California has long been troubled by its trash issues. The state has signed a series of bills aiming for a zero-waste plan in the coming decades. But beyond the millions of tons of waste that go to recycling or composting, landfills remain a long-term problem.
We are living upon a huge land made of trash. Currently there are roughly 26,000 municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills in the states, storing over 13 billion tons of solid waste in landfill sites under the ground where we are standing.
That is roughly 33 times the total biomass of humans.
The problem is especially severe in certain states. California has the highest number of landfill sites within its borders and also generates the most municipal solid waste (MSW)—over two billion tons, which is twice as much as Texas, the state with the second-highest amount.
The total weight of Californian’s waste production in 2022 was about 70 million tons, with over half of the waste, 40 million tons, going into landfills. The accumulated number has reached over 2 billion tons in 2024 in California alone.
This is a Map of percentage of none-white population of California.
The darker the color is, the bigger the non-white population percentage.
Landfill sites show an overlap with the race pattern.
The solid waste doesn’t just sit there quietly and disappear.
It continuously produces gases, known as landfill gas (LFG),
during decomposition. Up to 50% of LFG is methane,
which is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Methane is also highly dangerous due to its flammability.
Study shows that the largest 60 landfills produced over 90% of the methane emissions in California.
The State Government of California has been working on the issue for years. Series of programs were signed but not all of them seemed to be working. The Scoping Plan, initiated by the California Air Resources Board in 2022, targeted the severe landfill crisis, planned to reduce 40% of the methane emission from LFG by diverting organic and food waste from landfill waste.
Before that, both Los Angeles and San Francisco have promised to divert trash. LA has its zero-waste plan, which wants to neutralize its waste production by 2050, and San Francisco Mayor Breed committed San Francisco to a new Zero Waste pledge to reduce waste generation by 15% and landfill disposal by 50% by 2030.
Despite these cities' efforts to reduce waste, their landfill issues remain large. Many landfill sites are continuing to expand, raising concerns about air pollution. All of the current 299 landfill sites were built before 2000, but the latest year of closure is projected to be in 2405.
Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States, according to the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990–2022. Landfill and composting sites methane emissions are also the largest emission source in CA.
Landfill gases have become the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state, with livestock topping the list. This also makes California the leading state in LFG and methane emissions.
But California is at least advanced in one aspect. Since methane is also an energy source with great potential, if we can collect all these gases, we can not only reduce the amount of carbon emission each year but also generate a great amount of electricity.
Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) collects and makes use of the methane to generate electricity. LFG is supporting 48 states in generating energy.
Among the around 300 landfill sites in CA, over half of them have LFG collecting systems on site, and only 117 of the places are clearly actively intervening in flares and venting control. Despite that, LMOP has done a great job in successfully reducing carbon emission by 90% in these fields.
Texas, the second-largest methane emitter from LFG, did a relatively weaker job in 2024, collecting only about 60% of the methane produced, although texas produced roughly the same amount of methane from LFG.
However, The biggest controversy surrounding California’s landfills and waste is the ongoing practice of sending toxic waste to states with weaker environmental regulations, like Arizona and Utah.
According to a CalMatters investigation , in September 2020, California dumped over 1,500 tons of hazardous waste at the La Paz County Landfill in Arizona, a site located just miles from the Colorado River Indian Tribes’ reservation.
While the trucks were carefully sanitized and runoff water was collected to prevent further pollution of California’s groundwater and soil, the toxic waste was ultimately left behind in Arizona.
Similar stories are happening all the time, environment advocates criticizing the California government for shifting the burdens to other people instead of addressing the problem.
Therefore, before California can realize its zero-waste dream, it must first confront the unresolved problems left along the way.