Waste hauler Republic Services is preparing to open one of the nation’s largest composting and mulch processing facilities in El Mirage, a tiny Mojave Desert community where the Joshua trees outnumber the people.
When it opens this fall, the $90 million organics processing facility will help Southern California communities meet the state’s green waste reduction requirements.
The operation is under construction on a dairy farm along Sheep Creek Road that once boasted a herd of more than 2,000 cows, with some scales and loafing sheds for cattle still standing.
The dairy farm folded nearly two decades ago when the original owner realized the land was more valuable by selling the water rights to a local government entity overseeing a region thirsty for water. That entity — the Phelan Pinon Hills Community Services District — eventually flipped the land to a struggling compost operator, Circle Green Inc., before the property changed hands yet again with new owner Republic entering the picture in late 2024.
The fully permitted Republic facility is about a 15-minute drive north of Phelan, the biggest town off State Route 138, a major scenic east-west highway that stretches along the northern fringe of the San Gabriel Mountains.
Circle Green owner Kevin Sutton, who runs a compost and mulching operation in Ontario, told the Southern California News Group that he became stretched too thin financially to transform the El Mirage site into an environmentally compliant composting site — so he sold the former Meadowbrook Dairy Farm to the deep-pocketed Republic.
He also had other problems to deal with.
In recent years, the 119-square mile El Mirage valley also has been the focus of drug raids and anti-gang activities. Shards of plastic sheets still blow in the remote areas where hundreds of pot greenhouses were destroyed by law enforcement authorities in major busts.
“It was like the wild, wild West out there on the El Mirage land. There were hundreds of people living there, working in pop-up greenhouses to grow marijuana,” Sutton recalled. “They were bathing in these ponds on the site that were filled by water trucks. They were like slave workers. It was quite remarkable that it was actually happening here in our backyard and no one seemed to care because it’s out in the middle of nowhere.”
The sparsely populated desert area has seen its fair share of illegal dumping for decades, with lawsuits filed by activists in state and federal courts to stop the practice.
Photos and videos provided by Sutton to SCNG show extensive dumping of all kinds of waste ranging from metal bars and tires to mounds of wood and organics along dirt roads extending into the desolate desert.
A ‘nicer place’
At the end of one such littered-road adjacent to the Republic property is the Awakening Ranch, a faith-based recovery and rescue mission. Last week, multiple “private property” signs were seen posted on a fence surrounding the ranch where a Rottweiler roamed.
“It’s a much nicer place now,” said Rick Christensen, a board member with the Wrightwood Community Service District, who was sipping a cup of coffee at the nearby Starbucks in Phelan. “I can remember years ago feeling a little uncomfortable and not wanting to get off the main road. Nowadays, I might describe it as a whole lot of nothing.”
There is renewed interest in the area.
Near the El Mirage dry lake a few miles north of Republic’s green waste operation, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is building an 85,000-square-foot hangar at El Mirage Field, a private airfield the San Diego-based drone maker leases and plans to test remotely piloted aircraft that provide spy and surveillance capabilities for the military.
“I see the arrival of Republic as a good thing for the town,” said Don Bartz, general manager of the Phelan Pinon Hills Community Services District, which oversees utility and park services within a 150-square-mile jurisdiction area that includes El Mirage. “There’s going to be some jobs created, and that is definitely one of the things there’s a shortage out here.”
Republic hopes to hire about 40 workers when the facility opens in the fall, and process 300,000 tons of green and food waste per year, with the capability to double that amount in years to come, said Chris Seney, director of organics operations with Republic. “It’ll be our largest in California.”
Seney explained that a massive network already exists to collect the organics from homes and businesses before being brought to El Mirage. Garbage trucks in communities throughout Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties will fan out to take the green waste initially to transfer stations where they’ll be sorted from nonorganic items. Some of these stations are in Anaheim, Compton, Huntington Beach and Long Beach.
When the El Mirage operation is ready, most of the food scraps and other organics will be hauled there, where the waste can be processed on a large scale.
This is all big business for Republic.
The Phoenix-based company is the nation’s second largest waste disposal and environmental services provider with a market capitalization of $62 billion — behind Houston-based Waste Management, now known as WM, with its market cap of $85 billion.
Billionaire Bill Gates is the largest investor in Republic Services. Through his Cascade Investment LLC, Gates owned roughly 36% of the company as of Feb. 20, 2026, according to financial analytics tracker Fintel.
Why green waste?
Why is Republic building the new compost site?
Sorting green waste — food scraps and yard trimmings — keeps it out of landfills, where it rots and releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas, according to Seney.
Instead, the organic material is composted into nutrient-rich soil that’s free of pathogens and dangerous bacteria.
At Republic’s El Mirage facility — referred to as the “San Bernardino Sustainability Park” — trucks carrying the organics from the transfer stations will be weighed when they arrive.
