Organics recycling program delayed

Costa Mesa Sanitary District officials announced Friday that the district’s organics recycling program has been delayed.

The estimated $504,000 annual program, which is designed to reduce landfill waste by converting organic materials into renewable natural gas, was scheduled for rollout beginning in January. The program has been pushed back to June, officials said.

Sanitary district officials are attributing the change to a delay in the construction of a new anaerobic digestion facility in Perris that will process the organics.

The district’s board unanimously approved the program in February. It will have district ratepayers sorting their refuse for the first time by placing organics such as food scraps and gardening clippings into a second cart.

“We didn’t want to distribute the organics carts to everyone and then learn that the digester was not constructed properly,” said sanitary district President Jim Ferryman in a news release.

—Bradley Zint

Twitter: @bradleyzint