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
title
CALIFORNIA INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT ACT
DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Staff to provide an update on the status of activities relevant to the Act.
body
BACKGROUND
WASTE REDUCTION, RECYCLING, HAZARDOUS WASTE PROGRAMS UPDATE
HAZARDOUS WASTE COLLECTIONS - Upper Valley Waste Management Agency (UVWMA) held a hazardous waste (HW), electronic waste (e-waste), paper shredding and compost giveaway event on Saturday November 1, 2025 at the fairgrounds in Calistoga. A HW event for businesses was held on Friday October 31, 2025. UVWMA’s HW collections contractor, Clean Earth, collected HW dropped off by the public. Upper Valley Disposal Services (UVDS) collected e-waste, a subcontractor of UVDS provided paper shredding. Compost was provided in one-cubic foot bags from a Waste Connections facility in Clearlake.
E-waste collection and paper shredding was provided at no additional cost, due to the franchise agreement with UVDS. UVWMA staff been notified of the cost of the event by Clean Earth but have not received the invoice yet, the cost totaled $38,931. Included in the cost is mobilization of Clean Earth for the temporary event and disposal of collected hazardous wastes. Ads to inform the public of the event totaled $4,574.99. There were four Napa County staff at the event, billing their time to UVWMA, as well as five UVDS staff in addition to Clean Earth staff.
One business made an appointment and paid for disposal of hazardous materials on Friday October 31. On Saturday November 1, residents from each of the UVWMA member communities participated in the household HW collection. There was a total of 454 event users, making the 2025 event the most well attended in agency history, surpassing the previous high by 7%. See Attachment A - 2025 Calistoga Event Data for survey data from the event.
400 one-cubic foot bags of compost were distributed at the event, totaling 7.4 tons. The cost per bag is $5, totaling $2,000. Providing compost by the bag, rather than by the ton, provides access to free compost to more residents that would like smaller amounts or don’t have the correct vehicle to transport unbagged compost. However the cost difference is substantial, purchasing compost by the bag ends up being $270 per ton, while purchasing in bulk by the ton is $35 per ton.
Staff have scheduled the spring HW collection event for Friday April 24, 2026 1:00pm - 4:00pm (business) and Saturday April 25, 2026 8:00am - 1:00pm (residential), to take place at the UVDS Compost & Recycling Yard. Hazardous and electronic waste will be collected in addition to free paper shredding and compost giveaway.
UVWMA staff are in discussion with City of Calistoga staff to secure a date for the fall 2026 event in Calistoga, negotiating so that no other large scale public events take place at the same time as the HW event. This may push the event later into November that has been done previously. Potential dates and location within the fairgrounds is to be determined, UVWMA and Calistoga staff are meeting again in January 2026 to finalize details.
SHARPS AND MEDICATIONS DISPOSAL - SB 212 requires pharmaceutical companies 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 napacounty.gov/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.
An unused medications and sharps collection event was held on October 25, 2025. There were six locations countywide; including Calistoga, St Helena and Yountville. In south Napa County, there were collection sites at Kaiser in the City of Napa, the Napa County Sheriff Department office and the American Canyon Police Department. Weights of medications collected: Calistoga 107 lbs, Yountville 24 lbs and St Helena 110 lbs. 38-gal containers for sharps were provided to each up valley location. Number of containers collected: Calistoga three containers, Yountville one container and St Helena two containers. Countywide compared to 2024, medication collection decreased 21% and sharps collected increased 41%.
The DEA funds medication disposal costs. Napa County Sheriff staff transported all collected medications from the up valley sites to the destruction location. UVWMA funded pick up and disposal costs for the sharps collected up valley and will be reimbursed for cost shares by the City of Napa and Napa County. Previously SB 212 program operator Inmar reimbursed UVWMA for sharps collection costs at this event, however recent changes to their policies dictate that temporary event costs can no longer be reimbursed.
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 staff are currently expending the “FY 2023-24” funding cycle, funds for that cycle can be expended through March 1, 2026. UVWMA has received the funds for the “FY 2024-25” funding cycle, funds can be expended between early 2025 (after award) and January 5, 2027. UVWMA have submitted an application for the “FY 2025-26” funding cycle, the application has been recommended for payment by CalRecycle staff. Payment is expected to be received in April 2026. Funds can expended between early 2026 (after award) and January 5, 2028.
CALRECYCLE - UVWMA received notice from CalRecycle’s Jurisdiction and Agency Compliance and Enforcement Branch (JACE) that the review of UVWMA’ s Electronic Annual Report was completed and they were not requesting any further information.