This is when the magic begins.
The organics then get separated from hazardous materials before they are scraped into heaps into the “positive aerated static pile compost” facilities being built. The facilities are each roughly the size of two football fields. More are planned in coming years when the operation doubles in size.
A key aspect of the aerated compost facilities are mechanical blowers built underneath the concrete-lined, carved-out areas where air is pushed upward through ductwork emptying into in the heaps of organic waste above. Because the pile remains unturned during the decomposition phase, the aeration phase creates compost quickly and minimizes odors.
The food scraps, which can include banana peels, watermelon rinds and fruit and vegetable slices, are eventually broken down into compost in a few months or less. That’s the nutrient-rich mulch that could end up being bagged by a landscaper, sold at a local nursery or big-box retailer, or hauled back to cities where they could be distributed for free, Seney explained.
Republic also has completed digging out a channel of flood control ponds in the rear of the 140-acre property, with 60 acres dedicated to the compost operations.
To the west of the ponds, TSG Containers is running a pop-up yard where Walmart sent hundreds of containers in late 2020 through 2022 to alleviate congestion in the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles due to pandemic-era shifts in consumer buying and labor shortages. The lease on that yard expires within the next few years — returning to Republic the purchased land to build more aerated compost facilities, according to Seney.
He said some of the property that the company bought could continue to grow alfalfa for local farmers. A few irrigation pivots — automated agricultural watering systems consisting of a long pipe suspended on wheeled towers — were left behind on the property by the old Meadowbrook dairy farm.
It’s the law
Republic is building this organics processing facility because a state law went into effect four years ago (Senate Bill 1383) that mandates the diversion of 75% of all food and organic waste away from landfills. It’s why residents put food scraps and plant trimmings into a green waste container instead of the usual black trash bins.
California must annually manage about 17 million tons of organics to meet the law’s targets, according to CalRecycle spokesman Lance Klug. This means that the state needs about 8 million tons of additional processing capacity, which can come from expanding existing facilities, upgrading wastewater treatment plants, or building new facilities, he said.
U.S. food waste is estimated to be 30-40% of the food supply, and Californians throw away 5-6 million tons of food waste annually, according to the California Department of Agriculture.
Cities and towns that fail to divert the food and organics from landfills risk fines up to $10,000 a day. Homeowners also can receive stiff fines of hundreds of dollars and have warning tags placed on their containers if they don’t comply with the law.
Republic is working with dozens of cities — ranging from Brea, Costa Mesa, Fullerton, Seal Beach, Fountain Valley, Yorba Linda and Newport Beach in Orange County, to Alhambra, El Segundo, La Canada, Lawndale, Rolling Hills, Rosemead and San Fernando in L.A. County.
Republic also has contracts to supply compost with cities in most of San Bernardino County. WM has a lock on cities in Riverside County and parts of Orange County.
Food scrap education
Not all consumers are on board with the food scrap separation ritual — an indication of the tough sell of educating the public about compliance with the state law.
“I don’t compost. I have not committed to the process. I know it’s the right thing to do. Would I do it if I committed the time to separate the trash? It’s a bit of a commitment and a habit that I have to develop,” said Brea resident Tom Johnson. “I’m not politcally opposed to committing to this.”
Some of the compost is returned to cities for free, but it depends on the local franchise agreement and community programs. These are typically offered through annual community giveaway events in cities such as Carlsbad, Fremont, Fullerton and San Diego, and scheduled drop-off hubs or direct home delivery. Mulch requests can be made through the Frank R. Bowerman Landfill in Irvine, Prima Deshecha Landfill in San Juan Capistrano and the Olinda Alpha Landfill in Brea, according to the Orange County Waste and Recycling Department.
Anaheim resident and retired landscaper Mario Corona says he has followed the new protocol in his city since implemented four years ago.
“One of my pet peeves is that I separate the garbage for them, wheel the bins to the curb and they charge me,” complained Corona of his monthly garbage bill. “If the compost comes back to the homeowner, do I have to buy it back? That’s just insane. Why buy our own trash?”
Corona mistakenly concluded that he must buy back the compost from Anaheim. The city offers up to 60 gallons of compost for free from giveaway events — the latest took place at Angel Stadium of Anaheim in March.
California’s SB 1383 law
State regulator: California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, or CalRecycle, is the state’s lead agency for waste management, recycling and waste reduction.
CalRecycle investments: $466 million in grants and $21.3 million in loans. Republic has received about $12.5 million in state grants in recent years — including for disposal and compost sites in Chula Vista, Sonoma County, Long Beach and Vernon.
Municipal partnerships with Republic: Residental, commercial businesses and industrial customers can find city-specific information on recycling on Republic’s website.
Source: CalRecycle