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 - The fall hazardous waste (HW) collection event is scheduled for October 31 1:00pm - 4:00pm (business) and November 1 8:00am - 1:00pm (residential). The event will be held at the Calistoga Fairgrounds. UVWMA’s HW collections contractor, Clean Earth, will collect and dispose of HW materials collected. Business will schedule appointments and pay disposal costs for their materials; residents are not charged a fee and are not required to schedule appointments.
Electronic waste will be collected by Upper Valley Disposal Services (UVDS) 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 UVDS per the franchise agreement. The electronic waste collection and document shredding will be for residents only, not businesses. The maximum drop off for document shredding will be five banker boxes. There will be three stops at the event - hazardous waste, electronic waste and document shredding.
A copy of both the business and residential event flyers are included as Attachment A - Calistoga Hazardous Waste Event.
The current agreement with Clean Earth allows for rate increases not more frequently than once per calendar year. Clean Earth staff have notified UVWMA of a proposed 6.7% rate increase. UVWMA staff have requested and are waiting to receive a justification for the increase and a new rate table, that will be included as an agreement amendment. UVWMA staff have not received the requested information at the time of agenda publish, the proposed amendment will be included at a later meeting date.
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. The regulations were effective immediately. 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. More information on these programs can be found at countyofnapa.org/hazwaste.
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.
UVWMA has begun planning and discussions for the fall DEA prescription drug take back day, it is scheduled for October 25, 2025. UVWMA, Napa County, City of Napa and law enforcement will coordinate for countywide participation and sharps will again be accepted for drop off along with the medications. The sharps will be collected and disposed of by a medical waste hauler, costs for this portion can be reimbursed by SB 212.
BEVERAGE CONTAINER RECYCLING PROGRAM - UVWMA applies as a regional agency for payments that CalRecycle issues for beverage container recycling programs. Staff use 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, and expenditures related to the installation of water refill stations. UVWMA submitted an application for the “FY 2024-25” funding cycle, the application has been approved by CalRecycle and payment has been received. Funds can be expended between early 2025 (after award) and January 5, 2027. UVWMA staff are now expending the “FY 2023-24” funding cycle, funds for that cycle can be expended through March 1, 2026.
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 June 26, 2025 and covered annual reporting and compliance with SB 1383. The site visit will be scheduled at the direction of CalRecycle staff, likely in the fall.
UVWMA submitted the electronic annual report (EAR) to CalRecycle on August 1, 2025. UVWMA staff complete the report for all member jurisdictions each year, reporting to CalRecycle on compliance and activities relating to AB 939, AB 1826, AB 341 and SB 1383.
UVWMA completed a SB 54 needs assessment survey in July, survey information will be compiled and used to assess recycling and composting systems currently in California and what upgrades will be required to meet SB 54 requirements. Information provided included number of carts and bins, number of customers, items accepted in the recycling and composting, number of waste haulers serving the area, barriers to participation, current outreach efforts and common contaminates seen.
SB 1383 requires CalRecycle to review the implementation records of all jurisdictions every four years, CalRecycle plans to review all jurisdictions by the end of 2027. This review will include giving CalRecycle access to all SB 1383 required implementation records, an in person site visit to review compliance with all aspects of SB 1383, then if needed a list of corrective actions. UVWMA staff are preparing the implementation record for UVWMA now, although UVWMA has not yet been alerted a review is forthcoming. At this time CalRecycle is unable to confirm if UVWMA will review as a whole or if each member jurisdictions review will be done separately at possibly a separate time. UVWMA will alert member jurisdiction staff of any records that are needed or should be prepared to be provided when needed.
SB 1383 IMPLEMENTATION - UVWMA and UVDS staff continue work together to reach out directly via phone, email and site visit to non-compliant accounts to provide education and assistance with meeting SB 1383 organics recycling requirements.
