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We're in the Press!

This new state-of-the-art waste management facility will increase our community's recycling rate to above 85%, generate resources, such as green energy and compost, and dramatically lower local greenhouse gas emissions.

Check out these articles and news pieces about the ReSource Center and work being done at the facility.

NoozHawk's Report on the Alisal Fire

- Noozhawk, October 16, 2021

"Tajiguas Landfill will remain closed for weeks while repairs are made for Alisal Fire-related damage, according to the Santa Barbara County Public Works Department.

Trash, recycling and organic waste are being collected as usual and trucked down to facilities in Ventura County in the meantime."

The Sierra Club's Trip to Tajiguas

- Sierra Club, Los Padres Chapter, October 6, 2021

"There is a saying that democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others.

The same could be said of our landfills, according to County employee Carlyle Johnston. 'The Gaviota coast is the worst possible place for a landfill,' he said, pointing to the Tajiguas Landfill behind him, tucked away in a scenic Gaviota canyon, 'except for all the alternatives.'"

 

The New ReSource Center Education Program

- Noozhawk, September 24, 2021

“It used to be that whatever you threw in the trash was thrown away forever, buried in a landfill. Your hand was the last hand to ever touch what you threw away,” said Sam Dickinson, program specialist at the ReSource Center. “Fortunately, that’s not the case anymore, but we still have to care what we’re doing.”

CSUCI Presents: Carlyle Johnston

- CSUCI Radio, September 9, 2021

"Carlyle Johnston, a Project Leader for the ReSource Center a division of the Public Works Department County of Santa Barbara on the new ReSource Center and local recycling."

Your food scraps must turn into compost by 2022, says California law. Here's how it'll work

-KCRW, August 17, 2021

"There’s a simple way to help the warming planet, and it’s staring up at you from your cutting board."

Waste Not, Want Not: Grand Tajiguas Project Turns Proverb into Reality: Making Trash Is Easy; Dealing with It Is Not

- Santa Barbara Independent, July 29, 2021

"The ancient art of alchemy has been revived at the dump where Santa Barbara throws its trash. It’s propelled by a giant maze of conveyor belts that drops big, heavy trash and separates it from smaller, lighter trash and is also brewed in a concrete bunker where 16 heated tunnels take organics from the waste and turn them into black gold, or nutrient-rich compost."

New AD and recycling centre opens in Santa Barbara County, CA

-  Bioenergy Insight, July 27, 2021

"Government officials, county staff, and contractors gathered at Tajiguas Landfill on 16 July to open the Santa Barbara County ReSource Center."

Solid waste recycling facility goes online in Santa Barbara, California

- Waste Today Magazine, July 20, 2021

"The ReSource Center will expand recycling capabilities and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the processing of organics."

Santa Barbara Co. unveils new recycling facility

- KSBY, Channel 6 News, July 16, 2021

"This project will maximize our recycling  capability and allow for local control over our solid waste instead of shipping it to another community," said Rep. Salud Carbajal, (D) 24th District.

New ReSource facility opens

- Santa Barbara News-Press, July 17, 2021

“This is a great day for Santa Barbara County,” Leslie Wells, the deputy director of the county’s Public Works Department, said during Friday’s ceremony. “This will serve as a model for other communities and minimize the impact of our waste on our own environment – an excellent example. It’s an action that communities across the country are going to have to take in order to better use and protect our resources into the future.”

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Groundbreaking Solid Waste Recycling Operation Goes Online In Santa Barbara County

- KCLU, Central Coast NPR, July 18, 2021

County Public Works Direct Scott McGolpin says it's a great example of a public-private partnership with companies like Mustang Ventures working with the county, and many of the county's cities to do something groundbreaking.

Tajiguas Landfill Officially Opens Recycling, Methane-Energy Plant

- Santa Barbara Independent, July 16, 2021

“It goes from farm to table and back to the farm in a healthy soil cycle,” Dewey said. The end result is a clean-energy facility that contributes the single greatest reduction of greenhouse gases in the county, said Hartmann.

Santa Barbara County unveils new recycling center

- KEYT, July 16, 2021

The county broke ground on the facility on May 30, 2019. The facility was expected to cost $150 million dollars. In a press release, the county stated it cost $130 million.

Santa Barbara County, CA Unveils Renewable Energy Facility in Grand Opening

- Waste Advantage Magazine, July 22, 2021

“Friday, July 16 saw a gathering of county officials, staff, engineers and contractors at the Tajiguas landfill in Santa Barbara, CA for the grand opening of the County’s new recycling and waste management facility. The ReSource Center will allow the county to truck in and process its own waste, turning it into recyclables and renewable energy rather than sending it to landfill.”

Santa Barbara County in final stages of completing ReSource Center

- KEYT, March 4, 2021

“A two-year project near Gaviota is almost complete. When finished Santa Barbara County’s ReSource Center will be able to recycle 85% more waste. It will also reuse emitted gas as fuel.”

Santa Barbara's dump is nearly full. What next?

- KCRW, March 01, 2021

“The hilly canyon looks like a lot of other canyons you pass while heading up Highway 101, but on this piece of land, the terraced, hilly landscape is in fact decades and decades of trash piled up in layers, like lasagna.”

California’s Tajiguas Landfill to construct AD project in 2017

- BIOMASS Magazine, November 30, 2021

"Located 26 miles west of Santa Barbara, California, sprawls the Tajiguas Landfill, and since it began operating in 1967, the county has modified its operations to respond to updated requirements for solid waste disposal and to incorporate advancements in technology."

Older Articles 

These posts are a little older. Take a listen to see how much the center has progressed!

Our local Santa Barbara County news station, KEYT, published a great story on the ReSource Center. Check it out here.

Listen to KCRW's story on the County's Tajiguas Landfill and ReSource Center. The reporter describes the landfill and what is buried there, and highlights the County's comprehensive waste reduction efforts to limit what goes into the landfill.