City Council
259 N. Wilma Avenue
Ripon, CA 95366
MEMO
To: Honorable City Council
From: James Pease, Public Works Director
Date: 09/12/2023
Subject: Gilton Resource Recovery
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Approve and authorize the Mayor to sign the agreement with Gilton Resource Recovery for residential municipal solid waste processing in order to comply with the State mandated requirements of Senate Bill 1383.
BACKGROUND:
The City of Ripon, along with all jurisdictions in California, are subject to several California solid waste laws. The most recent piece of legislation State Senate Bill 1383, which was signed into law by Governor Brown in 2016, required jurisdictions to adopt enforceable ordinances that are consistent with the requirements of the Organic Waste Diversion regulations to mandate compliance from organic waste generators, haulers and other entities. The law establishes methane emissions reduction targets in a statewide effort to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants in various sectors of California's economy and establishes a target of a 50 percent organics disposal reduction by 2020 and a 75 percent reduction by 2025 using 2014 as the baseline. The law also grants CalRecycle the regulatory authority required to achieve the organic waste disposal reduction targets and establishes an additional target that not less than 20 percent of currently disposed edible food is recovered for human consumption by 2025.
The City Council approved Ordinance 912 at the March 8, 2022 City Council meeting that amended Chapter 8.12 “Garbage Collection and Disposal” of the Ripon Municipal Code to meet the requirements set forth by the State. The ordinance has several references to the CalRecycle Organic Waste Reduction regulations, which are enforced through the California Code of Regulations Title 14-Natural Resources, Division-7 Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery.
The regulations of the Senate Bill are very restrictive and include most sectors such as residential, commercial businesses, commercial food generators, schools, industrial and government entities. Each resident and business must subscribe to an organic waste collection service that either source separates the waste (separate bins) or transports all unsegregated waste to a facility that recovers 75 percent of the organic content collected from the system.
DISCUSSION:
At the June 13, 2023, staff provided the Council details of certain requirements within the bill that will have the largest impacts on residential rates, capital expenses, procurement obligations and operational challenges. Staff outlined the three CalRecycle options that cities and counties are limited to for residential curbside collection services noting specific advantages and challenges related to each and how they compare to our current collection operation.
Council directed staff to continue the two container collection service and move forward with drafting an agreement between the City and Gilton in order to provide the most cost effective path to complying with SB1383. An annual increase of approximately $250,000 will be added to the current operation which will result in an approximate 12% increase to the current rates. Staff will provide the City Council with a detailed cost analysis of the SB1383 impacts to the Garbage Enterprise Funds and current rates during the upcoming annual enterprise fund update for year 4.
The attached agreement with Gilton details the requirements of each party and once executed allows the City to begin hauling residential curbside black can waste to the Gilton high diversion organic processing facility in order to comply with SB1383.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The tipping fee increase to process the residential municipal solid waste at the Gilton facility is approximately $250,000 annually once implemented and will be paid for through the Garbage Enterprise Operating Fund.
Attachments:
1. Gilton Resource Recovery Agreement