TO: Board of Directors
FROM: Amanda Griffis - Supervising Environmental Resource Specialist
REPORT BY: Amanda Griffis - Supervising Environmental Resource Specialist
SUBJECT: California Integrated Waste Management Act
RECOMMENDATION
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CALIFORNIA INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT ACT
DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Staff to provide an update on the status of activities relevant to the Act.
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BACKGROUND
WASTE REDUCTION, RECYCLING, HAZARDOUS WASTE PROGRAMS UPDATE
HAZARDOUS WASTE COLLECTIONS - Upper Valley Waste Management Agency (UVWMA) staff are working to schedule the spring hazardous waste (HW) collection event for Friday April 25 1:00pm - 4:00pm (business) and Saturday April 26 8:00am - 1:00pm (residential), to take place at the Upper Valley Compost & Recycling (UVD&R) Yard in Rutherford. In addition to HW, staff are working to add electronic waste collection and paper shredding for residents during the April 26 event, to replicate what was done in 2024. Residents may also pick up compost at no charge during the April 26 event.
UVWMA’s HW collections contractor Clean Earth will mobilize for the temporary event, collect and dispose of HW dropped off by the public. UVWMA pays a set fee for mobilization dependent upon the number of cars that use the event. Businesses will schedule appointments and pay disposal costs for their materials, residents are not charged a fee and are not required to schedule appointments. UVWMA will pay for HW disposed of by residents.
Electronic waste will be collected by UVD&R and document shredding will be provided by a third-party vendor during the hazardous waste event. The electronic waste collection and document shredding are one of the three times per year events provided by UVD&R per the franchise agreement. The electronic waste collection and document shredding will be for residents only, not businesses. UVWMA will not pay separate fees for the electronic waste collection and document shredding.
The max per drop off for hazardous waste limited by state law, 15 gallons or 125 pounds per vehicle for both businesses and residents. The maximum drop off for document shredding will be five banker boxes. There will be four stops at the event - hazardous waste, electronic waste, document shredding and compost pick up.
UVWMA will pay for compost distributed to the public, counting towards the annual SB 1383 required organic product procurement target.
SHARPS AND MEDICATIONS DISPOSAL - SB 212 requires pharmaceutical companies to pay for a statewide medication and sharps take back program. SB 212 was approved by the Office of Administrative Law on January 7, 2021. Manufacturers are required to run statewide stewardship programs that provide safe and convenient disposal options for pharmaceutical and home-generated sharps waste at no cost to the consumer. Medication collections will be available in receptacles and via pre paid mail back options at no cost to consumers. Sharps will be collected via a secure mail back container at no cost to consumers. Secure sharps mail back containers are to be provided at the point of sale or with five days by stewardship programs and containers can also be requested online. A countywide flyer about SB 212, set up for print distribution, is included as Attachment A - SB 212 Flyer.
In addition to the above mentioned stewardship programs, Clean Earth accepts non-controlled medications and sharps at up-valley hazardous waste collection events. Clover Flat Landfill accepts sharps at no charge during regular business hours. A medication collection bin is located at the St. Helena, Calistoga and Yountville Police Department; non-controlled and controlled medications are accepted.
An unused medications and sharps collection event was held in October 2024. There were six locations countywide; including Calistoga, St Helena and Yountville. The DEA funded medication disposal costs. Napa County Sheriff staff transported all collected medications from the up valley sites to the destruction location. UVWMA funded an agreement for a countywide pick up and disposal of sharps collected. UVWMA staff have requested and received a reimbursement from one of SB 212’s program operators, Inmar, for all of those costs.
BEVERAGE CONTAINER RECYCLING PROGRAM - UVWMA applies as a regional agency for payments that CalRecycle issues for beverage container recycling programs. Staff uses the $25,000 of funds for beverage container recycling and litter reduction activities. Examples include the purchase of recycling bins for public buildings, community parks, main streets, businesses, schools and public gathering areas, recycling at public and private events, and related publicity and education. UVWMA submitted an application for the “FY 2024-25” funding cycle, the application has been recommended for payment by CalRecycle staff. Payment is expected to be received in April 2025. Funds can be expended between early 2025 (after award) and January 5, 2027. UVWMA staff are working to finalize use of the “FY 2022-23” funding cycle and will submit the required report by the due date of April 3, 2025.
