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
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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 distribution event on Saturday April 27. A HW event for businesses was held on Friday April 26. UVWMA’s HW collections contractor, Clean Earth, collected HW dropped off by the public. Upper Valley Disposal & Recycling (UVD&R) collected e-waste, a subcontractor of UVD&R provided paper shredding. E-waste collection and paper shredding was provided at no additional cost, due to the franchise agreement with UVD&R. E-waste collection and paper shredding has been added to the fall Calistoga event previously, but this was the first year it was added to the spring Rutherford event. UVWMA staff been notified of the cost of the event by Clean Earth but have not received the invoice yet, the cost totaled $24,502.48. Included in the cost is mobilization of Clean Earth for the temporary event and disposal of collected hazardous wastes.
Two businesses made an appointment and paid for disposal of hazardous materials on Friday, April 26. On Saturday April 27, residents from each of the UVWMA member communities participated in the household HW collection. See Attachment A - 2024 Rutherford Event Data for survey data from the event. This event was the largest in the history of events at this location, there were 235 attendees, a 90% increase from the 2023 event.
Staff are working to schedule the fall HW collection events for Friday November 1 1:00pm - 4:00pm (business) and Saturday November 2 8:00am - 1:00pm (residential), to take place at the fairgrounds in Calistoga. UVWMA staff have received tentative approval from the City of Calistoga for the use of the fairgrounds for this event.
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 can be found online at: https://calrecycle.ca.gov/epr/pharmasharps/
In addition to the above mentioned stewardship programs, up-valley residents may drop-off sharps at Ole Health offices at 1222 Pine St. Suite A, in St. Helena or 911 Washington St. in Calistoga during regular business hours. 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.
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 staff completed the application for the “FY 2023-24” funding cycle in January 2024, the application has been approved for payment and the payment is expected to arrive in the summer. Funds for this cycle can be expended between April 2024 and March 1, 2026.
CALRECYCLE - UVWMA staff have completed an application for 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. Funds will be used for: organics capacity planning, multi family outreach and onboarding, interior compost bins for the business assistance program and organics product (compost) procurement. Funds can be used between award date (February 2024) and April 2026.
UVWMA staff used a portion of the first cycle of CalRecycle’s SB 1383 Local Assistance Grant Program funding to contract with a media company, Alpha Media, to create a commercial about SB 1383 and deploy the ads on steaming TV services. In February, March and April, this commercial was played approximately 480,000 times on streaming services like Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, etc to local residents. Both an English and Spanish commercial were created and deployed. The English commercial can be viewed at youtu.be/SFRwnyO_RGE and Spanish at youtu.be/3CGAY-WNITU.
UVWMA reimbursed the City of Calistoga $10,500 for a portion of permanently attached recycle, compost and trash bins for their public parks. UVWMA staff used a portion of the first cycle of the CalRecycle’s SB 1383 Local Assistance Grant Program and a portion of the Beverage Container Recycling Program funding to provide the reimbursement. The bins the City of Calistoga purchased met the guidelines of both state funding programs as well as SB 1383 requirements. A photo of the bins is included as Attachment B - City of Calistoga bins.
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, interior and exterior signs, interior bins stickers and on going support. Businesses may request assistance by calling UVD&R at 707-963-7988 or emailing UVWMA at upvalleyrecycles@countyofnapa.org.
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.
UVWMA continues to collaborate with Napa County and City of Napa on countywide food recovery efforts, with Napa County taking the lead. UVWMA staff are working with Napa County on a MOU to conduct SB 1383 required Tier 1 and Tier 2 inspections that are required by SB 1383.
UVWMA staff collaborated with Napa County and City of Napa to release funding to expand edible food recovery capacity. A Notice of Funds Available (NOFA) was created and released on April 22, the application period closed and submissions were due May 17. Two applications were received. Applications are being scored by a scoring panel made up of UVWMA, Napa County and City of Napa staff. Scoring is expected to be completed by June 17 and funding recommendations will be made to the Napa County Board of Supervisors for their approval on July 9.
UVWMA and UVD&R staff have begun planning for 2024 route reviews. 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 are tentatively scheduled to be completed along residential routes in June and July. Commercial route reviews will be conducted throughout the rest of the calendar year. A total of 30 commercial accounts will be inspected in the categories of winery, restaurant, school, lodging and medical. A summary of findings for both the commercial and residential reviews will be provided at a future meeting.
UVWMA plans to procure organic products (compost) on behalf of member jurisdictions to meet 2024 targets. SB 1383 local assistance grant funding will be used to pay for compost purchases.
PUBLIC OUTREACH - UVWMA and UVD&R have created a plan for spring and summer 2024 public outreach. A copy of the schedule is included as Attachment C - 2024 In Person Outreach Calendar.
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.
STORM DEBRIS VOUCHER PROGRAM - At the April 2023 meeting, board members approved the creation of a voucher program for residents to dispose of green waste debris created by the January to March 2023 storms. The program continued into FY 23/24 and will end June 30, 2024.
HOME COMPOSTING WORKSHOPS - Workshop co-sponsors, UVWMA, Napa County, City of Napa, and UC Master Gardeners of Napa County have scheduled 2024 workshop dates, one workshop remains to be held in the fall. The up valley workshop took place on May 18, 2024 at the up valley campus. There were 10 attendees at this compost workshop. Attendees chose to either learn about backyard composting or worm composting. Attendees were able to either bring home a free worm composting kit or purchase a discounted backyard compost bin. Due to the effort and time required for these events and low attendance up valley, UVWMA staff are considering if an up valley workshop should continue to be held or if it would best to host all workshops in the City of Napa.
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.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
None