General Plan Update - City of Inglewood

3.4 Solid Waste
includes the transition to waste-by-rail. 33 The Puente Hills Landfill has a remaining
capacity of 38 million tons at an average rate of 12,000 tons per day.
El Sobrante Landfill
The El Sobrante Landfill opened in 1986 as a partnership between Riverside County and
Waste Management. The landfill area constitutes approximately 645 acres of the total
property, while undisturbed open spaces account for approximately 688 acres, and is
located south of Lake Matthews in western Riverside County, California. In August 2001,
the facility received a major expansion and currently has 495 acres permitted for disposal
activities with more than 165 million cubic yards of remaining capacity. The El Sobrante
Landfill can accept up to 10,000 tons per day of waste from the counties of Riverside,
Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, and San Bernardino, and currently has 25,000 tons of
weekly capacity available 34 . Waste that is generated outside of Riverside County and
disposed of at the El Sobrante Landfill provides a significant source of funding to the
citizens of Riverside County for use in many local projects.
Generation of Waste by Types
Residential Waste
A total of 39,000 housing units in just under nine square miles that make up the City of
Inglewood dispose of 48 percent, or 57,000 tons, of the overall waste deposited at
landfills. The average resident, the source of this tonnage, disposes three pounds of waste
per day. Other organic materials, which include items such as food, leaves, and grass,
typically make up 45 percent of all waste disposed of by single- or multi-family residents.
This means that the grassy areas and tree-lined streets contribute to the largest and most
commonly found component of the disposal stream.
Of the 45 percent in organic waste, food waste makes up 17 percent of that figure. With
residential waste, as can be expected in most active metropolitan regions, paper
periodicals, being dispensed of once circulated and read, are often readily found
representing 27 percent of Inglewood’s waste by-product. High-density polyethylene, and
polyethylene terephthalate plastics (HDPE and PETE plastic containers), respectively
represent Inglewood’s third largest material type disposed of by residences, with a
nine percent constant in the overall contribution to the disposal stream. Ten percent of
Inglewood’s residential waste is derived from construction and demolition waste and
metals such as tin and steel cans.
33 Puente Hills Landfill websitehttp://www.lacsd.org/swaste/Facilities/Open/puntehls.htm;
http://www.lacsd.org/swaste/Publications/NewPHLFbrochure.htm#Introduction
34 Angela Williams, personal communication, March 13, 2006.
City of Inglewood General Plan Update Technical Background Report
3.4-3