VISTA — Councilman Joe Green talked about his interaction with EDCO as a representative for the Regional Solid Waste Authority during the remarks portion of the Feb. 27 council meeting.
“Since my last name is Green, I’m always impressed when there’s good green stuff going on,” he said.

Green told Vistans that when they see EDCO trash trucks rolling around town, they should take a closer look. The vehicles have a new acronym indicating the type of fuel they use, having switched from compressed natural gas (CNG) to a new type of environmentally friendly renewable natural gas (RNG).
“They (EDCO) used to use compressed natural gas, which was really good for our environment,” he said. “Now, they’re actually using renewable natural gas.”
Natural gas reduces emissions.
Green said he learned that the renewable natural gas is retrieved by the recycling of organic food waste. He said EDCO is creating gas to fuel its trash collection trucks.
“So, EDCO is actually trying to be a net zero waste establishment where basically everything that we put out as a community, we reuse,” Green said.
He also pointed out that Vistans live in a state where being green and achieving zero waste is a goal.
“Zero waste is a big thing especially with the mandates coming down from Sacramento with the requirements of having to recycle 75 percent of our organic waste coming down within the next few years,” Green said. “So, we are ahead of the curve in North County, and you can best believe that your waste is under control. So that is good news coming out of EDCO, so check those trucks, honk at them, wave at them.”
Last July, EDCO opened a 70,000-square-foot recycling facility in the city of Escondido named the Escondido Resource Recovery Center located at 1021 W. Mission Avenue. Up to 100,000 pounds of recycling is processed per hour with this newest generation of technology.
The addition of the RNG powered truck fleet is a component of EDCO’s zero waste master plan.