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 took place the week of July 7 and July 14. Recycle, compost and trash carts were inspected at a total of 120 residential accounts, 30 in each of the member jurisdictions. If contaminates were found, educational tags were left on the cart informing the resident of the error. Educational tags were left on 104 carts: 32 recycle, six compost and 65 trash. The most common contaminates found in recycle carts were soft plastics and bagged recyclables, the most common contaminates found in compost carts were plastic and packaged food, the most common contaminates found in the trash were food scraps and food soiled paper. 38% of the total tags were in Calistoga, 27% in St Helena, 22% in Yountville and 13% in County unincorporated. UVDS and UVWMA staff will be reaching out directly via email to all residents that received an educational tag, reminding them of what was placed in the incorrect cart and how to fix the error.
Commercial lid flips will begin shortly, approximately 30 commercial accounts will be inspected.
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 targets for 2025 are 4,343 cubic yards or 1,737 tons of finished compost. UVDS and UVWMA staff are finalizing plans to purchase a batch of bagged compost and make it available at any time for residents to pick up at no charge. This will likely be ready for public access at the end of the calendar year. It will be promoted to residents up valley and details will be provided at a later meeting date.
In summer 2024, UVWMA partnered with the City of Napa and Napa County to release funding to expand the countywide capacity for edible food recovery. Two projects were awarded, $50,000 to Feeding it Forward to retrofit an electric van with refrigeration and $40,000 to Community Action of Napa Valley to purchase a vehicle to pick up smaller loads of excess edible food. Funding is provided as a reimbursement; Napa County has received the first request for reimbursement from Feeding it Forward. The required first report and associated invoice have been reviewed and approved by Napa County, UVWMA and City of Napa staff.
OUTREACH - UVWMA staff completed a professional services agreement with Soluna Outreach Solutions. The agreement maximum will be $40,000 through June 30, 2026. $30,000 will be covered by the CalRecycle SB 1383 grant, the remaining $10,000 from the UVWMA annual budget. The agreement has two possible one year extensions, maximum of $10,000 per one-year extension. Soluna Outreach Solutions is based out of Sonoma County, and they specialize in environmental education and outreach to both English and Spanish speaking communities. Soluna Outreach Solutions will be directly contacting and assisting multifamily dwellings with compliance with SB 1383 composting mandates. There are 83 multifamily dwellings within UVWMA, some are on traditional commercial service with UVDS, and some received individual residential service. UVWMA staff have developed and finalized two new brochures to assist with this outreach effort. They are included as Attachment B - Property Manager English and Spanish and Attachment C - Tenant English and Spanish.
The shared enclosure in the City of Calistoga, located at the rear of the Calistoga Fire Station parking lot, is an ongoing challenge. Overflowing bins and dumping of bulky items can block access for UVDS to service the enclosure, can spread litter into area and cleaning the enclosure before service is beyond the scope of UVDS services. UVDS will begin contacting commercial customers using the shared enclosure, informing them that the enclosure needs to be kept in an orderly manner and future excess waste accumulation in the enclosure will result in a fee from UVDS to clean it up. To avoid fees, businesses will be encouraged to keep the enclosure orderly and ready for service by UVDS.
BUSINESS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM - UVWMA and UVDS offer free assistance to any business requesting help in improving waste diversion, 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, UVDS suggested service changes to allow for compliance with SB 1383, recycling and composting interior bins, staff trainings, interior and exterior signs, interior bins stickers and ongoing support. Businesses may request assistance by calling UVDS at 707-963-7988 or emailing UVWMA at upvalleyrecycles@countyofnapa.org.
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.
NON-FRANCHISED HAULERS - UVWMA staff are working to update an administrative warning/citation form, to be issued to waste haulers providing services that are in the violation of the franchise agreement with UVDS. A draft form has been reviewed by counsel, staff are working to ensure the code(s) referenced in the letter are up to date. A finalized copy of the warning/citation form will be included at a later meeting date.
UVWMA GRANTS - In August 2020 and June 2023, the UVWMA board approved a proposed project from the City of St Helena, $120,000 for the Money Way Waste/Recycling Consolidation Project. St. Helena did not move forward with that project. In May 2024, UVWMA approved a project revision to instead purchase new recycling, compost and trash containers for City of St Helena parks. UVWMA staff viewed the newly installed bins and have offered assistance with designing and printing appropriate signage for each bin, showing what can go in. UVWMA has received and completed a reimbursement to the City of St Helena for the bins for $101,599.77.
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.