SR-9-A (49)
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Council Meeting: July 13, 1993
Santa Monica, california
TO: Mayor and City council
FROM: city staff
SUBJECT: Recommendation to direct the city Attorney to prepare
ordinance requiring those who provide private refuse,
recycling, or demolition handling services within the
City to be regulated through an annual permit process
INTRODUCTION
This report recommends that the City council request the City
Attorney to draft an ordinance whereby private companies
providing solid waste refuse handling, transfer, recycling, and
demolition
services
to
the
Santa
Monica
Institutional,
Commercial, and Industrial sector, be regulated through a permit
process administered by the General Services Department.
This ordinance 'Would enable the General Services Department to
ensure consistent compliance by all providers with the objectives
established by AB 939, the Solid Waste Management Act of 1989,
and with the City's Solid Waste Management policy, operational,
and performance Objectives. It is recommended that this permit
process be developed and implemented by the General Services
Department.
The permit would be renewed annually and its
provisions would be reviewed and/or updated and monitored for
compliance by the Director of General Services.
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BACKGROUND
The following quantities of solid waste are generated, collected,
recycled, and landfilled in the City of Santa Monica:
City
Collection Generated Recycled Landfilled
Residential 100% 43,000 tons 12,000 tons (28%) 31,000 tons
Commercial 45% 81,000 tons 5,000 tons ( 6%) 76,000 tons
Total 124,000 tons 17,000 tons (14%) 107,000 tons
In the Industrial, COIDmercial, and Institutional (ICI) sector,
approximately 81,000 tons of solid waste is generated per year.
Of this quantity, approximately 76,000 tons are hauled to area
landfills; only 5,000 tons per year (6%) are directed to various
City and private recycling programs for reprocessing.
A 1991
analysis performed on the City's ICI disposed waste stream in
order to fulfill the City's overall Source Reduction and
Recycling Element (SRRE) document requirements, indicated that
upwards of 50% of current ICI waste stream is recyclable. The
50% potential is a target for regulatory/diversion programs in
the city's future goals and objectives.
Unlike the residential sector, however, refuse collection in the
ICI sector in the City of Santa Monica is not subject to
exclusive provision by City service and therefore has not
historically been subject to the same standards and controls the
City abides by. Of the leI refuse collection, currently 55% is
handled by private haulers (44,550 tons per year) and 45% is
handled by city service (36,450 tons per year).
In addition,
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there are several recycling only haulers operating in the city
within the ICI sector.
DISCUSSION
The Solid Waste Management Act of 1989 became state law on
January 1, 1991, through Assembly Bill 939. The fundamental
provision of this law is that each city is required to reduce the
volume of solid waste taken to area landfills by 25% as of
January 1, 1995, and by 50% as of January I, 2000. The total
tonnage in calendar year 1990 is used as the baseline for
determining percentage reductions. AB 939 places the
responsibility of aChieving the diversionary goals upon local
governments and imposes fines of up to $10,000 per day on those
cities which do not comply. Assembly Bill 939 provisions empower
cities to regulate all solid waste handling activities to ensure
that City diversionary goals can be met.
As previously stated, the City of Santa Monica's residential
solid waste collection program is managed exclusively by the
city. This program has been managed proactively, in accordance
with the environmentally responsive goals established by the
Council which were promulgated even before the conditions and
goals imposed by AB 939. For example, the Santa Monica Recycle
Program, now 12 years old, currently recycles approximately
12,000 tons of refuse per year, or 28% of the total residential
waste stream. In April 1992, the City Council modified this
aggressive program further by implementing a volume-based refuse
rate structure as defined in AB 939. This rate structure entices
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residents and businesses sUbscribing to City services to reduce
the volume of waste resulting in reduced unit costs.
Remaining however, is a sizeable segment (44,550 tons per year)
within the ICI sector that is serviced by nonparticipating
private refuse haulers (55% of ICI disposed waste stream). City
regulatory control over these private haulers has historically
been relegated to enforcing minor administrative rules cited in
the current Municipal Code over frequency of collection and hours
of service. However, AB 939 requires cities to exert more
comprehensive control over all segments of solid waste management
activities, including the monitoring of flow control, the
implementation of waste reduction and diversion programs, and the
assumption of overall quality control to ensure environmentally
sound solid waste management. Hence, in formulating its SRRE ·
document, which by Council Resolution (August 4, 1992)
established the City's fundamental eight-year solid waste
management plan, the City anticipated the need and its obligation
to address this segment of the waste stream.
