HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 10081991 - 2.2C i
TO: BOARD. OF SUPERVISORS Contra
:.., Costa
FROM: HARVEY E. BRAGDON Count
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ` ,/
DATE: OCTOBER 8, 1991
SUBJECT: DECLARE INTENT TO BAN FROM THE LANDFILLS SPECIFIC MATERIALS INCLUDING
PLASTIC MATERIALS COMPOSED OF PET, HDPE, POLYSTYRENE FOAM, AND
POLYETHYLENE FILM
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATIONS) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDATIONS
Authorize the Community Development Department to distribute to the
cities and other interested parties the attached proposed Ordinance
banning from disposal at the landfills plastic materials composed
of PET, HDPE, expanded polystyrene, .and polyethylene film (LDPE
film) to obtain their comments on the proposed Ordinance;
Direct the Community Development Department to review comments
received and prepare, with County Counsel, a final Ordinance for
hearing within 120 days; and,
Direct the Community Development Department to work with County
Counsel in preparing an Ordinance which bans from disposal in
landfills, through diversion programs, paper, cardboard, tin,
aluminum, glass, wood waste, inerts such as concrete, yard waste,
and white goods.
FISCAL IMPACT
None to the County General Fund.
BACKGROUND/REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS
In 1989 the Plastics Subcommittee of the County's Solid Waste
Commission submitted a report entitled "Reducing Plastics in the
Wastestream" which recommended a number of actions -to divert
plastics from disposal. Additional recommendations from the
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: xx YES SIGNATURE
RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION BF BOARD COMMITTEE
APPROVE OTHER
SIGNATURE(S) :
ACTION OF BOARD ON 9 91 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
John Marshall, 18780 Castheton St. , City of Industritry, representing Dow Chemical,
appeared in opposition to the proposed ordinance.
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A
UNANIMOUS (ABSENT TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN
AYES: NOES: ACTION TAKEN AND ENTERED ON THE
ABSENT: d ABSTAIN: MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
Orig: Community Development Department ATTESTED��
cc: County Administrator PHIL BATCHELOR, CLERK OF
County Counsel THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
BY _, DEPUTY
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Declare Intent to Ban from Landfills
Specific Materials, etc.
Continued - Page Two
County's Plastics Task Force regarding diversion of plastics from
the wastestream resulted in Board of Supervisors actions directing
preparation of an Ordinance banning plastic resins comprising the
larger portions of the plastics wastestream. These resins include
PET, HDPE, expanded polystyrene, and polyethylene film (LDPE film) .
Under the AB 939 Integrated Waste Management Act, all cities and
counties in California must develop programs to divert from
landfills 25% of the wastestream by 1995 and 50% of the wastestream
by 2000. Each city and county must prepare and submit Source
Reduction and Recycling Element (SRRE) which identify the programs
the jurisdiction will implement to reach the mandated diversions.
The programs must identify waste types targeted for diversion such
as paper, plastics, metals, and so forth. Following approval of a
jurisdiction's SRRE, an annual report on attainment of diversions
must be made to the California Integrated Waste Management Board
(CIWMB) .
The SRRE's and required annual reporting provide a mechanism by
which jurisdictions in Contra Costa County may target diversion of
plastics as well' as a regular reporting of such diversion programs.
Consequently, a County Ordinance requiring diversion of plastics
can readily be implemented and reported upon using the AB 939 SRRE
and reporting requirements. The proposed Ordinance attempts to
avoid duplication of effort by using the
AB 939 requirements.
Similarly, future ordinances requiring the diversion of other waste
types from the landfill can utilize the same AB 939 requirements.
Programs already exist in almost all cities throughout Contra Costa
County which divert from the wastestream tin, aluminum, glass,
paper, cardboard. Additionally, most jurisdictions are proposing
diversion programs for yard waste and wood waste.
Review and comment on the proposed plastics diversion ordinance
will assist with preparation of the ordinance and any future such
ordinances.
