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The City of Riverside, designated an “All-American City”
in 1998, is the seat of Riverside County in Southern California. The city, in compliance with the California Integrated
Waste Management Act of 1989 (AB 939, Sher; Chapter 1095, Statutes of 1989)
met its 1995 waste diversion requirement of 25 percent and its 2000 waste
diversion requirement of 50 percent. The city achieved the 50 percent rate five years before the 2000
deadline, and its 1998 diversion rate was 57 percent.
Prior
to the passage of AB 939, the city had no municipally sponsored recycling
program. After passage, the city took a
very proactive stance that concentrated on program development designed to
achieve the diversion goals of the act in the most timely and cost-effective
manner. Riverside accomplished its goals in a manner somewhat unique in
California by initiating its programs with the major material identified in
their waste characterization study, namely green waste.
See also the full version of this publication.
Program Characteristics
The
City of Riverside worked closely with Riverside County and the city’s three
waste subcontractors in developing a full range of programs to meet its
diversion responsibilities. Included in those programs are green and wood waste
collection and composting; residential curbside and drop-off recycling; MRF
recovery of commercial waste; diversion of concrete and asphalt, white goods
and tires; and ordinances.
Local
Partnerships
In
carrying out its responsibility to divert material from the waste stream, the
City of Riverside has cooperated fully with relevant county program efforts and
with services offered by its solid waste contractors. This avoids any
unnecessary duplication of effort.
In
addition, the city supports one-half of a position with the Riverside Chamber
of Commerce in the Keep Riverside Clean project. The chamber also cooperates with litter abatement and public
education programs.
The
City of Riverside is also a member of the West Riverside Council of Governments
Local
Policies
The
City of Riverside has taken a number of actions to facilitate the processes of
waste reduction and recycling. These include:
- In
1992, shifting from twice-a-week collection of trash to once-a-week collection
of trash and once-a-week collection of green waste.
- In
1994, approving Section 6.05 of the Municipal Code to provide adequate space
and access for the separate protected storage and collection of recyclables.
- Shifting
to automated collection to facilitate greater citizen participation in a cost-
effective way.
- Modifying
their rate structure to create a disincentive to excessive trash generation.
Source
Reduction
The
principal program of waste reduction is the backyard composting program run by
the county waste management department. The program offers composting workshops, bins, and handbooks to
residents.
Curbside
Collection of Recyclables
The
city developed a fully automated collection system providing weekly service.
Although participation is voluntary, all residential units are required to pay
the additional fee.
Green Waste
The allowable green wastes are placed in a green automated
collection container. The green waste
is delivered and tipped at a composting facility at a savings over the trash disposal
fee. For the 1998–99 fiscal year, the
residential green waste collectors achieved a 42 percent diversion rate
resulting in a savings of $856,427. There is also a reduced commercial rate for separated loads of green
waste.
Newspaper
Drop-Off
The
city co-sponsors eight 24-hour drop-off sites for newspapers.
Buyback
Centers
As
of 1998, there were 116 buyback centers listed for the City of Riverside,
including CRV locations, scrap dealers, and used appliance buyers.
Used
Oil Recycling
The
city lists eight certified used oil recycling locations and engages in public
outreach and provision of used oil containers and other promotional items.
Construction
and Demolition Recycling
Much
of the concrete, dirt and rock, and asphalt generated in the city is diverted
to recycling because of county and city actions. The two primary actions increased landfill fees and modified the
street rehabilitation project bids. The
language requires contractors to use the residue produced from grinding
operations or crushing of removed asphalt pavement, as long as the material
complies with identified specifications.
White
Goods
In
addition to the listings for companies that repair white goods, the local
utility now contracts with a private company to pick up relevant white goods
for removal of freon. Scrap metal
companies take non-freon white good for recycling.
Household
Hazardous Waste
The
city, in cooperation with Riverside County, offers both a permanent drop-off
site and periodic mobile collections for a variety of HHW.
Tires
Thanks
to a “Car Tire Amnesty Program,” city residents are allowed to bring up to four
used auto tires to HHW collection events. A company takes the tires collected
and recycles them into a crumb rubber product.
Costs, Economics, and Benefits
All activities of the city related to solid waste
derive their funding from the Public Works Department budget. The Solid Waste Systems portion of the
budget is an enterprise fund. The
revenues received into this fund are legally restricted and cannot be used to
finance general purpose services. Revenues for this fund are derived primarily from user fees.
The total enterprise budget for 1998–99 was
$10,903,263. It was approved for
1999–2000 in the amount of $11,452.09, a projected increase of 5 percent.
The Solid Waste Systems budget is comprised of three
main subdivisions—collection, refuse disposal, and private hauler.
Collection
This subdivision includes all personnel and
non-personnel expenses, equipment outlay, and debt service.
Refuse Disposal
This subdivision is essentially related to the
annual costs for monitoring and testing at the closed Tequesquite Sanitary
Landfill.
Private
Hauler
This
subdivision includes non-personnel expenses and special projects. It also covers fees the city pays for
private hauler single-family residential waste service, as well as service fees
the city collects from residents for payment to the private haulers. Private haulers collecting recyclables from
commercial and multifamily residences are allowed to waive the landfill tipping
fee as an incentive to the customers.
The budget is relatively stable and noted increases
seem to be related to population growth.
Tips for Success
- Re-examine your waste stream
to determine if you are concentrating on the major elements, such as green
waste.
- If you are not already in a
regional or subregional grouping, explore your surrounding community for
cooperative opportunities to achieve economies of scale and reduce costs.
- Assess your community in
terms of both public and private agencies such as schools, chambers of
commerce, etc. with whom you could form alliances to achieve mutually desirable
ends.
- Evaluate your service
provider operations and systems and level of customer service to determine if
proactive changes are desirable.
CIWMB
Publications
All CIWMB publications are available from the Board’s Publications
Catalog.
Credits/Disclaimer
Pursuant to contract (IWM-C8028) with the University of California at Santa
Cruz for a series of 24 studies and summaries, EMS
(Oakland, California) researched and wrote this summary for the California
Integrated Waste Management Board.
The
statements and conclusions in this summary are those of the contractor and not
necessarily those of the California Integrated Waste Management Board, its
employees, or the State of California. In addition, the data in this report was
provided by local sources but not independently verified. The State and its
contractors make no warranty, express or implied, and assume no liability for
the information contained in this text. Any mention of commercial products,
companies or processes shall not be construed as an endorsement of such
products or processes.
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