In the early 2010s, Nursery Products announced plans to operate an open-air human waste composting facility in an unincorporated part of San Bernardino County, eight miles from the city of Hinkley. The 160-acre land parcel in the Mojave Desert was slated to receive an average of 1,100 tons of raw human waste by truck each day, 365 days out of the year. The site had no utilities, and the company planned not to install any, running the entire operation off generators and using chemical toilets for employees. Though there are many examples nationally and within California of human waste composting facilities operating within enclosed conditions, the company rejected that idea as infeasible.
The County approved of the project even while finding that it would produce significant adverse air quality issues and would emit regulated toxic air contaminants. Environmental advocates and local residents filed suit under CEQA contesting the project approval. The courts sided with them, preventing Nursery Products from opening the facility without first complying with CEQA by demonstrating how adverse effects would be handled and by assessing whether an enclosed facility was feasible.