Buena Vista Landfill
Redevelopment Project

Meeting the needs of local residents and businesses

 
 
 
 

About

The Buena Vista Recycling & Solid Waste Facility is a critical part of Santa Cruz County's waste management system, processing approximately 400 tons of waste each day.

However, the landfill is projected to reach capacity in 2032 and must close under its state-regulated closure plan. The County is evaluating options to ensure residents and businesses continue to have access to reliable waste disposal services while increasing recycling and composting and reducing the environmental impacts of waste management.

Project Alternatives

The County is evaluating different approaches to meet the community's long-term waste management needs. Each approach has potential impacts and considerations.

Proposed Project

Build two waste transfer stations and an organics processing facility.

Alternative 1

Relocated Public Transfer Station

Move the public transfer station south of Rountree Lane.

Alternative 2

No Project

Do not build a new transfer station to replace existing landfill operations. Approximately 75% of the County's waste handling could shift to the County's Ben Lomond Transfer Station or ReGen Monterey's landfill in Marina, CA.

Alternative 3

Adjacent Parcel

Build an enclosed facility adjacent to the Buena Vista Landfill, allowing existing operations to continue during construction and incorporating measures to reduce environmental impacts.

Your Input Matters: Review the Draft Environmental Impact Report

Your input can help inform the County's decision.

The Draft Environmental Impact Report (Draft EIR) evaluates the project's potential environmental impacts, identifies possible mitigation measures and compares alternatives, including the No Project Alternative.

Reviewing the Draft EIR helps community members understand the potential trade-offs of each option, how environmental impacts could be addressed, and what each alternative could mean for the surrounding community.

Public Meeting

Join our public meeting to learn about the project, explore alternatives, understand potential environmental impacts associated with construction and operations, ask questions, and share your feedback.

Wednesday, November 18, 2026

5–6:30 p.m.

Aptos Branch Library Community Room

7695 Soquel Drive, Aptos, CA 95003

The public review period is an opportunity to ask questions, share local knowledge and submit comments on the analysis before the County makes its decisions.

Review the Draft EIR and share your feedback at the meeting.

Funding

Funded through a Recycling and Solid Waste Services Infrastructure charge on property tax bills, the Buena Vista Project will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase recycling and composting, and meet state environmental requirements.

The project will help meet the County's long-term waste management needs and strengthen Santa Cruz County's commitment to waste reduction and recycling. Once complete, the facility will serve residents and commercial waste haulers while diverting yard waste, food scraps, and other organic materials that can produce methane if buried in landfills.

Project Documents
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Environmental Documents
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Recycling & Trash
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Track Progress
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Frequently Asked Questions

The County will build and operate three necessary infrastructure projects:

  • A compost facility to comply with state law to reduce greenhouse gasses by removing green waste and food scraps from landfills
  • A commercial waste transfer station to collect trash from commercial haulers
  • A residential waste transfer station to collect trash from county residents

The Buena Vista Landfill is the County's only remaining landfill and will reach capacity in the near future. The new waste transfer stations will replace the landfill as a county trash collection/recycling location and must be complete before the Buena Vista Landfill closes in 2030. Without a new transfer facility, local refuse collection trucks will be forced to make daily trips out of the county, increasing local greenhouse gas emissions by 2,000 lbs. per day.

By extending Santa Cruz County's leadership when it comes to waste stream diversion, this project will benefit residents in several ways. It allows us to meet state mandates to reduce organics in the waste stream by 75 percent, reduces greenhouse gas emissions by consolidating local refuse before being transferred out of county, and prevents illegal dumping by preserving local options for self-haulers to dispose of excess household refuse.

If this project is completed, yes. The new Buena Vista transfer facility would operate much like one in place in Ben Lomond. Otherwise, residents would need to travel to Ben Lomond or to a regional disposal facility in Marina.

The composing facility would collect food and yard waste for processing. Eventually, food waste would be converted into fertilizer for local agricultural uses.

The County previously established a citizen-led task force to explore new waste disposal facilities. That effort was met with significant public opposition, leading the task force to drop the idea in 2004. Absent an alternative site, the County’s only option is to use existing land at Buena Vista as a transfer station and organic composting facility.

Two transfer stations and the compost facility are projected to cost $55 million to design, permit, and construct. Current engineer’s estimates are based on locating all three projects at the Buena Vista Landfill site. These charges have been verified by an outside audit and are based on a standard 30-year bond, and are subject to renewal every five years by the Board of Supervisors.

Only parcel owners in the unincorporated County will pay the new charge. Residents from outside of the unincorporated County will pay a surcharge to use our facilities, currently set at 28% over the use fees paid by residents in the unincorporated County.

The engineers cost estimate was based on a standard 30-year bond. We won’t know the exact terms and amount of the bond until we apply, but current estimates for the two transfer stations and the compost facility at the Buena Vista Landfill site are $55 million inclusive of design and permitting costs. Also, by beginning the charge now, we will place most of the fees collected into a reserve (other than the amounts paid towards design and permitting costs) which will be used as a bond down payment. This down payment will reduce our overall bond and annual payment, which should keep costs down and limit future increases to the proposed annual charge.

Initially, these costs will be less than $10 per parcel, per month. See Cost of Service study here, Solid Waste System Cost of Service Study Report.

We will have to go back to the Board every 5 years to adjust the amounts for what is actually needed. The bond will be a 30-year bond; the closure costs will drop off in about 6-8 years. Landfill maintenance and post-closure costs will continue.

Environmental permitting is underway. Construction is anticipated to begin in 2025 and be complete in 2026.

The transfer stations must be complete and in use before the landfill closes so waste haulers will have a local disposal site for recyclables, organics and waste materials.

No, Proposition 218 applies to this proposed infrastructure charge. When the voters passed Proposition 218 in 1996 it changed the California Constitution by requiring government service fees to be proportional to the cost of providing the property related service. All property owners, including government property owners, subject to the fee must pay their fair share of these costs. Proposition 218 makes it unconstitutional for the government to adjust fees for any reason other than a change in the cost to provide services.

Proposition 218 only allows for a charge to be in place for up to 5 years at a time before a new Proposition 218 notice and updated engineer’s report must be submitted to the public. In this way, the County is required to adjust funding levels and ensure the fee for service remains proportional to the cost of service.