Tag Archive for: waivers

Compliance Corner – September 2022

Recordkeeping / Implementation Record (Due 10/1!)

This month, we are clarifying the differences between the regular CalRecycle reporting and the Implementation Record, which is a new requirement introduced by SB 1383. Many of our clients don’t initially realize that they’re actually different requirements, and with the Electronic Annual Report (EAR) this year including so many new questions, the Implementation Record may fall to the wayside.

Recordkeeping requirements for SB 1383 can be complex, particularly the implementation record and the restructured EAR. The EAR is due to CalRecycle by October 1st of this year, which means it’s creeping up fast! Next year and the years following, the EAR will be due August 1st.

An implementation record must be kept by all jurisdictions as a recordkeeping system, with the required documentation for SB 1383, stored for at least 5 years. Additionally, the implementation record can be used to help jurisdictions complete their EAR and offers an easy place to store supporting documentation which may be requested by CalRecycle at any time.

 

Implementation Record

Each jurisdiction should maintain all records required by SB 1383 using an Implementation Record, such as the Model Implementation Record Tool provided by CalRecycle. Some cloud-based software solutions also incorporate the Implementation Record, which needs to be entered by the City and hauler into the software.

The Implementation Record must include the following information:

  1. Ordinances and enforceable mechanisms, which means your SB 1383 ordinance as well as the adopting ordinances for the Model Water Efficient Landscaping Ordinance and CALGreen (or another code chapter if you have one dedicated to Construction and Demolition debris recycling).
  2. Written program descriptions, which means a few paragraphs describing your hauling contract(s) as well as regular activities on the City/County side.
  3. Organic waste service collection method, which is whether you use the 3-container system (garbage, recycling, and organics including food scraps), or another collection system that includes back-end processing to remove organics before landfilling.
  4. Contamination minimization, including route reviews and waste evaluations.
  5. Waivers and exemptions on file.
  6. Education and outreach completed that year (for the October 1 report, this is only for the first 6 months of 2022).
  7. Jurisdiction oversight of hauler programs, including franchise agreements, types of hauler system(s) used, conditions for approvals/denials/revocations, and copies of all required reports.
  8. Edible food recovery, such as education and outreach, monitoring compliance, increasing capacity, funding mechanisms, a list of Tier 1 and Tier 2 edible food generators, and a list of food recovery organizations and services and their capacity for recovery.
  9. Recovered organic waste product procurement, including purchases of qualifying products, written contracts or agreements with direct service providers, and the jurisdiction’s efforts to identify additional procurement opportunities.
  10. Paper procurement, such as copies of invoices, receipts, or other proof of purchase that describe procurement of paper products by volume and type, and percentage of post-consumer waste recycled content for all paper purchases (or explanation of why minimum 30% recycled content paper was not purchased).
  11. Inspection and enforcement activities, which means notes from phone calls and/or site visits, photos, and any other applicable documentation.
  12. Compliance reviews, which means the desktop review of customer compliance with the requirement to subscribe to recycling and organics service.
  13. Investigation of complaints and alleged violations.

Restructured EAR

Each jurisdiction is required to submit an annual report to CalRecycle demonstrating implementation of applicable state laws, including AB 939, AB 341, AB 1826, and, of course, SB 1383. In 2022, each jurisdiction must submit a restructured report including its compliance with the requirements of SB 1383 by October 1, 2022, covering information from January 1, 2022 through June 30, 2022. The report should cover the dates of January 1, 2022 to June 30, 2022 for SB 1383 requirements newly enacted. Starting in 2023, submittal of the EAR will be required by August 1 and will cover the previous calendar year. The required information for the EAR is outlined below, in the order of the restructured EAR on the Local Government Information Center (LoGIC) online portal.

The good news is that while the new report can be a bit confusing, CalRecycle Local Market Assistance and Development staff has made themselves very available to answer questions, and CalRecycle has also offered a number of webinars, including one next week to answer last-minute questions.

