tribune
by Hector Lutteroth Camou, Chairman of the Binational Committee of the Tijuana Economic Development Council and vice-chair for Cross Border Affairs of San Diego Dialogue, and
Ray Peet, Chairman of San Diego Dialogue.

Mexico and the United States have the opportunity to make the effective management of our common border the centerpiece of a strong bilateral relationship.

In San Diego and Tijuana, cross-border collaboration has been widely embraced by civic leaders as necessary for sustaining the future prosperity of our region. On the occasion of President Zedillo’s visit to California, we would like to share our perspectives on some of the accomplishments that have been realized in our region, the challenges still facing us and the new opportunities that might be explored through cross border collaboration.

In 1990’s have seen the creation of new regional processes for communication and problem-solving across the border. Within the civic architecture that has been developed to encourage cross-border problem-solving, we have developed new ways to communicate, including a series of regional councils on major policy issues organized through the Border Liaison Mechanism. These councils are helping to fulfill the joint vision of Presidents Clinton and Zedillo, announced in May 1997, to transform our border into a “model area of bilateral cooperation.”

The councils, which bring together representatives of federal, state and local agencies, as well as regional civic groups, have helped government agencies talk to each other and develop strategies for addressing regional issues.

A regional civic network supports these new mechanisms. Civic ties between San Diego and Tijuana have expanded over the last decade through increasing interaction between elected officials and community members from both sides of the border. In 1997 San Diego Dialogue created the Forum Fronterizo, a cross border policy forum, which allows the community to address cross-border issues. In addition, our regional universities conduct policy research on the issues taken up by the forum.

Despite the progress that has been realized in building a more informed civil society, significant challenges still face decision-makers in the San Diego-Tijuana region. Among the most significant challenges to cross-border collaboration are:

• Incorporating statewide perspectives. Too often regional decisions are being made without appropriate attention to the broader context of Southern California, California or Baja California.
• Strengthening local capacity in Baja California. Expanded and more effective cross-border collaboration requires greater capacity on the part of local governments in Mexico to accept and manage their new responsibilities. Greater continuity in planning that extends beyond the three-year election cycle for majors and the six-year cycle for governors, an expanded and more professional civil service and a more robust nonprofit sector may all be prerequisites for realizing sustainable regional development.
• Expanding financing opportunities across the border. Innovative policies to address regional issues are often frustrated, even in their planning stages, by a lack of financing alternatives in Baja California. Given the limits of municipal financing and private credit in Mexico, it is sometimes difficult to proceed with policy options that require leveraging funding from capital markets.

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by Urban Woodswalker

Although large quantities of recyclable materials are generated in the San Diego area, many of these materials find their way into area landfills.

However, as collection programs are expanded and consuming markets are developed in the proposed San Diego RMDZ, the amounts of recovered materials are expected to increase over the coming years. Using current recovery information and waste characterization data from each of the area’s landfills, projections have been made as to the types and quantities of recovered secondary materials that will be available to local remanufacturers and processors through the year 2005, as shown in the table below.

Since 1988, both the County and the City of San Diego have conducted waste characterization studies at each of the regional landfills. The results of these studies are being continuously updated by the efforts of the County of San Diego at each of the County-run landfills, and on behalf of the City at the Miramar Landfill. These studies include a breakdown of waste stream components that is more detailed than that required by the Source Reduction and Recycling Element guidelines created under the Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989. The overall results of the most recent study (fall 1991) are shown in Chart 1 (p. 9a).

Waste composition studies performed by the County are supervised by two full time field staff and performed by contract labor and prison honor camp crews. This system of performing waste characterization studies rather than consultant contracting enables the County to easily modify its protocol to conduct special sub-sorts, called “designer sorts”. Designer sorts enable selected materials to be quantified to determine their availability as a remanufacturing feedstock. For example, a designer sort was recently conducted for twelve different plastic container types. This information will be used to attract plastics processors and remanufacturers.

by Urban Woodswalker

Regional Secondary Materials Collection

In San Diego County, each city (and most of the densely populated unincorporated areas) has some level of curbside collection programs for residential recyclables. The widespread adoption of curbside collection programs is due in large part to the County of San Diego’s mandator recycling ordinance (further outlined in Local Incentives, page 25), as well as financial assistance provided to cities and haulers through the County’s Technical Assistance Project (TAP) grants (see Local Incentives, p. 26) Recipients of these grants are required to include collection of plastic beverage containers, aluminum, glass and newspaper in their recycling programs.

The curbside collection programs are complemented by a network or private commercial recyclers, private- and publically-sponsored buy back centers, scrap yards, drop-off sites, and diversion activities at the major landfills.

To further the collection of recyclable materials, the County of San Diego awards non-competitive tonnage grants of $ 7.75 per ton to cities and to haulers in the unincorporated area for designated residential recyclables documented to have been diverted from County landfills. The County Board of Supervisors has allocated a total of $ 2 million for this program for FY 1992, of which $ 90@ was awarded for diverting 11,727 tons of recydables during the first quarter. (It should be noted that because the City of San Diego operates its own landfill, it is exempt from both the mandatory recycling ordinance, and the Tonnage Grant Project).

The County of San Diego’s mandatory recycling ordinance and grant programs, the City of San Diego’s comprehensive recycling programs, and the growing private sector recycling infrastructure will ensure a reliable source of secondary materials for remanfacturing industries well into the next decade. County and City reporting requirements will also supplement ongoing waste characterization studies so that interested end-users can be provided with reliable, up to date, feedstock inventory reports.

Regional Secondary Materials Collection

As already described, a strong recycling infrastructure currently exists in the San Diego region, resulting in large quantities of secondary materials being recovered from the wastestream. The following table provides an estimate of the materials that are currently recovered from the regional wastestream:

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