CALRECYCLE - Each year, CalRecycle Local Assistance and Market Development (LAMD) staff conduct a conference call and site visit with jurisdictions. UVWMA’s conference call took place on December 4, 2024 and covered SB 1383 implementation. The site visit took place on December 12, 2024 and jurisdictions could select what public programs they want to highlight with CalRecycle staff. UVWMA staff brought CalRecycle staff to meet with UVD&R staff to discuss public outreach and collaborative efforts. The site visit also included: visiting Gott’s to see challenges that compostable plastic can create in recycling, meeting with Stonebridge Apartments to discuss successes and challenges with compost at a multi-family dwelling and walking through the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone and Prisoner Winery to see businesses succeeding with compost and recycling separation. The visit was an overall success and CalRecycle staff were able to see UVWMA’s public programs firsthand.
UVWMA staff have begun expenditures towards the second cycle of CalRecycle’s SB 1383 Local Assistance Grant Program. UVWMA was approved for the funding, the check for $300,000 has been received and UVWMA’s proposed plan for use of the funding has been approved by CalRecycle. UVWMA plans to use the funding to: procure compost that is required to be purchased by jurisdictions by SB 1383, contract with a consultant to create an outline for best practices for food recovery capacity assessments, print materials for public education and outreach, purchase interior compost bins and bags for the business assistance program and contract with environmental outreach and education firm to onboard multi-family dwellings for compost.
SB 1383 requires counties to assess, in collaboration with local cities and waste agencies, the amount of organics processing facility capacity and food recovery capacity available to jurisdictions within the county. Napa County identified a need for new or expanded edible food recovery capacity in every jurisdiction in Napa County in the recent planning period of 2025 - 2034. Due to the lack of capacity, jurisdictions were required to submit an implementation schedule to CalRecycle detailing how jurisdictions will access new or expand edible food recovery capacity. Food recovery capacity does not adhere to jurisdictional boundaries and food recovery capacity expansion will require a collaborative effort between all jurisdictions in Napa County. All cities in Napa County and Napa County collaborated to create and submit the same implementation schedule. Napa County will continue to lead countywide edible food recovery efforts and the regional group continues to meet about every six weeks.
BUSINESS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM - UVWMA and UVD&R offer free assistance to any business requesting help in improving waste version, it is also available to any business working to become complaint with SB 1383 and is often offered in the initial direct outreach to businesses who are notified they are not compliant with SB 1383. Assistance includes: a walk through to assess needs, UVD&R suggested service changes to allow for compliance with SB 1383, recycling and composting interior bins, staff trainings in English and Spanish, interior and exterior signs, interior bins stickers and ongoing support. Businesses may request assistance by calling UVD&R at 707-963-7988 or emailing UVWMA at upvalleyrecycles@countyofnapa.org.
UVWMA and UVD&R have prepared the annual all commercial account mailer, which will be mailed to all commercial accounts with the February 2025 bill. The mailer includes information on the requirements of SB 1383 as well as the available business assistance program. There are four different versions of the letter, each in English and Spanish, so the appropriate municipal code requiring compliance with SB 1383 could be included. A copy of the commercial getting started guide, that includes information on UVD&R services available and current waste management laws, will be included with the letter. A copy of one of the letters is included as Attachment B - SB 1383 Letter English and a copy of the Getting Started Guide is included as Attachment C - Getting Started Guide English. Spanish letters and getting started guide will be available online, accessed via a QR code on the English print letter.
SB 1383 IMPLEMENTATION - UVWMA and UVD&R continue work together to reach out individually via phone, email and site visit to non-compliant accounts to provide education and assistance with meeting organics recycling requirements.
Jurisdictions are required to enforce upon non complaint entities. UVWMA staff keep records of outreach efforts, allowing for referral of non compliant entities to code compliance when necessary. UVWMA is required to keep records of enforcement actions taken by jurisdiction code compliance staff for annual reporting to CalRecycle.