The annual report must include the following information as it relates to the implementation of the following:

  1. Procurement
    • Amount of each recovered organic waste product (ROWP) procured directly by the city, county, or through direct service providers (or both) during the previous calendar year
    • If implementing procurement requirements through an adjusted ROWP procurement target, report the total amount of transportation fuel, electricity, and gas for heating applications procured during the previous calendar year
    • Each type of recycled product procurement
    • SRRE procurement programs description
  2. Edible Food Recovery
    • Number of commercial edible food generators within the jurisdiction
    • Number of food recover services and organizations located and operating within the jurisdiction, that contract with or have written agreements with commercial food generators
    • Total pounds of edible food recovered in the previous calendar year (services/organizations must report amount to the jurisdiction)
  3. Collection Systems
    • Type of collection services provided to residential and commercial generators
    • Number of generators that receive each type of service
    • If applicable, RDRS number of high diversion organic waste processing facilities
    • If applicable, facility that accepts compostable plastics
    • If applicable, facility that accepts and removes organic waste in plastic bags
    • Number of haulers approved (or denied) to collect organic waste in the jurisdiction
  4. Commercial and Residential Programs
    • Material types collected
    • SRRE commercial and residential programs description
    • Large venues and events
  5. Education and Outreach
    • Number of generators that received information and the type of education and outreach used for SLCP, MCR, MORe, and SRRE/HHWE
    • Number of commercial generators that received information and the type of education and outreach used for edible food recovery
    • SRRE education and outreach programs description
  6. Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (MWELO), CALGreen Building Standards and C&D
    • Number of C&D debris removal activities conducted in compliance with CALGreen
    • C&D material types collected
    • SRRE programs description
  7. Hazardous Waste Programs
    • SRRE hazardous waste programs
  8. Disposal Rate Calculation
    • Disposal tons for reporting year
    • If applicable, disposal reduction credits
    • Calculation factors, including disposal rate accuracy, alternative disposal tonnage, deductions to RDRS disposal tonnage, and/or green material alternative daily cover (ADC)
  9. Waivers and Exemptions
    • Number of generators waived from requirement to subscribe to an organic waste collection service
    • Number of days emergency circumstances waiver was in effect and type of waiver issued
    • Tons of organic waste disposed as a result of emergency waivers
    • Number of generators issued a de minimis waiver
    • Number of generators issued a physical space waiver
    • Number of commercial generators exemptions under MORe and rationale
    • Jurisdictions that receive a waiver from CalRecycle shall report, for each year the waiver is in effect, the number of generators waived from the requirement to subscribe to organic waste collection service
  10. Contamination Monitoring, Inspections, and Complaints
    • Number of route reviews
    • Number of times notices, violations, or targeted educational materials were issued to generators
    • Results of waste evaluations performed and number of resulting target route reviews
    • Numbers of inspections conducted (commercial businesses, and edible food recovery for Tier 1 & Tier 2 generators, food recovery organizations & services)
    • Numbers of complaints received and investigated
  11. Enforcement and Monitoring
    • Numbers of generators included in compliance reviews for SLCP (SB 1383), MORe (AB 1826), and MCR (AB 341)
    • Number of route reviews conducted (or waste evaluations performed) annually for commercial businesses and residential generators
    • Number of inspections conducted by type for commercial edible food generators, food recovery organizations, and commercial businesses
    • Number of NOVs issued, categorized by type of entity
    • Number of penalty orders issued, categorized by type of entity
    • Number of enforcement actions resolved, categorized by type of entity
  12. Facilities
    • SRRE programs description
  13. AB 876
    • Any changes related to AB 876
  14. SB 1383 Enforceable Mechanism Changes
    • Ordinance changes and documentation
    • Types of ordinances
    • Primary and Official Contact changes for jurisdiction
    • SRRE programs description
  15. Planning Documents Assessment
    • Rural petition for reduction in requirements
    • SRRE
    • Household Hazardous Waste Element (HHWE)
    • Non-Disposal Facility Element (NDFE)
    • Areas of concern and conditional approvals
  16. Additional Information and Document Management
    • SRRE and HHWE diversion program management
    • Additional Information

