1 STAFF REPORT
DATE: March 1, 2022
TO: Justin Hess, City Manager
FROM: Ken Berkman, Public Works Director
VIA: John Molinar, Assistant Public Works Director – Street and Sanitation BY: Amber Duran, Recycling Coordinator
SUBJECT: Introduction of an Ordinance Amending Title 4, Chapter 2, Article 1 of the Burbank Municipal Code, Relating to Solid Waste and Organics Recycling (SB1383)
RECOMMENDATION
1) Introduce AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK REPEALING AND REPLACING ARTICLE 1 (SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT) OF CHAPTER 2 (SOLID WASTE, WEEDS AND LITTER) OF TITLE 4 (HEALTH AND
SANITATION) OF THE BURBANK MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT (Attachment 1).
BACKGROUND
In September of 2016, Governor Brown signed into law Senate Bill (SB) 1383, the Short -Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Act. SB1383 is the most significant waste reduction mandate to be adopted in California in the last 30 years and establishes methane emissions reduction targets statewide to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP). SB1383 statewide targets are intended to achieve the following actions by 2025: (1) reduce organic waste disposal by 75%; and (2) recover for human consumption not less than 20% of surplus edible food that is currently disposed.
SB1383 is the successor to A ssembly Bill (AB) 341 (Mandatory Commercial Recycling) and AB1826 (Mandatory Commercial Organics Recycling) building upon the previous regulations to reduce the disposal of organic waste sent to landfills. Landfilling organic waste leads to anaerobic breakdown of that material which creates SLCP and potent greenhouse gases such as methane.
Reducing methane and other similar SLCP is paramount in combating the impacts of climate change and air pollution.
PUBLIC
WORKS
2 The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecy cle) oversees a variety of programs and policy initiatives to reduce the amount of solid waste sent to landfills and to promote recycling within the State and was tasked with adopting implementation regulations to achieve the SB1383 statewide targets . To c omply with the requirements of SB1383 and CalRecycle regulations, all cities, counties, and special districts with solid waste collection must adopt ordinances or other enforcement mechanisms to reduce organic waste delivered to landfills.
CalRecycle considers the adoption of an enforceable ordinance one of the most important aspects of SB1383 compliance. Failure to adopt such an ordinance is considered a “major” violation under the SB1383 Regulations, and CalRecycle may fine a jurisdiction up to $10,000 per day for such a violation. Although SB1383 required jurisdictions to adopt such ordinances by January 1, 2022, SB619 (passed in October of 2021) provides an opportunity for jurisdictions to design and implement successful organic waste recycling programs by waving civil penalties through a corrective action plan if the jurisdiction anticipates the delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic will prevent implementation by 2023. To invoke this process, the City would need to submit a Notice of Intent to Comply (NOIC) with SB1383 Regulations to CalRecycle for their approval, including specific compliance gaps, actions the City will take to comply, and a timeline for implementation.
Staff does not believe a NOIC is necessary . With the adoption and implementation of the proposed Ordinance and commencing the new organics collection program, the City should be in compliance with SB1383 by January 1, 2023.
SB1383 authorizes cities to impose fees on private haulers, as well as implement collection fees for City -furnished collection services to recover the costs to comply with SB1383 organics collection requirements. In addition, to assist with initial program implementation, CalRecycle has designated $137,384 for the City of Burbank through the SB1383 Local Assistance Grant Program, which is t entatively scheduled for release on April 1, 2022, if the Council adopts the proposed Ordinance by April 1, 2022. In addition, agencies may be eligible to receive additional funds from the balance that remains from jurisdictions that did not apply. Jurisdictions who adopt an ordinance after April 1, 2022, will have funds delayed to the second funding release, tentatively scheduled for September 1, 2022, and will not receive any added funds.
DISCUSSION
The City’s solid waste management program is currently outlined in Title 4, Chapter 2, Article 1 of the Burbank Municipal Code (BMC). Under the existing program, the City provides solid waste collection services to residential and certain commercial customers. Other customers are serviced by private haulers who are authorized to collect solid waste in the City through a non- exclusive permitting system. In addition to establishing the permitting system for solid waste haulers, the current BMC also includes provisions that govern how businesses and residents must properly handle and dispose of solid waste in the City (including garbage, recyclables, and green waste).