UVWMA staff completed and submitted the annual proof of designation form to CalRecycle, allowing UVDS to collect electronic waste from the public on behalf of UVWMA in calendar year 2026.
CalRecycle extended the term end date for the SB 1383 local assistance grant to November 1, 2026. Approximately $193,000 of the awarded $300,000 remains to be expended over the next year. UVWMA and Napa County staff are working together for a countywide waste characterization study, utilizing $90,000 of grant funding from the CalRecycle SB 1383 local assistance grant. The goal of the waste characterization study will be to determine what organic items are not properly sorted for composting or recycling. UVMWA will issue a request for qualifications seeking proposals from qualified vendors to perform the work. The facilities proposed for waste characterization up valley include Clover Flat Landfill and the UVDS materials recovery facility. The results of the study will allow UVWMA and Napa County staff to create and execute targeted outreach and public education campaigns, to get organics out of the landfill stream.
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.
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. Approximately 125 tons of compost remains to be distributed, UVWMA and UVDS have discussed plans to finalize distribution of the compost before the end of calendar year 2025.
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 (FIF) to retrofit an electric van with refrigeration and $40,000 to Community Action of Napa Valley (CANV) to purchase a vehicle to pick up smaller loads of excess edible food. In September, both FIF and CANV requested and received approval to adjust their project scopes and extend their agreements through the end of FY 25/26 to allow time to complete their projects. CANV has purchased, requested and received reimbursement for $40,000 for the purchase of a sprinter van to collect excess edible food. FIF has requested and received reimbursement for $15,000, $35,00 remains to be reimbursed to FIF upon their request.
Within UVWMA, there are nine tier one commercial edible food generators, four are compliant, further outreach and education remains to be conducted for the remaining five businesses. There are 13 tier two commercial edible food generators, five are compliant, further outreach and education remains to be conducted for the remaining eight businesses
UVWMA, Napa County, City of Napa and City of American Canyon met in December to discuss overall mandated donor compliance and collaborative next steps. After the current awarded grant agreements conclude, Napa County staff will work to execute an agreement with a consultant specializing in the food recovery field, to assess the impact of the previously awarded grant funding, what needs remain to capture all SB 1383 required donations and a framework to move forward on food recovery expansion. Potential future grant releases will be determined after the current need is assessed.
OUTREACH - UVWMA’s multi family dwelling outreach consultant, Soluna Outreach Solutions, has continued with outreach and education to multi family dwelling managers and owners and tenants on SB 1383 requirements in English and Spanish. Onsite resident training and drop off of resources like brochures and compost pails continued. UVWMA completed ordering 1,000 custom recycling bags, to provide to multi family dwelling residents with limited space, to collect their recyclables and take them out to enclosures.
UVWMA and UVDS staff are preparing the annual all commercial account mailer, which will be mailed to all commercial accounts in early 2026. The mailer includes information on the requirements of SB 1383 as well as the available business assistance program.
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 on going 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.
Up Valley Family Center was approved for a reimbursement for zero waste event supplies for their annual Dia de los Muertos event in St Helena. The reimbursement was for compost and recycle carts from Upper Valley Disposal & Recycling, compostable napkins and bags for waste sorting stations. Estimated event attendance was over 500 and the diversion rate was 84%.
HOME COMPOSTING WORKSHOPS - Workshop co-sponsors, UVWMA, Napa County, City of Napa, and Napa County Master Gardeners are working to schedule countywide 2026 workshop dates. The up valley workshop for 2026 has been scheduled for May 16, 2026 at the up valley campus. This early scheduling will allow for extra promotion of the event in the Up Valley College spring schedule. The up valley compost workshop will be a dual workshop again, where attendees choose to either learn about backyard composting or worm composting.
UVWMA, Napa County and City of Napa met in December to discuss plans to schedule the remaining 2026 backyard compost workshops to take place in south Napa County and the City of Napa. New this year, to encourage commitment to continued use of worm compost bins, there may be a small fee charged to workshop attendees. Currently if workshop attendees are Napa County residents they may purchase a discounted backyard compost bin for $20, the City of Napa covers the remaining cost that is approximately $120. The costs for worm compost bins are currently covered by Napa County, the cost per bin set up is approximately $35 but workshop attendees are not currently charged a fee for worm compost bins.
FISCAL & STRATEGIC PLAN IMPACT
|
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.