Today is Saturday, July 05, 2008
628 W. 19th Street Costa Mesa, CA 92627
The Costa Mesa Sanitary District was formed in 1944 under the Sanitary District Act of 1923. The District boundaries encompass all of the City of Costa Mesa and portions of Newport Beach and unincorporated Orange County. The population is approximately 116,700.
The District is responsible for residential trash collection and transmittal to a recycling facility for recycling and disposal. The District also provides liquid waste collection and transmission to Orange County Sanitation District facilities for treatment and disposal.
The District's method of recycling allows residents to place all their trash in standardized containers without any sorting. The trash is taken to a recycling facility in Stanton where it is mechanically and hand sorted and the recyclables are removed. The District reached 50% diversion prior to the year 2000 and is in full compliance with all State mandates.
The District uses a combination of public and private services. The private services include a trash hauler, a recycler (CR Transfer), an attorney and a manager/engineer. The District throughout its history has used the combination of public and private services.
Since Proposition 13, the District no longer sets a tax rate. Solid and liquid waste collection charges are collected on the property tax bill as separate line items.
The District also has a variety of special programs each year including:
LARGE ITEM COLLECTION - Allows residents to dispose of sofas, appliances or other bulky items. A District-wide program is held during the summer months and residents can also request a large item pickup on a call-in basis one time during the year.
TELEPHONE BOOK RECYCLING PROGRAM - The District established the first telephone book recycling program in Orange County in 1989 that has now become a very popular recycling contest among schools. The contest provides monetary rewards that are used to support worthwhile purchases such as computer software, art supplies and field trips.
CHRISTMAS TREE RECYCLING - Christmas trees are collected from residents at curbside and are recycled into mulch that is used both locally and in other parts of California.
HOME-GENERATED SHARPS RECYCLING - Residents can take advantage of the first sharps recycling program established in Orange County. Residents who use syringes/needles can receive a free sharps container for proper disposal. After filling, the containers are collected by local pharmacies for recycling. Residents receive a new sharps container when they drop off a filled one. This program received the 1998 Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Special Recognition Award.
TIRE RECYCLING - The District hosts an annual tire recycling event. Tires collected from residents are recycled into new crumb rubber products such as matting for playgrounds.
HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE (HHW) - The District also sponsors HHW residential collection program where residents can have recyclable HHW picked up directly at their homes.
BEVERAGE CONTAINER RECYCLING - The District received a grant from the California Department of Conservation to provide recycling containers in Costa Mesa facilities.
STANDARDIZED CONTAINER PROGRAM - The District has successfully implemented a standardized trash container program that provides many benefits to the community including improved appearance on trash collection day and increased worker safety.
The District keeps a full library of recycling and educational materials on hand including manuals on composting, brochures on source reduction and special recycling projects for school grades K-8.
