Most Orange County cities are failing to recycle organic waste, according to a new grand jury report that examined OC jurisdictions and local waste facilities and how they’re responding to statewide recycling goals.
“The majority of Orange County jurisdictions have not yet distributed residential waste containers that meet the SB 1383 standardization requirements, leaving outdated labeling/embossing in place,” reads the report. “Education and outreach have not yet taken place at all in some jurisdictions.”
It’s part of a statewide effort to dramatically reduce organic waste in landfills by 75% before next January.
In 2016, California enacted Senate Bill 1383, which required counties and cities to update recycling practices to better divert organic waste — scraps from plant or animal products — from landfills.
Organic waste, including food waste and other recyclables like paper and cardboard, makes up more than half of the trash that ends up in California landfills. When left to decompose in landfills, organic waste produces methane gas, a hazardous pollutant.
Local jurisdictions aren’t required to reduce organic waste in their landfills by 75%. That’s a statewide goal, but in order to reach that target, all California cities and counties must average a 75% reduction by 2025.
“California’s organics recycling and surplus food recovery requirements are the biggest transition in California since we started recycling in the 1980s,” said Maria West, a spokesperson for CalRecycle. “Cities and counties must implement new programs to recover, redirect and recycle or compost organics, as well as educate residents and businesses.”
West said that reaching SB 1383’s goals will cut climate pollution that amounts to taking three million cars off the road.
Are Sacramento’s Goals Too Lofty?
Orange County isn’t alone in failing to reduce organic waste by 75%.
The entire state is.
The Little Hoover Commission found that the state as a whole is not on track to meet the 75% goal by 2025.
Grand Jurors said that the state has set “unrealistic targets” and failed to take into account population density or geographic size.
The state created base guidelines for organic waste amounts in landfills in 2014 through a random sampling of 26 landfills across California.
The bill originally set a goal to reduce organic waste levels in landfills by 50% — based on those 2014 base levels — before January 1, 2020.
But the state missed that target in 2020.
Instead, organic waste going into landfills statewide increased by a million tons from 2014 to 2020, according to a report from the Little Hoover Commission.
Waste hauling officials say, with the current system, it’s virtually impossible to hit the 2025 goals.
“The current organics recycling infrastructure across California is insufficient to meet the demands of what SB 1383 requires,” said Chris Seney, Director of Organics Operations for Republic Services. “Permitting new organics management facilities is a lengthy process with a significant cost.”
Republic Services currently operates six compost facilities, one anaerobic digester — which breaks down food waste — and three commercial food waste operations across the state.
“Still, Republic Services is working diligently to permit and construct facilities that will help its customers and the state reach their sustainability goals,” Seney said.
When investigating Orange County’s progress, Grand Jurors toured local waste facilities and sent out a survey to officials in every city.
Jurors commended two cities — Mission Viejo and Santa Ana — and the county for taking steps toward implementing SB 1383 mandates, especially their outreach and education efforts.
The panel found that most OC cities haven’t yet required their haulers to distribute updated garbage containers that meet CalRecycle’s standardized colors for proper recycling, although the deadline for that transition isn’t until 2036.
Jurors also found a widespread lack of public outreach and pointed out that most jurisdictions don’t have a way to measure the effectiveness of their education efforts.
“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,” reads the report. “Most efforts primarily revolve around intermittent hard-copy paper mailings. “
Jurors also had some concerns about the limited number of composting facilities in Orange County, which would force some garbage haulers to travel long distances to process organic waste.
Two years ago, jurors had a similar concern when it came to recycling centers.
The panel found that the shrinking number of convenient recycling sites has caused a dramatic loss of recycling fees, known as California Redemption Value, for consumers across the county.
[Read: Grand Jury: OC Residents Lose Millions Each Year in Unclaimed Recycling Funds]
This time around, Grand Jurors are recommending cities and the county should ensure their waste hauling agreements are in line with state mandates and that they should also diversify methods of education outreach by the end of the year.
“Food and yard waste recycling is one of the fastest and easiest ways Californians can fight climate change,” West said. “Because these pollutants are especially strong in the short term, acting now can have a positive impact on climate change and public health.”
Angelina Hicks is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.
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