Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the city of LOS angeles (city or…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the city of LOS angeles (city or LA) is located in southern california and is the second largest city in the united states with a population of 4 million. The city is densely populated, with an average of 8,300 people per square mile, and ethnically diverse communities that are roughly 48% hispanic, 9% black, 12% asian, and 28% white. Despite its size and wealth, the city is affected by environmental justice issues, including air pollution (ozone, PM 2.5), food security issues, and poverty. Roughly 57% of the census tracts in LOS angeles are considered to be disadvantaged environmental justice (EJ) communities per calenviroscreen 4.0.LOS angeles sanitation & environment (lasan) is responsible for the curbside collection of residential solid waste via four streams: 1) refuse (black BIN), 2) recyclables (blue BIN), 3)yard trimmings and food waste in the (green BIN), and 4) horse manure (brown BIN) from 750,000+ single family residences and apartment complexes with up to 4 units. Lasan operates two mulching facilities, the lopez canyon environmental center and the harbor mulching facility, and one composting facility, the griffith park compost facility, which composts trimmings from griffith park, manure from herbivores at the LA ZOO, and wastewater digestate. The city of LOS angeles is committed to addressing climate change, addressing food insecurity, advancing the goals of EJ, and diverting organics from landfills. The mayor and city council have implemented aggressive, innovative environmental policies and programs to address climate change. In 2019, LA's green new deal set an ambitious goal to achieve zero waste by: increasing the landfill diversion rate to 90% by 2025 and to 100% by 2050 and eliminating organic waste sent to landfillby 2028.in 2020, the city council adopted a healthy soils motion that emphasized regenerative climate solutions and encouraged the use of public lands for small-scale composting. Ultimately, IT spurred the creation of the city's healthy soils program and publication of the groundbreaking healthy soils strategy for the city of LA.additionally, in 2016 california adopted senate bill 1383 (SB 1383), a statewide mandate to keep organic waste out of landfills to reduce short-lived climate pollutants and greenhouse gases.SB 1383 mandates municipalities to divert 75% of their organic waste from landfills by 2025 and rescue 20%+ of edible food currently sent to landfills for human consumption.to accomplish the ambitious goals set by the LA city council, the mayor, and SB 1383, lasan launched the organicsla program, a curbside organics recycling program for the city of LA.as of january 2023, lasan has expanded residential organics collection to all 750,000 residential households in the city. Residents are now required to place food scraps, food-soiled paper, and yard waste in their green BIN. The commingled organic waste is processed to create compost to be used by california farmers. The city recognizes that perf, orming public outreach and offering a variety of means for angelenos to participate in composting will lead to the greatest success and highest diversion rates. In partnership with LA compost, lasan is doing outreach to teach angelenos that turning food scraps and yard waste into nutrient-rich compost is essential to divert organic materials from landfills, avoid harmful methane emissions, and produce a great soil amendment to bolster soil health. Lasan and LA compost are emphasizing three ways to participate, each with specific advantages: backyard composting: composting at home is the most environmentally friendly option as IT has the smallest carbon footprint. Lasan has provided backyard composting workshops at facilities across the city for 20+ years on how to compost food waste at home.community composting: if composting at home is not an option, community composting is the next best choice.angelenos are encouraged to donate food scraps to LA compost's community composting operations at farmers' market food-scrap collection events.organicsla: at a minimum, residents must participate in the organicsla program, adding organics to their green bins for curbside collection. Material is transported to commercial composting facilities in california's central valley, where IT is composted and sold back to the agricultural industry.