2002 Annual Report: Waste Diversion

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• Local Agency Progress Towards 50 Percent Diversion
• School District Diversion
• State Agency Diversion
• Disposal Reporting System Recommendations
• Alternative Daily Cover Investigations
• Rulemaking
• Waste Reduction at Non-State Venues and Large Events

Local Agency Progress Towards 50 Percent Diversion
California’s statewide diversion rate increased to 48 percent in 2002. Many factors played a role in this significant increase, including a decrease in total disposal despite California’s growing population and stronger market values for recyclables. Another factor was the Board-approved new base year diversion data of many jurisdictions. This reflected numerous new diversion programs and improved quantification of diversion activities. To date, the Board has approved new base years for 136 jurisdictions and approximately 30 more are scheduled for consideration by the Board in early 2003.

The new base years demonstrate an overall commitment of Californians to divert waste from landfills. At the end of 2002, 11 jurisdictions conducted waste generation studies, which the Board will consider in the first quarter of 2003. Staff continues to provide assistance to jurisdictions in developing new base year and waste generation data for approval/adoption by the Board.

More than 60 percent of California jurisdictions met the requirements of the Integrated Waste Management Act in 2000, and many more are progressing towards the 50 percent diversion level. However, Public Resources Code section 41820 allows jurisdictions to request a time extension in meeting the mandated 50 percent diversion goal. By the end of 2002, the Board approved 106 applications for time extensions. Board staff designed the online Electronic 1066 Report to provide a fast and convenient way for jurisdictions to meet this obligation.

Every city and county must report to the Board its waste diversion activities during the previous calendar year. These reports include information about waste diversion programs implemented and discontinued, as well as a jurisdiction’s annual diversion rate. After debuting the new Electronic Annual Reporting (EAR) system in 2001, the system is now widely used by local jurisdictions. Almost 95 percent of all 445 jurisdictions in the state have filed their reports electronically. In 2002, the Board responded to user feedback and made improvements to the EAR. Other modifications addressed changes to existing law.

The 2001 annual reports from jurisdictions due on August 1, 2002, were temporarily postponed because the State Board of Equalization (BOE) delayed releasing completed 2001 taxable sales data. After the data-used in the diversion rate calculation-was released, the Board made the complete EAR available with a due date of January 31, 2003, for jurisdiction report submittal. Because of this delay, detailed information on jurisdiction progress toward the 2002 diversion goals has been delayed as well.

School District Diversion
In 2002, Board staff continued to provide ongoing technical and informational assistance to school districts and local jurisdictions to improve school district waste reduction programs. Other State offices, such as the Department of Toxic Substances Control and the State and Consumer Services Agency, provided assistance in coordination with the Board. The Board continued outreach to school-related professional associations and organizations to highlight the benefits and value of implementing districtwide waste reduction programs. Additionally, Board staff enhanced published school waste reduction Web resources in 2002, adding the year 2000 school district waste reduction survey results and analysis and new school waste reduction models to its Web site.

In 2002, the Board also began developing a training program for its staff on school district waste reduction programs. This training program, available in the spring of 2003, will highlight how local jurisdictions, school districts, and Board staff can work together to implement districtwide waste reduction programs. One feature of the training will be the Board’s Web-based resources for school district waste reduction programs.

State Agency Diversion
Public Resources Code 42921 requires State agencies to achieve 25 percent waste diversion by January 1, 2002, and 50 percent on and after January 1, 2004. In 2002, Board staff analyzed the 2001 annual reports from approximately 98 percent of more than 450 agencies and facilities. Findings from the analyses included the statewide reported generation of approximately 843,839 tons of waste from State government offices, of which 64 percent-539,336 tons-was recycled or diverted from disposal.

State agency reports detailing progress in the 2002 goal year are due to the Board on April 1, 2003. As part of the report review process, staff will visit sites reporting less than 25 percent diversion. This verification process will help determine if the reporting agency took all the appropriate steps in determining their diversion rate. The visits will also help identify program areas with potential for increased waste diversion to achieve the diversion mandates. Staff will conduct field visits at agencies and facilities that report extremely high diversion. These visits will allow staff the opportunity to learn from successful programs.