In addition, Counties shall report the following regarding implementation of organic waste recycling capacity planning and edible food recovery planning:

  1. Tons estimated to be generated for landfill disposal
  2. Amount of capacity verifiably available to the county and cities
  3. Amount of new capacity needed
  4. Locations identified for new or expanded facilities
  5. Jurisdictions that are required to submit implementation schedules
  6. Jurisdictions that did not provide information required to the county within 120 days

 

Helpful Links

 

 

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Compliance Corner – July 2022

We’ve been talking about SB 1383 for months now (well, in these blog posts anyway – in reality for R3 it’s been years!) and you may be asking yourself….

“This SB 1383 stuff all sounds great in theory, but how do we actually get people to comply?”

The answer to that question is through enforcement. The enforcement provisions in SB 1383 support the efforts of jurisdictions, non-local entities, local education districts, state facilities and federal facilities, and CalRecycle to achieve the state’s climate goals and the 75 percent organic waste diversion goal by 2025 and into the future.

Enforcement efforts can be conducted by jurisdictions directly or through jurisdiction delegated entities. Jurisdictions can delegate responsibilities to contracted haulers servicing their respective cities/counties, or via agreement regional or governmental agencies. For example, a jurisdiction may require its contracted hauler to perform route reviews for container contamination, though the jurisdiction is still ultimately responsible for SB 1383 compliance requirements.

So for this month, we’re focusing on Route Reviews pertaining to SB 1383 compliance:

  • What is a route review?
  • What are a jurisdiction responsibilities?
  • Who holds the jurisdiction accountable? 

Route Review

A route review is a visual inspection of solid waste containers (typically carts for residential customers and/or bins for commercial customers) . The purpose of the route review is to inspect recycling of organics containers for contamination within the waste stream. Contamination is the placement of garbage within clean recycling or organics, placement of recyclables in the organics container, or placement of organics in the recycling container.

Jurisdictional Responsibilities

A jurisdiction is ultimately responsible for the oversight and enforcement of SB 1383 compliance and associated activities within its jurisdictional limits. As such, jurisdictions are required to ensure compliance by organic waste generators through the implementation of an inspection and enforcement program.

As of January 1, 2022, jurisdictions are required to conduct a “sufficient number” of annual route reviews to determine  overall compliance. The regulations do not currently include a specific number of route reviews and inspections required each year, so it is ultimately up to the jurisdiction to determine an adequate amount based on the characteristics of their jurisdiction. Essentially, a jurisdiction is required to conduct enough route reviews and inspections each year to adequately determine the overall compliance of the generators under its authority and to ensure its own compliance to SB 1383.

There are a few ways of accomplishing this goal, including:

  1.  A hauler can remotely monitor containers via a camera system and either the driver, a remote worker, or an automated program can identify contamination as the container is being collected
  2.  A representative can select random containers along each route and, generally without disturbing the container’s contents, determine if there is contamination in the containers inspected

It’s important to note that while contamination is a violation of State and local law, this is the only violation that does not require a financial penalty. However, many haulers may assess penalties via their franchise agreements on generators for contamination, and this is allowed.

Jurisdictional Accountability

CalRecycle is responsible for the oversight and enforcement of SB 1383 compliance and associated activities of each jurisdiction. Compliance oversight for CalRecycle also includes the oversight of entities that are not subject to a jurisdiction’s compliance oversight but are still required to comply with SB 1383 requirements. These entities include non-local entities, local education districts, state and federal facilities, and other relevant entities.

Helpful Link

 

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Compliance Corner – June 2022

June 2022 – Procurement / Recycled Paper Procurement Records      

This month, we’re focusing on recycled-content paper procurement requirements. This is one requirement that your solid waste hauler really can’t help you with, since it applies to a jurisdiction’s own purchases. We suspect that you’ll find that the difficult part of complying with these requirements is really in keeping the required records, and not in purchasing the right paper products.

The basic requirement is to purchase paper products that are at least 30% post-consumer fiber and labeled with an unqualified recyclable label. You’re also required to keep records of all your purchases. While CalRecycle has suggested keeping a list of the purchases, likely the easiest way to comply is to store the receipts and copies of the product labels (this could be a screenshot of the product listing on a web page) in one centralized folder in your filing system. Consider asking the person in your finance department who receives these receipts to store them – that way just one person is responsible for keeping those records, and it’s not too much extra work.

Little-known facts about the paper procurement requirements:

  1. You are not required to update your purchasing policy – you’re only required to comply.
    However, if your existing purchasing policy conflicts with the SB 1383 requirements, you should update it to avoid confusion!
  2. While the requirement to purchase at least 30% recycled content and unqualified recyclable paper products is now statewide for all jurisdictions.
    Even the CalRecycle model states that purchasing the recycled content and recyclable paper products is only required “whenever the total cost is the same or a lesser total cost than non-recycled items.”
  3. Large paper supply companies are aware of this new state requirement on jurisdictions, and some are already preparing to offer services to help you track your purchases.
    Let them come to you and offer you solutions!
  4. This also applies to vendors! But just the vendors that provide paper-related services, such as janitors that purchase toilet paper and hand towels.

 

Helpful Links:

 

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Compliance Corner – May 2022

By now, you have adopted your SB 1383 mandatory organics reduction ordinance and are probably knee-deep in identifying Tier 1 and 2 commercial edible food generators, updating your website, notifying generators of their responsibilities and making sure that covered generators have a collection program for organics.

But what about those businesses that don’t generate enough paper, food or plant debris to need collection?

What about nail salons, hair salons, auto body shops, etc.? 
Some small businesses, like these, generate very little in the way of organic materials.

Do they still have to have organics collection?
They (and others) may be eligible for a waiver if they meet the criteria noted below!

 

May 2022 – Waivers

For this month, we’re focusing on SB 1383 Waivers, Section 18984.11: Waivers Granted by a Jurisdiction.

While waivers are not required to be provided, many jurisdictions will use them to provide flexibility for businesses who generate very little to no organics.

De Minimis Waivers

A jurisdiction may waive a business’ obligation to comply with some or all SB 1383 business requirements, if the business provides documentation, or the jurisdiction has evidence, demonstrating that organic waste comprises a de minimis amount as follows.

  • For businesses with total solid waste collection service of two cubic yards or more per week, organic waste comprises less than 20 gallons per week per applicable container of the business’ total waste,
  • For businesses with total solid waste collection service of less than two cubic yards per week, organic waste comprises less than 10 gallons per week per applicable container of the business’ total waste.

Jurisdictions may be able to prioritize certain businesses to start the waiver process with, by simply looking at the business name (are they a non-food related service business) and their solid waste service levels.

Physical Space Waivers

A jurisdiction may also waive a commercial business’ or property owner’s obligation to comply with organic waste collection service requirements if the business or property owner provides documentation, or the jurisdiction has evidence, demonstrating that the premises lack adequate space for organic waste containers. R3 recommends staff or a hauler verify physical space waivers through an on-site visit before granting the waiver.

Some jurisdictions are providing a sample waiver form on their website that businesses can fill out requesting a waiver, and some are having their haulers, staff or a third party, conduct site visits to determine who is eligible for a waiver. Jurisdictions may be able to prioritize certain businesses to communicate with about  a potential waiver, just by looking at the business name and their service levels.

While haulers or other third-party entities may suggest businesses for waivers, the jurisdiction or other public entity needs to issue the waiver.

Recordkeeping for Waivers

Jurisdictions are required to keep waiver information in their SB 1383 implementation record. They are required to describe their process for issuing waivers and the frequency of inspections to verify the validity of such. They are also required to keep a copy of all waivers issued, including the location, date issued and name of generators.

 

Helpful Links:

More information can be found on CalRecycle’s SB 1383 Q&A website, click on “waivers” at the top of the page.

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