There's No Such Thing As "Away": Rethinking Waste in Tahoe Truckee

"When you throw something away, it goes somewhere."

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María López Godoy, founder of Waste Free Tahoe, opened her Lunch & Learn presentation for the Truckee Chamber with that simple but powerful statement. Her message challenged attendees to rethink one of the most common phrases in our vocabulary: throwing something away.

"There is no such place as 'away,'" López Godoy explained. Every item discarded has a destination—and every business has an opportunity to influence where it ends up.

For many in attendance, the presentation offered surprising insights into what actually happens to waste in the Truckee-Tahoe region, while providing practical strategies for organizations and households that can reduce costs, improve compliance, and lessen environmental impacts.

As a Truckee local and a waste reduction consultant with more than a decade of experience working with businesses, hospitals, ski resorts, and public agencies around the world, López Godoy brings both global expertise and a deep commitment to the community she calls home. She is also a founding member of the Tahoe Truckee Climate Transformation Alliance and presented on these topics during the Alliance's quarterly meeting on July 10, 2026, further demonstrating her commitment to helping local organizations build a more sustainable future.

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One of the presentation's most eye-opening takeaways was that Truckee hasn't had a landfill since 1995. Instead, waste collected by Tahoe Truckee Sierra Disposal (TTSD) is transported to the Eastern Regional Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) on Cabin Creek Road, where it is sorted before being shipped elsewhere. Trash ultimately travels to Lockwood, Nevada. Food waste is sent to Carson City, cardboard is shipped overseas for processing, and mixed recyclables depend on changing market conditions. (Look at the daily stacks of cardboard that have to be shipped overseas from TTSD in the graphic below!)

López Godoy also addressed several persistent misconceptions about recycling.

One myth is that TTSD throws everything into the same truck, so there’s no need to separate recyclables. In reality, recyclable materials such as cardboard and metals are separated and processed at the Materials Recovery Facility. Another misconception is that everything placed in a recycling bin is automatically recycled. The truth is much more complicated. Workers manually sort materials, focusing on items that have value. They aren't removing food wrappers from cans or cleaning contaminated recyclables.

"The honest truth," López-Godoy explained, "is that what you put in the bin—and how clean it is—determines the outcome." In other words, the greatest opportunity to improve recycling happens before materials ever leave a business. One key point she made was that wet materials contaminate other potential recycling.

Perhaps an even more important reminder is that recycling is not the ultimate solution. While recycling remains important, she described it as a limited system that cannot solve the waste problem on its own. Compostable products aren't always accepted locally, despite being marketed as environmentally friendly. Instead, the most effective strategy is preventing waste before it is created.

"Waste is an inefficiency," López Godoy said, encouraging businesses to see discarded materials not simply as garbage, but as unnecessary expenses.

Her presentation introduced a straightforward five-step framework for businesses:

• Know what you're actually generating.
• Understand your waste costs.
• Improve waste and recycling infrastructure.
• Rethink purchasing decisions to reduce single-use items.
• Create systems that make proper waste management part of everyday operations.

Among the most practical recommendations were conducting a simple walkthrough of the business to identify waste streams, reviewing waste invoices to uncover potential savings, improving signage and placing bins together so employees know exactly what belongs in each bin, and training new staff on proper waste sorting from day one. Even purchasing decisions—such as reducing single-use products—can lower both waste disposal costs and operating expenses.

López Godoy also highlighted the growing number of California and Town of Truckee regulations governing recycling, food waste separation, and single-use products, reminding business owners that waste reduction isn't just good environmental stewardship—it's increasingly part of doing business responsibly.

Ultimately, both of López Godoy's presentations left attendees with an encouraging message. While no business can eliminate every piece of waste, every business and household can make meaningful improvements.

As López Godoy summarized, "There's only so much we can do—but there's so much that we can do."

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