Program staff concluded workshops in December 2002 that focused on assisting State agencies and facilities with their annual reporting requirements and explaining how to maintain records in the event of future audits.

In addition to providing technical assistance to State entities to meet diversion goals, staff developed a series of training videos on developing and implementing diversion programs for State agencies and facilities. The videos will be on the Board’s Web site, and available in CD-ROM and VHS video formats, in 2003.

To recognize State agencies that meet the diversion goals, the Board developed the State Agency Recycling Recognition (STARR) awards program. STARR awards celebrate agencies’ waste diversion successes. In April 2002, the Board presented five different STARR awards to three separate agencies. The next awards will coincide with the 2002 goal year, with award applications due to the Board in July 2003.

The Board also implements and monitors master contracts that assist large State agencies and offices in recycling office paper, steel, and other materials. Master contracts are an incentive that provide an expedient way for State agencies to participate in the state’s overall recycling and waste diversion efforts.

Disposal Reporting System Recommendations
In cooperation with stakeholder work groups, the Board conducted an extensive public input process to address options for modifying and improving the disposal reporting system, as required by PRC 41821.5, and approved its report to the Legislature in November 2001. In response to the report recommendations, the Board developed, and Cal/EPA approved, a legislative proposal to encourage regional agency formation and add disposal reporting system enforcement provisions.

In a continued effort to increase the accuracy of disposal reporting, Board staff conducted unannounced site visits at landfills and transfer stations throughout the State on a quarterly basis. One purpose of these visits is to determine whether waste origin information is collected as required by regulation (14 California Code of Regulations, sections 18805-18810), and to observe how the surveys are being conducted.

These regulations specify that all permitted solid waste facilities must conduct quarterly surveys to ascertain the jurisdiction of origin for each vehicle load, including self-hauled waste, delivered to a facility during the required survey weeks. All facilities visited received a letter reporting the compliance of their facility.

For landfills not in compliance, the Board requested a detailed explanation in writing of how they determined the origin of waste disposed at their facilities. Follow-up visits at non-complying facilities were conducted, and findings were reported to the county and the affected jurisdictions if a facility consistently failed to accurately report the sources of the waste they received.

In 2002, the Board’s local government central Web site expanded to include additional tools and information for local governments. The Board began development of Web-based training for diversion goal measurement to be available in early 2003. Development of similar training modules on the disposal reporting system will begin in 2003 and be released after regulatory revisions to the system are complete.

Alternative Daily Cover Investigations
As a result of investigations in 2001 of nine Board-permitted disposal facilities reporting high amounts of alternative daily cover (ADC) materials, staff corrected reporting of ADC tonnages at seven of the facilities in 2002 and identified more than 123,000 tons of ADC material in excess of permitted cover amounts. The excess tonnages of ADC were allocated to the disposal tonnages jurisdictions, which were used in calculating diversion rates. The excess disposal tonnages also resulted in added disposal fees assessed by the Board of Equalization on disposal facility operators and captured additional revenue for the Board. Staff investigated an additional eight disposal facilities in 2002 but found no evidence of ADC overuse. The Board continues to monitor ADC material reported in the disposal reporting system and at disposal facilities.

Rulemaking
In 2002 the Board initiated an informal regulations development and review process to make revisions to the disposal reporting system and the adjustment method to improve diversion rate accuracy. Informal workshops for stakeholder input were held in December 2002. The proposed draft disposal reporting system and adjustment method regulations will be revised based on comments received during the informal review process. The formal rulemaking process is expected to begin in 2003.

Waste Reduction at Non-State Venues and Large Events
The Board began development of tools and resources aimed at increasing waste reduction at non-State venues such as stadiums, amusement parks, and museums, and at large events such as food festivals and cultural events. These tools will be available on the Board’s Venues and Large Events Web site, expected to be operational in the summer of 2003.

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