Four days worth of houseguests this past weekend resulted in a recycle bin overflowing with Costco boxes, cardboard egg containers, gift wrappings, beverage bottles and plastics.  I proudly reviewed how carefully we separated recyclables from trash and sincerely congratulated my household for its diligence in saving the environment by limiting our contribution to the Miramar landfill and thus extending its life. 

And then I recalled my interview with San Diego City Council Member Donna Frye, parts of which will be incorporated into the KPBS TV March 20th Envision program, “San Diego’s Waste Woes.”  Frye is the Chair of the City Council’s Natural Resources and Culture Committee whose area of responsibility includes solid waste disposal and recycling.  She told me that the city will actually be losing about $2 million over the next couple of years from waste that doesn’t go into the landfill, but instead goes into recycling.  Although she was specifically talking about construction industry waste, the overall message was clear, that it costs many millions to haul and dispose of the city’s residential waste and that someone has to pay for it.

And that’s right now!  This year, four city council members whose terms are up (Scott Peters, Toni Atkins, Brian Maienschein and Jim Madaffer) are also termed out of office and cannot seek re-election.  They have nothing to lose politically by backing a trash fee ballot measure.  The other four (Kevin Falconer, Ben Hueso, Tony Young, and Donna Frye) won’t be up for re-election until 2010.  Frye will be termed out then.  So, 2008 could be the year when trash fees begin to make sense to San Diego’s residents, even as the city takes steps to increase its commitment to recycling.   History might be made.

Watch: Recycling: San Diego's Waste Woes on Thursday, March 20 at 8 p.m. on KPBS channel 11 simulcast in HD.