Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury 2014-2015 Response Packet Composting Organic Waste in Santa Cruz County

Compostable organic waste, which makes up approximately one third of municipal solid waste, must be diverted in order to extend the life of Santa Cruz County landfills and meet state mandates, specifically AB 1826. x AGREE PARTIALLY DISAGREE - explain disputed portion below DISAGREE - explain below Response explanation (required for responses other than “Agree”):

Unless Santa Cruz County and the cities of Santa Cruz, Capitola, Scotts Valley and Watsonville invest politically and financially in large-scale organics recycling systems, they will be out of compliance with AB 1826 by the year 2020 or sooner. AGREE PARTIALLY DISAGREE - explain disputed portion below x DISAGREE - explain below Response explanation (required for responses other than “Agree”): The City of Scotts Valley contracts with Green Waste Recovery for its refuse, recycling, and yard waste collection services. Green Waste Recovery has the capabilities of collecting and properly disposing of the organic waste as required by AB 1826. If Scotts Valley were to contract for this service, the City would not need to invest in a large-scale organics recycling system.

Santa Cruz County and the cities of Capitola, Scotts Valley, and Watsonville all passed resolutions in 2005 recommending a regional composting facility, but as of 2015, no facility has been constructed, nor is there a completed plan to do so. x AGREE PARTIALLY DISAGREE - explain disputed portion below DISAGREE - explain below Response explanation (required for responses other than “Agree”):

Unless the Monterey Regional Waste Management District decides to expand its current organic composting facility, Santa Cruz County jurisdictions cannot rely on it as a long-term solution for their organic waste recycling needs. AGREE PARTIALLY DISAGREE - explain disputed portion below x DISAGREE - explain below Response explanation (required for responses other than “Agree”): The Monterey Regional Waste Management District (District) has three different permitted compost projects in operation on site. In checking with the District, they provided the following list of their projects and their capacity status. 1. 5,000 ton per year Anaerobic Digestion Pilot Project 2. 10 permitted acres with a 72,000 cubic yard material allowance. 3. 60 permitted acres with a 500 ton per day maximum permitted tonnage The status of these 3 projects is as follows: 1. 5,000 ton per year Anaerobic Digestion Pilot Project is operating at 5,000 ton per year capacity however we have the ability to utilize additional food scraps in the raw material feedstock and reduce the quantity of green waste processed. We estimate this project can accept another 500 tons per year of food scraps. 2. We are presently utilizing less than 10,000 cubic yards of material on this site with more than 60,000 cubic yards of surplus capacity or approximately 45,000 tons per year (at 1.33 cubic yards food waste/ton). 3. On this our largest permitted compost parcel, 305 tons per day of capacity is being utilized with a surplus capacity of 195 tons per day which is in excess of 65,000 tons annually. The District predicts the life span at this time to exceed 100 years. Based on this information, Santa Cruz County jurisdictions can rely on the District as a long-term solution for their organic waste recycling needs.

Unless the cities of Watsonville and Scotts Valley develop organic waste recycling programs, neither city will be in compliance with AB 1826 by January 1, 2016. x AGREE PARTIALLY DISAGREE - explain disputed portion below DISAGREE - explain below Response explanation (required for responses other than “Agree”): If by “develop” it is meant to either come up with our own organic waste recycling program or contract with a provider such as Green Waste Recovery, then this is true.

Rules about what can be put in the “green cart” are inconsistent and not well understood by the general public. AGREE x PARTIALLY DISAGREE - explain disputed portion below DISAGREE - explain below Response explanation (required for responses other than “Agree”): In the Yellow Pages there is a six page Recycle Guide. In that guide it states all the same items that can go into the “green cart” for Capitola, Scotts Valley, and the unincorporated County, as they are all served by the same company, Green Waste Recovery. That same guide is located on the City of Scotts Valley web site. Scotts Valley believes it is not so much that the rules are inconsistent, as they are the same in these three jurisdictions, but that the public is not aware of the rules, despite the information provided regarding them.