The Authority was formed to ensure landfill disposal capacity for the Salinas Valley cities and the eastern portion of Monterey County. This occurred because Crazy Horse Landfill (1934-2009), owned by the City of Salinas, and Lewis Road Landfill (1947-2002), owned by the County, were near the end of their useful life. Jolon Road Landfill (1977-1997) was leased by the County and was inactive. Johnson Canyon Landfill which opened in 1976, owned by the County, was operating as a small landfill, but was designated in the then current General Plan as a regional landfill. Developing more landfill disposal capacity and ensuring compliance with AB 939 which mandated 50% diversion from landfills would require dedicated staff and be a costly endeavor for any one agency. The County was spending about $2 million in General Fund revenues annually to maintain the County Landfills and wanted to get out of the landfill business. The South County cities would have no landfill disposal capacity if the County shut down its landfills. Thus by consensus of each of the Salinas Valley City Councils and the Board of Supervisors, the Joint Powers Agency (JPA) was started and the Authority was formed on January 1, 1997.
The formation of the Authority relieved the City of Salinas and the County of ever- increasing landfill operating costs and the liability for landfills that were nearing their closure. In the case of Lewis Road, Jolon Road, and Crazy Horse landfills, their closure required millions more than the money that was contributed by the member agencies when the landfills became part of the Authority system. Additionally, none of the landfills had money set-aside for their postclosure maintenance which carries on for a minimum 30 years after closure. The Authority assumed those liabilities, added additional disposal capacity at the Crazy Horse and Johnson Canyon Landfills, implemented programs to promote waste reduction and recycling, and household hazardous waste collection, as well as correcting and improving environmental protection systems. The Authority thus accomplished the purpose for which it was formed. However, in order to accomplish its purpose, the Authority had to borrow substantial amounts, which led to a large portion of its landfill rates to be used to pay for the legacy debt and liabilities that came with the old landfills.
While the Authority is responsible for managing and overseeing three closed and one open and active landfill in the Salinas Valley, our mission and vision would result in a sustainable long term solution for our region’s waste management needs.
The Authority’s Vision is: to reduce the amount of waste by promoting individual and corporate responsibility, to recover waste for its highest and best use while balancing rates and services, to transform our business from burying waste to utilizing waste as a resource, AND to eliminate the need for landfills.
A future without landfills can mean something different and unique to each of us.
For the Authority it involves exploring alternative processing methods, including new technologies. Also, changing the way we, as a society, perceive waste; not as something you put at your curb each week that “disappears” and is buried in the ground and stored there forever, but rather as a resource. It means:
- Having a need and a use for every part of every item we consume on a daily basis (or really close to it)
- Being accountable for the choices we make as consumers when we purchase products
- Assuring glass, plastics, paper, cardboard, and metal are recycled and then used to create new products
- Assuring useful items are reused until exhausted
- Recovering food scraps and yard trimmings to be turned into natural products used to grow more food, nourish gardens, or create new landscaping
- Assuring any remaining trash is minimal, and that it can be used as a clean
fuel or energy source, instead of storing it forever in a landfill
More jobs. For each job created by putting trash in the landfill, recycling creates eight jobs in local services, processing and production. More jobs contribute to a healthier local economy.
More natural space. Landfills are often located on public land. A future without landfills means public lands can remain a part of our natural environment. Natural wildlife habitat remains intact and old landfills could be repurposed into new uses, like the clean, renewable solar energy project proposed at Crazy Horse Canyon Landfill.
Better health. A physical connection to nature inspires perspective in our lives and reduces stress. Reduced stress is a key to better health. Recycling prevents pollution that is created in the process of manufacturing products from new materials, for cleaner air and water.
Greater independence. Recycling saves natural resources like, water, energy, and fuel. The less we rely on foreign sources for energy and fuel, the more self- sustaining we are as a nation.
As we continued to promote our services we found that many of our daily customers had difficulty remembering such a long name as Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority, it became even more difficult to remember our acronym “SVSWA”. As a result, many started using the nickname “Authority”, but this sometimes further confused people as the nickname “Authority” did not specify what services we provide. Our new DBA(doing business as) “Salinas Valley Recycles” conveys two simple messages; we serve the Salinas Valley and we offer recycling services to the community.
Our previous logo did not capture the Agency’s identity created through our vision, mission, and values. The three chasing arrows evoke reduce-reuse-recycle. The letters in blue signify the international color of recycling. The color green means conservation of natural resources and the creation of green jobs because of the current and future projects of the Agency.
