Agenda

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C.121

To:	Board of Supervisors
From:	John Kopchik, Director, Conservation & Development Department
Date:	July 12, 2022

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

Action Plan for Mandatory Commercial Organics Recycling to be submitted to California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 07/12/2022

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Diane Burgis, District III Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:

Justin Sullivan, (925) 655-2914

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: July 12, 2022
Monica Nino, County Administrator

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

AUTHORIZE the Conservation and Development Director to develop and submit to California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) an action plan to achieve Assembly Bill 1826 compliance in unincorporated County franchised areas.

FISCAL IMPACT:

No impact to the General Fund. All staff time and materials to develop and submit the plan will be covered by solid waste collection franchise fees.

BACKGROUND:

AB 1826, Mandatory Commercial Organics Recycling (MORe), as enacted October 2014 (Chesbro, Chapter 727, Statues of 2014), requires businesses to recycle their organic waste on and after April 1, 2016, depending on the amount of waste they generate per week. Currently, the law requires businesses that generate more than two cubic yards of waste per week to recycle their organic waste.

BACKGROUND: (CONT'D)

The Department of Conservation and Development (DCD) reports to the California Department of Resource and Recovery (CalRecycle) regarding compliance status for businesses and multifamily complexes of 5 units or more in unincorporated County franchised areas as part of the Electronic Annual Report (EAR), which is an evaluation of solid waste diversion performance.

In June 2022, CalRecycle sent DCD a Notice of MORe Program Implementation Gaps. The notice indicates the County will need to submit an action plan to CalRecycle by July 14, 2022. The County’s detailed action plan will need to address how the remaining regulated commercial businesses will receive organics collection services by December 31, 2022. At the time of this writing DCD staff is working with CalRecycle on the content of the action plan and will have the report completed by the July 14, 2022 deadline. The action plan will include milestone task descriptions such as collection service changes, developing non-compliant customer lists, sending letters/outreach, and specific dates to accomplish the tasks, which will be performed by DCD staff with existing budget. Staff recommends the Director be authorized to submit and, if necessary, revise the action plan on behalf of the County.

CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:

The County would not submit an action plan and would be referred to CalRecycle’s Jurisdiction and Agency Compliance and Enforcement Branch (JACE) indicating the start of a conferring period for consideration of a compliance order.