SB 1383 requires jurisdictions to meet container contamination minimization requirements. One way to meet these requirements is by conducting route reviews of all hauler routes for prohibited container contaminants once per year. Within routes, containers may be randomly selected along the route for further inspection and enough containers must be inspected in to order to adequately determine overall compliance. This further inspection is typically called “lid flips”. Residential lid flips were completed along residential routes in June and July and a summary of findings was included at an earlier board meeting. Commercial route reviews were conducted at the end of 2025, a summary of findings is included as Attachment D - Commercial Route Reviews.
UVWMA staff will be collaborating with UVD&R staff to increase monitoring of bins and carts for contamination at businesses. Contamination can include but is not limited to: food scraps and paper towels in landfill bin, soft stretchy plastic in recycling bins and compostable plastic in compost bins. Focus will begin at Tier 1 and Tier 2 mandated food donors, commercial accounts who are not compliant with SB 1383 despite multiple outreach and assistance efforts and businesses who were recently onboarded for composting.
UVWMA plans to procure organic products (compost) on behalf of member jurisdictions to meet 2025 targets. SB 1383 local assistance grant funding will be used to pay for compost purchases. The total target for 2025, which now at 100% of the actual target per the SB 1383 regulations and no longer reduced, is 4,343 cubic yards or 1,737 tons.
UVWMA staff sent the SB 1383 required annual notices to all Tier 1 and Tier 2 mandated food donors up valley in December. UVWMA is in the process of terminating a MOU with Napa County Planning, Building and Environmental Service (PBES). PBES was to conduct the SB 1383 required Tier 1 and Tier 2 mandated food donor inspections on behalf of UVWMA. UVWMA and PBES staff conducted a practice round of inspections in January. After the practice round, UVWMA staff concluded inspections were best conducted by UVWMA staff, as UVWMA staff can also provide assistance on recycling and composting programs, check exterior carts and/or bins for evidence of edible food being thrown out and UVWMA staff have the knowledge and background of countywide planning and public education efforts.
UVWMA staff are in the process of drafting an agreement with Soluna Outreach Solutions for outreach to and onboarding of multi-family dwellings for compost. Soluna Outreach Solutions specializes in environmental education and outreach, with a focus on outreach to non-English speakers. They are based out of Rohnert Park, have worked with Napa County and City of Napa and know UVD&R’s diversion services. The agreement will be for $20,000 through April 2026, which is within the agency directors signing authority. Soluna Outreach Solutions will be provided a list of multi-family dwellings up valley. The scope of work will include: verifying via site visit or UVD&R records if compost and recycling bins or carts are onsite, finding an onsite manager and their contact info, setting a meeting or site visit to explain requirements and conducting resident trainings that include distribution of compost pails, compostable bags and recycling baskets.
ZERO WASTE EVENT SUPPORT - UVWMA staff have created and made available a Request for Zero Waste Event Support application. The purpose of the form is to request from UVWMA a one-time reimbursement of up to $250 for efforts relating to making events that are free and open to the public zero or low waste. Reimbursements for the following items will be considered: temporary recycling and/or compost service, temporary bins for waste sorting stations, clear bags for recycling or compostable bags for compost, compostable service ware and signs for bins. The application was included in the October 2022 agenda packet, requests can be made via email to upvalleyrecycles@countyofnapa.org.
NAPA COUNTY BICYCLE COALITION - UVWMA staff are collaborating with Napa County Bicycle Coalition to tag garbage/recycle/compost carts that are left in bike lanes for extended periods of time, presenting a danger to bicyclists. The initial area where carts will be tagged include Yountville Cross Road and Zinfandel Lane. Cart tagging on Yountville Cross Road was completed in January 2025.
HOME COMPOSTING WORKSHOPS - Workshop co-sponsors, UVWMA, Napa County, City of Napa, and UC Master Gardeners of Napa County are working to schedule countywide 2025 workshop dates. The up valley workshop for 2025 has been scheduled for May 18, 2025 at the up valley campus. The up valley compost workshop will be a dual workshop again, where attendees choose to either learn about backyard composting or worm composting. UVMWA, Napa County, City of Napa and UC Master Gardeners are collaborating to update the compost workshop guide provided at each workshop.
FISCAL & STRATEGIC PLAN IMPACT
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Is there a Fiscal Impact? |
No |
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.