The proposed Ordinance preserves the primary elements of the City’s existing solid waste management program, and adds the following SB1383 regulatory requirements to the program:
• Specifically requires that r esidents and businesses must have organics collection service, in addition to garbage and recyclables collection, and properly sort these 3 materials (limited waivers may be issued). Pursuant to SB1383 Regulations, “organics” includes both green waste and food waste.
• Businesses must supply, through their hauler, an adequate number of labeled, color coded containers for employees, contractors, tenants, and customers, consistent with the collection program provided by their selected hauler (or self -haul) and educate employees and tenants about proper sorting.
• Businesses must provide additional labeled or color -coded containers for organic waste and recyclable materials generated by that business in all areas where the business provides disposal containers for employees, tenants, customers, and other users of the premises.
• Private haulers must take organic waste to facilities that recover source separated organic waste and recyclables to facilities that recover recyclable materials. • Self-haulers of organic waste must source separate organics and take them to a facility that recovers organics and keep specified records.
• Commercial edible food generators (such as grocery stores, food distributors, restaurants, and hotels), must divert edible food through a written agreement with food recovery organizations and keep specified records.
• Food recovery organizations and services must maintain certain records, including written agreements with edible food generators.
• Allows the City to conduct inspections and enforcement of the SB1383 requirements through the administrative citation process and assess specified penalties.
Collection Service Requirements
SB1383 requires the provision of organic waste collection service to all commercial and residential organic waste generators in the C ity. The City currently provides a 3- container (garbage, recyclables, and green waste) collection service to resident ial generators, and a 2 -container (garbage and recyclables) collection service to certain commercial generators . To comply with the SB1383 requirements, the City will add organics collection to its commercial collection routes and add food scraps as an accepted material in residential green waste containers. Furthermore, if a generator does not receive City collection service, the generator will still be required to arrange for garbage, recyclables, and organics collection services through a private hauler, or by self- hauling. To comply with these collection requirements, generators will be required to place separated recyclable materials in a designated collection container; yard waste and food waste in a designated collection container; and garbage in a designated collection container.
Although collection service for solid waste, recyclable materials, and organic waste is mandatory, SB1383 provides limited conditions for waivers from some of these requirements , which are incorporated into the proposed Ordinance. Approval of waivers is subject to the City’s discretion, but SB1383 does provide minimum conditions for approval. The City may waive a businesses’ requirement to subscribe to organic material collection service in cases where de minimis amounts of organic material are generated by that business or where a property does not have sufficient space to store a designated container for collection of organic waste. The City may designate private haulers or other entities to assess waiver applicability through s ite visits and 4 provide supporting documentation. However, the City must issue waivers itself and cannot delegate this approval authority.
Regulation of Haulers
In addition to the municipal collection service offered by the City, SB1383 allows the City to provide compliant collection services through private haulers (through a permitting or contract system) and may also authorize a self-hauling program. The proposed Ordinance incorporates SB1383 requirements for private haulers, including a requirement for the City to approve which facilities private haulers transport organic waste to for recovery.
Self-haulers are businesses or residents that transport their own waste materials to a recycling or composting facility using their own vehic les and equipment. Self -haulers include landscape contractors and gardeners that generate organic waste as part of their service and haul it directly to a facility for recovery rather than utilizing curbside collections service. The proposed Ordinance specifies that self -haulers must properly separate discarded materials and transport separated materials to a facility that can recover or dispose of each type of material as appropriate.
Commercial self-haulers must also maintain records, which are subject to inspection by the City, to verify self-haul activities meet certain SB1383 requirements.
Edible Food Recovery
Edible food recovery means collecting edible food that would otherwise go to waste and redistributing it to feed people in need. The National Resources Defense Council reports 40% of all food meant for human consumption is wasted and is deposited in landfills. Donation of edible food is the highest and best use for food that would otherwise go to waste. Feeding hungry people through food recovery is the best use for surplus food and a vital way for California to conserve resources and reduce waste thrown in landfills.
