CIWMB Strategic Plan, November 1997

Key Assessment and Planning Initiatives

Description

The Board is the State agency responsible for protecting the public's health and safety and the environment through the effective management of California's solid waste stream. The Board encourages the conservation hierarchy of "source reduction; recycling and composting; and environmentally safe transformation and environmentally safe land disposal." The hierarchy is needed to reach the state's goal of diverting up to 50 percent of California's solid waste from landfills by the year 2000, while at the same time providing regulatory oversight to ensure protection of public health and safety, and the environment.

The Board is helping Californians reach these mandates by:

• Developing effective relationships with local governments and private industry to develop and implement its programs.
• Educating the public about the value of resource conservation and the economic and environmental costs of waste disposal.
• Encouraging the development of markets for recyclable materials.
• Stimulating development of facilities needed to divert waste from disposal and provide disposal capacity for materials that cannot feasibly be diverted.
• Aggressively seeking to protect public health and safety, and the environment by cleaning up old, abandoned, and illegal dump sites and waste tire piles.

The passage of the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 (AB 939, Chapter 1095, Statutes of 1989) marked a significant development in the way the state handles its solid waste stream. The act set levels of waste diversion of 25 percent in 1995 and 50 percent in 2000, using 1990 baseline numbers. It laid out a strategic framework of regulation and conservation upon which to build a monumental public effort that would shape how Californians' perceptions of solid waste as a resource.

Since 1990, jurisdictions throughout California have increased the number of diversion programs by 155 percent. More than 1,000 plans, identifying how cities and counties expect to increase their waste reduction efforts to reach the 50 percent diversion goal, have been submitted by local jurisdictions. California has reached an estimated 25 percent diversion of its waste stream from landfills, achieving this goal on schedule in 1995 as required by the act. Using financial, technical, and regulatory incentives, the Board will continue to work extensively with local governments and private businesses to further achieve a substantial reduction in the amount of waste sent to California landfills.

To facilitate the open discussion of integrated waste management issues, assist in implementing statutory mandates, and provide a public forum for careful examination of information from all points of view, the Board has established six committees. Each committee is composed of three of the six board members. These committees provide a framework to allow full review of issues and proposals prior to public hearing by the full six-member board. This process facilitates the consideration of issues requiring in-depth review. The committees cover the following subject areas: Administration; Local Assistance and Planning; Legislation and Public Education; Market Development; Permitting and Enforcement; and Policy Research and Technical Assistance.

In addition, the Board's staff are aligned into three program divisions as follows: the Diversion, Planning, and Local Assistance Division; the Waste Prevention and Market Development Division; and the Permitting and Enforcement Division. The Board and executive support functions are handled by the following four offices and one division, which report to the Executive Director:

• Public Affairs Office.
• Policy and Analysis Office.
• Legislative and External Affairs Office.
• Legal Office.
• Administration and Finance Division.

Table of Contents

Strategic Planning Process

Table of Contents

Internal/External Assessment Summary

Within the past year, several efforts have been undertaken within the Board and by the Governor to examine the key factors that influence the success of the Board in achieving its mission and goals, including conducting internal and external needs assessments, developing organization and program missions, and developing priority program goals and objectives. These efforts include the following:

• "Getting to 50 Percent" Initiative.
• Market Development Plan.
• Assessment of the Tire Fund Allocation Process.
• "The Other 50 Percent" Initiative in Permitting and Enforcement.
• Waste Prevention Plan.
• Program Integration Plan.
• "California Competes" Initiative.
• Partnership 2000.

As part of these initiatives, the Board has used a variety of public forums including internal workshops, regulatory workshops, public workshops and hearings, formal partnerships with key stakeholders, and the public forum provided by Committee and Board hearings to obtain input on the needs of internal and external customers.

All of the Board's individual office and division mission statements (shown in Appendix A); and the Board's current and recently completed planning initiatives (listed above, and described in more detail in Appendix C), were reviewed in order to ensure alignment of the Board's Strategic Plan with existing internal planning efforts. The input received from Board staff and management during the Program Integration Plan was utilized in the development of the draft mission and values statements. The results of all of these efforts were integrated into the 1997 strategic planning process to ensure that all customer input was considered and that the Board's 1997 Strategic Plan reflects the key strategic goals and objectives identified through the initiatives described above.

Following is a summary of the key internal and external challenges and opportunities identified through the assessment and planning initiatives undertaken by the Board in the past three-years.

Internal Challenges

• Practicing and promoting effective communication at all levels.
• Managing the dual roles of regulator and advocate.
• Building collaborative internal and external working relationships.
• Need for strategic and tactical direction.
• Development and implementation of consistent management practices and policies.
• Continuously improving work processes.
• Quality and consistency in work products.

Internal Strengths

• Strong legislative mandate that creates motivation for change.
• Progress with internal initiatives toward a responsive and efficient organization.
• Highly skilled and motivated staff.
• Board with diverse interests and broad representation.
• Public process to receive and respond to stakeholder requirements.

External Challenges

• The broad responsibilities of the Board.
• Decreasing fee revenue to support Board programs due to success in moving closer to the mandated 50 percent diversion goal.
• Lack of awareness of the true costs of disposal.
• Public tendency to rely on recycling as a single solution to waste management.
• Increased burden on industry and the business sector in responding to regulatory requirements.
• The cost to local governments and industry of implementing the IWMA.
• Balancing local community needs with regional solutions.
• Overlapping and potentially conflicting jurisdictions with other governmental agencies.
• Potential conflict between state and federal waste management laws.
• Dual role as regulator and advocate.
• Need for self-sustaining markets for secondary materials.
• Economic climate.
• Disposal capacity.

External Opportunities

• Public interest in and willingness to recycle.
• Changing public perception regarding environmental issues.
• Growing recognition within the business sector of the importance of waste management.
• Facilitating statewide solutions to problems.
• Working more closely with the regulated community and the environmental community toward better waste management.
• Potential for local and statewide economic and technological development and cost-savings by developing recyclable materials, industries and markets.
• Ability to support the demonstration of new, cost-effective and environmentally sound approaches to waste management.
• Opportunity to foster greater integration and cooperation between state and local jurisdictions
• Contributing to the Administration and legislative process on environmental issues.

In sum, these many challenges and opportunities serve to define the way we understand both our internal and external client needs, and set the stage for the development of the Board's strategic goals, objectives, and strategies.

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Last updated: September 8, 1997