The Contra Costa County Hazardous Materials Commission was established in 1986 by the Board of Supervisors to address the management of hazardous materials and hazardous waste within the County. One of the charges of the Commission is to further develop recommendations involving hazardous materials and hazardous waste beyond issues specifically identified in their bylaws. In 2007, the Commission identified Household Hazardous Waste management and Brownfield and contaminated site management as issues they wanted to investigate to determine if there were policy recommendations they could make to the Board of Supervisors to improve the management of these hazardous wastes.
BROWNFIELD REPORT:
The Commission received 6 presentations from subject matter experts, conducted a survey of the jurisdictions within the County, conducted 4 detailed site histories and conducted additional background research to develop the recommendations contained in the Brownfield report. These recommendations request the Board of Supervisors to request the California Department of Toxic Substances Control and the State Water Resources Control Board to make improvements to their websites containing information about Brownfield and contaminated sites, and to request the Board of Supervisors to direct County staff to make improvements to their own databases that would make them more useful to the general public.
These recommendations are summarized below:
1. The Board of Supervisors should direct the County’s Hazardous Materials
Program to develop a complete, centralized, publicly accessible database of all contaminated and potentially contaminated sites in the County based on data available from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, the State Water Resources Control Board and County databases.
2. The Board of Supervisors should recommend to the California Department of Toxic Substances Control and the State Water Resources Control Board that their contaminated site databases highlight when monitoring reports and five-year reviews of sites are due. The Board of Supervisors should direct the County’s Hazardous Materials Program to develop a system to track the implementation of the long-term monitoring and site-review requirements for County sites that have such requirements in their final remedial action plans if they are highlighted on these databases, and follow up as appropriate when they discover sites are overdue for review.
3. The Board of Supervisors should direct the County’s Hazardous Materials Programs and Department of Conservation and Development to work together to identify contaminated sites within Urban Limit Lines in the County to aid in SB 375 planning.
4. The Board of Supervisors should continue to direct appropriate County Departments to seek grants to identify, investigate and remediate potentially contaminated sites within Contra Costa County. They should direct appropriate County Departments to work with local jurisdictions, special districts and private developers within Contra Costa County to apply for these grants where applicable.
The Hazardous Materials Commission has consulted with Contra Costa Health Services and James Kennedy of the Department of Conservation and Development on the Brownfield report. Contra Costa Health Services is fully prepared to implement the report’s recommendations if the Department of Toxic Substances Control takes the steps recommended by the report. The Hazardous Materials Commission incorporated substantive comments from the Department of Conservation and Development into the recommendations of the report.
HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE REPORT:
The Commission conducted an informational survey of the general public and two public workshops, received 6 presentations from subject matter experts, and conducted additional background research to develop the recommendations contained in the Household Hazardous Waste report. The goal of these recommendations is to reduce the amount of household hazardous waste stored in homes, and the illegal and potentially dangerous disposal of these wastes in waterways, on the ground, and in the garbage.
The Commission recognizes that the Board of Supervisors does not have direct authority over the management of household hazardous wastes in Contra Costa County. The Commission has made some of these recommendations in the hopes that the Board of Supervisors can encourage the implementation of these actions by other County Special Districts that directly oversee the management of Household Hazardous Wastes, or as individual members of County Special Districts that directly oversee the management of Household Hazardous Wastes.
These recommendations are summarized below:
1. Establish and support more opportunities for door-to-door collection of HHW for older and disabled residents, and for residents that do not have their own means of transportation. This may require supporting changes to current laws and regulations governing the management of HHW.
2. Conduct more one-day collection events in areas where there are high numbers of residents that do not have vehicles, and design these events so they can accept materials brought in on foot. This may require supporting changes to current laws and regulations governing the management of HHW. Also, increase one-day events in areas of the County farthest away from the permanent facilities.
3. Provide more resources to increasing public awareness of the permanent HHW facilities and other collection services to increase participation rates. This outreach should be universally done in English and Spanish, and other languages where appropriate.
4. Provide more support to existing programs that educate residents to generate less HHW by purchasing non-toxic products and by only purchasing the amount they need.
5. Encourage manufacturers to make non-toxic or less toxic alternatives to products that become HHW, promote green chemistry concepts and encourage County purchasing policies that create less hazardous waste. This recommendation is consistent with the recently adopted Board Resolution No. 2010/225 supporting the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility.
6. Establish and support programs to enable the collection of controlled substances and boat flares. This could include point-of-sale collection opportunities or point-of-sale educational information about where to dispose of these materials properly. Support changes in legislation or additional sources of funding that may be needed to enable this to occur.
7. Support increasing the number of public or private collection options for Universal Wastes such as household batteries, fluorescent tubes, mercury thermometers and many electronic devices throughout the County.
8. Support the creation of policies that would allow for the collection and transportation of HHW, and the use of HHW facilities, by entities not charging a fee for such services. This may require supporting changes to current laws and regulations governing the management of HHW.