SB1383 targets large food-service businesses to donate surplus edible food to reduce waste and corresponding methane emissions. Mandated food donors include supermarkets, grocery stores, food distributors, restaurants (≥ 5,000 sq. ft. or 250+ seats), hotels and health facilities with on- site kitchens, schools with on- site food facilities, and large events and venues. As part of these regulations, the City must perform outreach to these affected food donors, track the agreements with food recovery organizations and services, collect donation records and report the annual pounds of food recovered in Burbank to CalRecycle.
Inspection and Enforcement
The proposed Ordinance includes enforceable language to meet SB1383 compliance. This enables staff (or designees) to perform inspections, assess contamination levels, and educate businesses and residents about the requirement to properly separate waste materials for recovery or disposal. SB1383 sets forth a progressive enforcement requirement that focuses on education before penalties must be assessed beginning in 2024. All residents and businesses will receive outreach and education from s taff and/ or private haulers and will be given several chances to 5 comply before notices of violation are issued. Enforcement actions may include penalties if violations persist.
SB1383 and Solid Waste Management Program Requi rements A ddressed Outside of the Proposed Ordinance
SB1383 also requires the City to comply with certain operational requirements, which will be established through a combination of internal policies and programs, as well as the administrative adoption of rules and regulations by the Public Works Director with approval as to form by the City Attorney. Specifically, these internal policies and administrative rules will include provisions that address the following:
• City procurement of post-consumer compost, mulch, and paper products to satisfy SB1383 procurement thresholds.
• Annual outreach and education by the City.
• City’s receipt and response to complaints of violations and other disputes. • Recordkeeping (including, but not limited to, submittal by private hauler s and edible food generators), and annual reporting requirements.
• Private hauler permit application requirements and conditions. • Waiver application requirements and issuance.
• City collection service details (such as collection locations, designated collection areas, and procedures to request bulky item pick-up).
Finally, fees associated with private hauler permits as well as City-provided collection service will be presented for Council review and approval within the City’s Fee Resolution during the upcoming FY2022/23 budget process.
Although the main focus of the changes to the Ordinance are due to SB1383, staff has also taken the opportunity to change other relevant portions. These changes were made to bring Burbank’s Ordinance up to date, remove irrelevant portions, and to meet today’s regulations and standards.
One prime example of this is changing the bulky item section. In this section there were lists of acceptable and unacceptable items. Some of the accepted items that were once acceptable are not acceptable today - for instance trees and auto parts. These lists of items are everchanging, thus the Ordinance has been changed to designate the Public Works Director as the keeper of a list of acceptable and unacceptable items for collection. Changes such as this one will allow the Department to adapt to changing regulations without changing the Ordinance each time.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact to adopt the proposed Ordinance. However, if the proposed Ordinance is adopted before April 1, 2022, the City will receive $137,384 from the SB1383 Local Assistance Grant Program during the first funding cycle to assist in funding the significant staff time and consultant expenses that are needed to implement the SB1383 requirements. By satisfying the April 1, 2022 deadline, the City may also be eligible to receive additional grant funds beyond the initial $137,384 allocation. If the proposed Ordinance is approved by Council before April 1, 2022, the Council will be asked to amend the FY2021/22 Budget to appropriate such grant funds.
6 Costs to implement the organics collection program are still being assessed. Necessary increases in the Solid Waste Enterprise fund to cover operational costs will be passed through to the ratepayers via the annual Proposition 218 process.
CONCLUSION
City Council approval of an updated solid waste management program as outlined in this report is a State mandated requirement. Staff respectfully recommends adopting the proposed ordinance to remain in compliance with SB1383.
ATTACHMENT
Attachment 1 – ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK REPEALING AND REPLACING ARTICLE 1 (SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT) OF CHAPTER 2 (SOLID WASTE, WEEDS AND LITTER) OF TITLE 4 (HEALTH AND SANITATION) OF THE BURBANK
MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT