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 November 1 1:00pm - 4:00pm (business) and November 2 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 & Recycling (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. The max per drop off for hazardous waste remains unchanged as it is due to state law, 15 gallons or 125 pounds per vehicle. 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.
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.
The DEA National Prescription Drug Take Back day is October 26 10:00am - 2:00pm. UVWMA staff are coordinating with law enforcement and other jurisdictions in Napa County for Countywide participation in the event. Yountville Sheriff Department, St Helena Police Department and Calistoga Police Department will host collection sites. Sharps will be collected in addition to unused or unwanted medications. Sharps must be dropped off in puncture resistant containers, individual 1 quart puncture resistant containers will be provided to collection sites in case the public brings in loose sharps or sharps in a non-puncture resistant container. Napa County Sheriff Department in conjunction with up valley law enforcement will coordinate the medication collections portion of the event. UVWMA will be contracting with a sharps disposal company to provide drop off of 43gal sharps disposal containers, pick up and disposal of the collected sharps. Due to SB 212, the sharps industry will reimburse UVWMA for these costs. A countywide flyer is included as Attachment B - Countywide DEA Collection Event 2024.
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 are preparing to submit an application for the “FY 2024-25” funding cycle, applications are due November 19. Funds can be expended between early 2025 (after award) and January 5, 2027.
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, multifamily 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 are completing expenditures with the first cycle of CalRecycle’s SB 1383 Local Assistance Grant Program funding, total award was $95,370 and the grant closes on November 1, 2024. Remaining grant funding will be used to purchase compost that is distributed to the public for free and meets SB 1383 organic product procurement requirements.
UVWMA staff completed and submitted the Electronic Annual Report in August 2024 and the Form 303 report in September 2024.
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 submitted to the state a report on the status of each community’s verifiably available facility capacity for the period January 1, 2025 - December 31, 2034, after consultation with UVWMA staff. It was determined that UVWMA does not have enough capacity at the UVD&R MRF on Whitehall Lane for organics processing through the end of 2034. UVWMA discussed this with UVD&R staff, and it was determined UVWMA can use capacity for processing organics that is available at Waste Connections owned Quackenbush facility as well. There is enough capacity that is verifiably available to UVWMA between the UVD&R MRF on Whitehall Lane and the Quackenbush facility. Biosolids are a separate issue, and some UVWMA member jurisdictions are not currently diverting biosolids from the landfill and are required to submit an implementation schedule to CalRecycle, explaining how biosolids will be diverted from the landfill by the end of the reporting period. Lastly, Napa County identified a need for new or expanded edible food recovery capacity in every jurisdiction in Napa County. 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.
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 ongoing 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. Napa County, who provides staffing to UVWMA, is in the final stages of recruitment for an Environmental Resource Assistant (ERA). The ERA will focus heavily on businesses who are not currently compliant with SB 1383 organics diversion mandates up valley. This includes commercial outreach, technical assistance and onboarding as well as increased residential outreach at community events.
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 totaling $134,986, which is $44,986 more funding than was 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, staff recommend, and the Napa County Board of Supervisors approved the following awards in July:
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.
UVWMA and Napa County staff are in the process of finalizing agreements with Feeding it Forward and Community Action Napa Valley.
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. 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. UVWMA and UVD&R have completed 20 inspections and the remaining 10 will be completed by the end of the calendar year. 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. The total target for 2024, which is 65% of the actual target per the SB 1383 regulations, is 2,822 cubic yards or 1,130 tons. UVWMA staff do not anticipate any challenges in meeting these targets.
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 in August 2024, for their annual Back to School Night in Calistoga. The reimbursement was for compost and recycle carts from Upper Valley Disposal & Recycling, as well as waste sorting stations. Estimated event attendance was over 1,000 and the diversion rate was 94% (up from last years 86%).
HOME COMPOSTING WORKSHOPS - Workshop co-sponsors, UVWMA, Napa County, City of Napa, and Napa County Master Gardeners 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. 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.
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.