2023-2024 Orange County Grand Jury report "Talking Trash: Recyclables*

The majority of Orange County jurisdictions have not yet required their haulers to distribute residential containers that meet the CalRecycle standardized colors, leaving legacy and often incorrect or illegible labeling and embossing in place. The respondent disagrees wholly or partially with the finding. The City of La Palma requires its waste hauler to distribute residential and commercial containers that meet CalRecycle's standardized colors and label requirements (green for organics, blue for recyclables and gray for trash). The body and lid of residential containers are the correct designated color. The body of commercial containers are the correct designated color, and the lids are black. Funding and Enforcement

While a jurisdiction may not delegate its overall responsibility for compliance with State requirements to a hauler, some jurisdictions have designated the task of imposing and collecting fines from residents to the hauler in accordance with State law. However, not all jurisdictions are clear on who ultimately receives and retains the collected fines. PHONE www.cityoflapalma.org 714 690 3350 7821 Walker Street FAX 714 522 2967 La Palma, CA 90623-1720 The respondent disagrees wholly or partially with the finding. The City of La Palma would be the entity that would receive and retain any collected fines. It is important to mention the following regarding the findings for Funding and Enforcement: SB 1383 requires all routes to be randomly audited (trash, recycle, and organics). Section 18984.5(b)(3) of the regulations does not require a jurisdiction to impose administrative civil penalties on generators in violation of the prohibited container contaminants requirement in Subdivision (a).

All jurisdictions will eventually start collecting fines from residents for non- compliance, but some have not yet determined whether the revenues will go into a waste and recycling enterprise fund or into the jurisdiction's general fund. The respondent agrees with the finding. Education and Outreach

In most jurisdictions, education and outreach is a joint effort between jurisdiction, hauler, and sometimes consultants, with the jurisdiction reviewing the materials before publication. The methods of dissemination vary by jurisdiction and hauler but frequently rely on a resident actively seeking the information, which requires the resident to have some awareness of the new mandates in the first place. Most efforts primarily revolve around intermittent hard-copy paper mailings. The respondent disagrees wholly or partially with the finding. The City of La Palma and its contracted waste hauler use various methods to educate and create awareness of the new mandates, including but not limited to: Print (Citv publications (Mosaic), Hauler publications (Environmental Times Newsletters), water bill inserts/postcards), Direct contact (personal site visits, waste assessments, presentations, outreach at a variety of community events), Electronic (City's website, Hauler's website, social media posts, . readerboard announcements), The City's hauler also has an extensive bilingual video library and a . "Where Does it Go" look up feature on their website.

Most jurisdictions currently have no way to accurately determine the effectiveness of their respective education and outreach efforts other than the eventual inspections or audits that will take place. The respondent agrees with the finding. Procurement of Recovered Organic Waste Products

There is some concern that there are not enough composting facilities in organic waste, forcing Orange County to process all some jurisdictions/haulers to transport it long distances for processing. The respondent disagrees wholly or partially with the finding. The City of La Palma's waste hauler guarantees capacity for organic waste processing. The material is processed within the region.

There is currently no infrastructure in the county that is a State-approved source of Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) and energy from organic waste. Jurisdictions that use vehicles running on RNG procured from non-approved sources cannot count that RNG towards fulfillment of their procurement requirement. The respondent agrees with the finding.

The formula used by the State to calculate a jurisdiction's procurement target does not account for a jurisdiction's population density or geographic size (square miles). As such, meeting the annual procurement target presents a significant challenge for most jurisdictions. The respondent agrees with the finding.

Many Orange County jurisdictions were unable to meet the requirements in SB 1383 to reduce organic waste sent to landfills by the 2020 deadline. It is unlikely the required seventy-five percent reduction will be achieved by the 2025 deadline. The respondent agrees with the finding.

The current procurement requirements mandated by SB 1383 are unrealistic and likely unachievable by most jurisdictions. The respondent agrees with the finding.