Accordingly, to promote and implement the city's projected goals
and policy directives as stated in the city Council-adopted SRRE
master plan, as well as to ensure service delivery with
performance standards at a level commensurate with those provided
by City services, staff requests that the City Attorney be
directed to draft an ordinance that will authorize the Director
of General Services to set the conditions for issuing annual
permits to private haulers of solid waste to operate within the
City's guidelines. These permit conditions will identify
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performance quality criteria for daily operations within the City
as well as performance objectives commensurate with the City's
jurisdiction to enforce AB 939 requirements. Some of the new
condi tions and audit mechanisms incorporated in the new permit
process will include, but are not limited to:
1. Proof of adequate scope, frequency and responsiveness of
service through a declaration in the permit application form
(7-days per week, maximum 24 hour complaint response,
conformance with hours-of-operation codes, maintenance of
refuse bins, compliance with health codes, etc.).
2. provision of refuse and recycling flow control data in the
form of a monthly report which shall contain total monthly
refuse collected and its landfill or recycling destinations
to Director of the Department of General Services (SRRE Sec~
4, p. 53; Sec. 5, p. 5).
3. Implementation of a refuse collection frequency and/or
capacity ICI rate schedule which reflects the type of
incentive program for waste reduction enacted by the City
Council (SRRE Sec. 4, p. 15; Sec. 5, p. 5). The rate
structure currently guiding city-provided Refuse Service
operations is an incentive for refuse reduction in that it
offers only a minimal discount rate for higher service
volume, and thus provides economic inducement to reductions
in refuse generation.
4. Requirement to submit to the City copies of all existing
service contracts with ICI customers within two months of
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securing permit, and to provide copies of any contract
changes as they occur.
5. Acceptance of the condition (in writing) that permittee will
oblige the city of Santa Monica if it issues a Notice of
Intent to exercise the option to terminate all solid waste
hauling licenses and permits effective July 15, 1998, and
permitter acknowledges that the Notice of Intent can
effectively terminate any rights of permittee pursuant to
Public Resources Code section 49520 and any other statutory
provision now in effect or subsequently adopted. (Cities are
provided the option to invoke Public Resources Code Section
49520 whereby they can give a five-year notice to existing
solid waste service providers that the city intends to annex,
to totally or partially franchise, or to mandate any other
proprietary contracts.)
6. Deposit of a Performance Fee and Bond deposit to be held in
the city Treasury and replenished should costs arise in time
or materials related to corrective action taken by the city
for any instances of non-compliance on the part of the
private hauler of permit conditions.
7. Acceptance of the condition whereby hauler accedes that,
through persistent or flagrant transgressions of any
ordinances or permit conditions relative to performance,
his/her permit is subject to suspension, revocation, or
non-renewal as determined through an administrative hearing.
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8. Provision for payment of an annual permit application
processing fee. Analysis will be conducted to determine the
appropriate cost of this fee. Staff will return to Council
with a proposed fee established by resolution when this
ordinance returns to Council.
It is anticipated that the percentage of users of private haulers
of solid waste will remain constant, yet the City now will be
held accountable for their compliance with the standards and
conditions contained in the AB 939 statutes. The City's
authority, responsibilities, control, and enforcement
specifications have already been made explicit in the official
SRRE document which outlines the permitting guidelines and
process for refuse, recycling, and demolition haulers. This
authority has been officially endorsed by the Santa Monica City
Task Force on the Environment.
FINANCIAL/BUDGET IMPACTS
The financial impacts resulting from the specific recommendation
that the City Attorney draft the subject ordinance is staff time.
At a later date, we can identify but not quantify permanent and
temporary income to the City stemming from the application fees
and performance bond. The final determination of these fees is
left to Council discretion for inclusion in the Council
resolution.
Further, as the City shall be held accountable for adherence to
the Assembly Bill requirements by all solid waste haulers, the
City's potential savings in non-compliance and violation fees and
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in liability costs is self-evident but incalculable, lacking
historical data to base a projection on.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Council direct the city Attorney to
draft an ordinance whereby private firms providing solid waste
handling services to the commercial sector within the City be
permitted to operate providing permits are obtained from the
City, and conditions identified therein annually by the Director
of General Services are complied with.
Permit conditions must
meet existing Municipal Code requirements and AB 939 provisions.
It is recommended that permits be renewed annually for a fee set
by resolution and performance bonds be collected from applicants.
Prepared by: stanley E. Scholl, Director of General services
Tom Dever, Solid Waste Superintendent
Joan Akins, Acting Administrative Services Officer
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