Santa Barbara County Supervisors Approve Another $766K for Tajiguas Landfill

Money to Go Toward Treating Water from Composting Unit and Buying New Parts for Anaerobic Digester

Recently added GORE coverings on Tajiguas Landfill's composting unit have eliminated most odor complaints from the nearby community of Arroyo Quemado, said Public Works’ Carlyle Johnston. | Credit: Courtesy

All the trash generated from Montecito to Buellton ends up at Tajiguas Landfill on the Gaviota Coast, which added an anaerobic digester, composting, and automated recycling at a cost of about $150 million three years ago to create a state-of-the-art dump. Since firing landfill operator Mustang Santa Barbara (MSB) at the end of 2023 — over which a lawsuit ensues — Santa Barbara County has assumed oversight of the trio. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved another $766,000 for Public Works to spend on two of the units at Tajiguas.

The composting unit has been a source of odor complaints since it started, lying upwind of the small community of Arroyo Quemado on the coast. The most recent fix of a GORE covering for the heaps eliminated most complaints, said Public Works’ Carlyle Johnston. Now the county was addressing water quality violations by hiring Geosyntec Consultants to design a treatment system for the water running off the compost heaps when it rains. After that, $4.8 million of the tipping fees earned from trash trucks will go toward an Active Treatment System to retain and clean the runoff, which could be used for dust control or ponded in a sedimentation basin, said Jeannette Gonzales-Knight, a deputy director at Public Works.

The compost is a mix of wood chips, or green waste, and digestate from the anaerobic digester, which takes organic matter like food scraps from the trash and converts them to methane — captured and used to produce energy — and a smelly sludge full of agricultural nutrients. The digester system was designed and manufactured by Germany-based Eggersmann/Bekon. Public Works requested up to $400,000 over the next two years, as it was likely they’d need new parts — Johnston said none were needed immediately — and that they could be a long time coming. The pre-approved funds would help speed any purchase.