TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Steven Lederer, Public Works Director
REPORT BY: Amanda Griffis, Supervising Environmental Resource Specialist
SUBJECT: Approve recommendations for and authorize staff to issue reimbursements for Edible Food Recovery Capacity Building projects
RECOMMENDATION
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Approve recommendations for and authorize staff to issue reimbursements for Edible Food Recovery Capacity Building projects to support the expansion of edible food recovery programs as required by Senate Bill 1383. (Fiscal Impact: $90,000 Expense; Zone-1 Garbage; Budgeted; Discretionary)
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BACKGROUND
Senate Bill 1383 (SB 1383) requires that by 2025, California will recover 20% of edible food that would otherwise be sent to landfills, to feed people in need. SB 1383 directs that jurisdictions must establish food recovery programs and strengthen their existing food recovery networks; and food donors must arrange to recover the maximum amount of their edible food that would otherwise go to landfills; and food recovery organizations and services that participate in SB 1383 must maintain records.
Food donors who are required to donate excess edible food are split into two tiers, Tier 1 and Tier 2. Tier 1 donors were required to comply beginning January 1, 2022. Tier 2 donors were required to comply beginning January 1, 2024. Tier 1 donors include supermarkets, grocery stores, food service providers, food distributors and wholesale food vendors. Tier 2 donors include restaurants that are larger than 5,000 sq ft or have more than 250 seats, hotels with onsite food and more than 200 rooms, health facilities with onsite food and more than 100 beds, large venues, large events, state agency cafeterias and local education agencies.
SB 1383 requires Tier 1 and Tier 2 food donors to donate the maximum amount of their edible food that would otherwise be disposed. However, it does not require food recovery organizations and services to participate. It is at the discretion of individual food recovery organizations and services to decide if they would like to participate. If a food recovery organization or service does choose to establish contracts or written agreements with Tier 1 and Tier 2 food donors, then SB 1383 requires them to keep records of the total pounds they collect from the mandated food donors.
Counties, in coordination with jurisdictions and regional agencies located in the county, are required to conduct capacity planning for edible food recovery. The first report on edible food recovery capacity was due to CalRecycle on August 1, 2022 and covered the period of January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2024. Napa County worked with consultant Abound Food Care to assess the capacity to recover edible food in Napa County. Abound Food Care found that Napa County lacked the needed capacity to recover excess edible food.
CalRecycle requires that any jurisdictions that have not identified enough existing food recovery capacity must submit an implementation schedule to CalRecycle. The implementation schedule must include timelines and milestones for planning new or expanded capacity. Napa County submitted an implementation schedule to CalRecycle in November 2022. The final action in the implementation schedule is finalizing plans for support
to expand the capacity of food recovery organizations and services in Napa County.
To complete the final action of supporting the expansion of food recovery services and organizations, Napa County collaborated with the City of Napa and Upper Valley Waste Management Agency to release a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for $90,000 on April 22, 2024. The application period closed and submissions were due May 17, 2024. Napa County (Zone 1 Solid Waste Unit), City of Napa and Upper Valley Waste Management Agency each contributed $30,000.
Guidelines for the NOFA were developed in accordance with SB 1383:
1. The funding can only be used to expand the capacity for edible food recovery in Napa County.
2. Only Food Recovery Organizations and Food Recovery Services that choose to establish contracts or written agreements with Tier 1 and Tier 2 food donors and accept excess edible food from Tier 1 and Tier 2 donors could apply.
3. Food Recovery Organizations and Food Recovery Services must be in compliance with SB 1383, which
includes recordkeeping requirements and proper separation of non-edible organic materials (for example
composting spoiled food that cannot be distributed for consumption).
4. SB 1383 defines a Food Recovery Organization as an “entity that engages in the collection or receipt of edible food from commercial edible food generators and distributes that edible food to the public for food recovery either directly or through other entities.”
5. SB 1383 defines a Food Recovery Service as “a person or entity that collects and transports edible food from a commercial edible food generator to a food recovery organization or other entities for food recovery.”
6. Projects must expand the applicant’s ability to collect, store and/or redistribute excess edible food, to allow for the expansion of the entire County’s capacity for edible food recovery.
7. Funding cannot be used to purchase food as purchased food is not food that is recovered from Tier 1 and Tier 2 donors.
8. Applicants may not use funding for staff time (this was included to help ensure sustainability of capacity
expansion efforts into the future when funding is no longer available or provided).
The NOFA was promoted to the public in the following ways. It was sent via direct email to all Food Recovery Organizations and Food Recovery Services operating in Napa County on April 15, 2024. Recipients of the direct email were: Abode Services, Feeding it Forward, Community Action of Napa Valley, Salvation Army, Napa County Farmworker Centers and Napa Valley College Basic Needs Center. An announcement was made at the monthly Napa County Food Security Coalition Meeting on April 8, 2024 and May 13, 2024. Napa County Food Security Coalition members include (but are not limited to): Napa Farmers Market, Abode Services, NEWS, Puertas Abiertas, Salvation Army, Share the Care, Gasser Foundation, St. Vincent de Paul, Molly’s Angels and Cope Family Center. Lastly the NOFA was shared on Napa County social media on April 16, 2024.
Two applications were received totaling $134,986, which is $44,986 more funding than is available. Napa County, City of Napa and Upper Valley Waste Management Agency staff thoughtfully reviewed and scored the applications, with the goal of recommending projects that most effectively and transparently expanded capacity for edible food recovery. To stay within the available budget, recommended funding based on scores is as follows.
1. $50,000 of the requested $50,000 to Feeding it Forward to install refrigeration in their new van, which will support their ability to recover and distribute excess edible food, prioritizing Tier 2 generators.
2. $40,000 of the requested $84,986 to Community Action Napa Valley for the purchase of a new refrigerated box truck to expand their ability to rescue excess edible food from Tier 1 generators.
Staff recommends the Board of Supervisors approve the two awards listed above. If the Board approves of the recommendations, staff will execute written agreements (to be executed by the Public Works Director) with Feeding it Forward and Community Action Napa Valley. Agreements will formalize the proposals, require quarterly reporting on progress of the project, require updates on how much more edible food was recovered with the funded project and require a detailed budget.
FISCAL & STRATEGIC PLAN IMPACT
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Is there a Fiscal Impact? |
Yes |
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Is it currently budgeted? |
Yes |
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Where is it budgeted? |
Sub-Division 2180000 |
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Is it Mandatory or Discretionary? |
Discretionary |
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Discretionary Justification: |
Approval of the requested action will expand edible food recovery capacity, which jurisdictions are required to do by SB 1383. |
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Is the general fund affected? |
No |
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Future fiscal impact: |
None |
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Consequences if not approved: |
Funding to expand edible food recovery capacity will not be provided to food recovery organizations and services. |
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: The proposed action is not a project as defined by 14 California Code of Regulations 15378 (State CEQA Guidelines) and therefore CEQA is not applicable.