HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 05172011 - C.16RECOMMENDATION(S):
AMEND the 2011 State Legislative Platform to include the following policy position, as
recommended by the Legislation Committee:
SUPPORT legislative and regulatory efforts to allow third parties, under specific
circumstances and conditions, to collect and transport household hazardous waste to
collection facilities.
FISCAL IMPACT:
No impact to the County from this action.
BACKGROUND:
On January 25, 2011 George Smith, chair of the Contra Costa Hazardous Materials
Commission, gave a brief presentation to the Board of Supervisors on the findings of a
report the Commission prepared concerning Household Hazardous Waste management in
Contra Costa County. The 8th recommendation of that study was:
Support the creation of policies that would allow for the collection and transportation of
APPROVE OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
Action of Board On: 05/17/2011 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
Clerks Notes:
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
AYE:John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Gayle B. Uilkema, District II
Supervisor
Mary N. Piepho, District III
Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV
Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V
Supervisor
Contact: Lara DeLaney,
925-335-1097
I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board
of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: May 17, 2011
David J. Twa, County Administrator and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors
By: June McHuen, Deputy
cc:
C.16
To:Board of Supervisors
From:Legislation Committee
Date:May 17, 2011
Contra
Costa
County
Subject:Amendment to 2011 State Legislative Platform
Household Hazardous Waste (HHW), and the use of HHW facilities, by entities not
charging a fee for such services. This may require supporting changes to current laws
and regulations governing the management of HHW.
The Board of Supervisors voted to refer this recommendation to the Legislation Committee
for further consideration. The Legislation Committee considered this matter at its March 21,
2011 meeting and recommends that the 2011 State Legislative Platform be amended to
include this as a policy position of the Board of Supervisors. (
BACKGROUND: (CONT'D)
Attachment A, p. 24.)
The basis for this recommendation were several examples brought to the attention of the
Commission. One example of where such a policy would be beneficial was provided to
the Commission by the manager of an apartment complex that used a private company to
sort the recyclable material out of the garbage generated by its residents. In the process of
sorting out recyclable material from the garbage, this company would occasionally find
hazardous products that had been thrown out by residents of the apartment complex.
However, the HHW collection facility that served the area where this apartment complex
was located would not allow the company to drop off the materials as residential HHW.
The only option given to them was to register as a small quantity generator of hazardous
waste and pay a fee to drop off the material at the HHW facility.
Another example discussed at a Commission meeting was that of a senior housing
complex that received a HUD grant to implement green upgrades to their facility. One of
the requirements of this grant was to provide collection services to the residents for their
HHW. The local HHW facility has been accepting hazardous materials generated by the
tenants and transported by the manager at no cost, but this policy is not uniformly applied
throughout the County.
Current State law, Health and Safety Code Section 25218.5, requires, with very limited
exception, that household hazardous waste can only be transported to a collection facility
by the individual that generated the waste or by a permitted entity.
In general, the Hazardous Materials Commission supports efforts that make it easier and
more convenient for households to dispose of the hazardous waste they generate.
Requiring entities engaged in efforts such as those described above to be fully permitted
or to pay fees to take household generated waste to collection facilities would discourage
those entities from providing the service, and thus would reduce the number of proper
disposal options available, especially to apartment dwellers.
The Hazardous Materials Commission would encourage development of policies and
simplified regulations for such intermediaries that would allow them to easily transport
household hazardous waste to collection facilities, while still providing safeguards for
public health and the environment. The Hazardous Materials Commission did not develop
specific language for such a policy, regulation or statute, but would encourage the
development of such by relevant stakeholders. At a minimum, the Hazardous Materials
Commission would encourage consultation with the entities that operate the three
regional Household Hazardous Waste Collection facilities in the County, the Department
of Toxic Substances Control, CalRecycle, and the County’s Solid Waste and Recycling
Program Manager.
Some of the issues that would need to be considered are:
the circumstances under which a third party could transport and dispose of HHW at
regional collection facilities or one day collection events,
the type of documentation necessary to prove third parties transporting HHW were
not conducting this activity as a profit-making business,
the amounts of HHW that could be transported and disposed of at any one time by
third parties, and
the safeguards third parties would need to take to ensure the safe collection and
transportation of HHW.
The Legislation Committee encourages the Hazardous Materials Commission to return to
the Committee with specific language for a policy, regulation, or statute that would be
consistent with the Platform position and could be advocated by the Board of Supervisors.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If this policy position is not amended into the 2011 State Legislative Platform, there will
not be an adopted position of the Board from which to advocate.
CHILDREN'S IMPACT STATEMENT:
None.
ATTACHMENTS
2011 State Legislative Platform, as amended