Response to Orange County Grand Jury Report, Oc Recycling: Doing it the Right Way*

In nine of the ten cities investigated, the waste hauler has been the sole source provider to their respective city (s) anywhere from 39 to 72 years. Where there is an opportunity for service providers to compete, there is an opportunity for competitive bidding, which may result in improvements in cost and performance. The City of Garden Grove agrees with this finding.

The labeling on residential bins are not always legible or have comprehensive enough instructions laminated or otherwise made a part of the lid, especially with regards to single use plastic shopping bags. Education and outreach efforts need to be reinforced as often as possible and a visual reminder on the recycle container will help alleviate confusion. The City of Garden Grove agrees with this finding.

Orange County Waste and Recycling as well as the waste haulers provide helpful recycling education to the public where contractually required to do so. It is the Grand Jury's view that most cities delegate much of the customers/public education efforts to the waste haulers. Contracts indicate both parties are responsible for educating the public. United States ensus 11222 Acacia Parkway • P.O.Box 3070 • Garden Grove, CA 92842 2020 ggcity.org BE COUNTED GARDEN GROVE The City of Garden Grove disagrees partially with this finding. The City and waste hauler have shared recycling education responsibilities. The City of Garden Grove provides recycling educational outreach through the City website, public events, facebook, and at the public counters. The City has also participated in school outreach through the Discovery Cube's Eco Challenge program. The waste hauler provides recycling educational outreach through the hauler website, City related public events, school assemblies and at chamber of commerce meetings.

Cities are not in compliance with AB 341 mandates with respect to providing recycling containers for multi-family units. The City of Garden Grove disagrees partially with this finding. The City has an AB 341 modified plan that has been approved by CalRecycle. The City has been progressively providing recycling containers for multifamily units as a result of actively mailing each multifamily unit a survey twice a year. This survey reminds multi-family units of the need to either obtain a recycling bin or adopt a recycling program, and documents third-party, or self-recycling activities performed at the multi-family units. Next year, the City will adopt a local mandatory ordinance for multi-family units to sign up for recycling services.