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ORDINANCE NO. 91-
(Recyclable Plastics Landfilling Ban)
The Board of Supervisors of Contra Costa County ordains as follows :
SECTION I . SUMMARY. This ordinance aims to reduce and eventually
eliminate the disposal of recyclable plastics in Contra Costa
landfills by prohibiting the landfill operator from accepting solid '
waste from local agencies that are not implementing adequate
programs for recycling of recyclable plastics .
SECTION -II . FINDINGS, BACKGROUND AND INTENT.
A. Plastics
The Contra Costa County Plastics Recycling Task Force,
( "Plastics Task Force" ) organized and established by the Board of
Supervisors , has been studying issues relative to landfill disposal
of plastics, and recycling alternatives to such disposal .
Plastics are of particular concern in a system of
.. integrated waste management. It is estimated that plastic is
second only to paper in volume in municipal solid waste. Unlike
E paper, plastic can take hundreds of years to biodegrade.
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B.' Recycling Alternatives Available
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In the past, opportunities to recycle plastics were
virtually unavailable. Due in part, to the innumerable different
types of chemicals and chemical compounds used in the manufacture
of plastics, even with the availability of technology to recycle
certain compounds of plastics, plastic recycling was not a feasible
alternative to landfilling. The plastics industry has developed
and a series of codes , .generally found on the bottom of containers ,
to aid in the sorting and recycling of plastics . Further,
recycling opportunities now exist in Contra Costa County for
certain types of plastics, in particular, PET, HDPE, LDPE film and
expanded polystyrene.
C . AB 939
The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989
(commonly referred to as "AB 939 , " and hereinafter referred to as
the "Act" ) was adopted by the State Legislature as the state' s
comprehensive program for solid waste management, for the
preservation of public health and welfare. The Act authorizes and
requires local agencies, as subdivisions of the state, to make
adequate provision for solid waste handling, both within their
respective jurisdictions, and in response to regional needs
consistent with the. policies, standards, and requirements of the
Act, and regulations adopted pursuant * to the Act. (Public
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Resources Code, 5 44002 . ) The Act mandates that all cities and
counties reduce the amount of materials going to landfills by 258
by the year 1995, and 508 by the year 2000, through the preparation
and implementation of city and county Source Reduction and
Recycling Elements ( "SRRE" ) of a countywide integrated waste
management plan.
As a first step in this process, cities and counties _.are
required to conduct waste generation studies, identifying the
waste, by category that is in the waste stream. As a result of
such a study, it was found that in the unincorporated of Contra
Costa County, plastics account for approximately 5.6 percent of the
total waste stream by weight. This number is expected to climb in
the future because of the continued change over to a lighter weight
material from traditional packaging materials .
The Act requires each city and county, as part of its
SRRE, to identify diversion alternatives or programs by waste type,
and annually report to the California Integrated Waste Management
Board, results of these programs .
D. Landfill Ban Feasible and Desirable
The Plastics Task Force has urged the Board of
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`' ` ' Supervisors to adopt regulations intended to ban plastics from
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being landfilled in Contra Costa County. At this time, due in part
to: the nonbiogradable nature of plastics; its volume in the waste
stream; the availability of recycling alternatives for certain
types of plastics, in particular, PET, HDPE, LDPE film, and
expanded polystyrene; the fact that all cities and the County, for
the unincorporated area, are required, as part of the state' s
comprehensive program for integrated waste management, to implement
waste .., reduction programs or alternatives for various types of
waste; the Board of Supervisors hereby finds that diversion,
resulting in an eventual ban at landfills of certain recyclable
plastics, through the implementation of recycling alternatives or
programs, is both feasible, desirable, and in furtherance of the
State' s and County' s integrated waste management goals .
SECTION III . DEFINITIONS .
A. General . The terms used in this ordinance have the
meanings ascribed to them in the Act and regulations adopted
pursuant to the Act, as they may be amended from time to time,
except as the context otherwise requires . In addition, the
following terms have the following meanings .
B. "PET" means polyethylene terephthalate. By way of
illustration, this is the type of plastic from which two-liter
` beverage containers are made. In addition, some liquor, cooking
oil~ and peanut butter' Jars are made of' PET.
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C. "HDPE" means high density polyethylene. HDPE is most
commonly found in milk bottles, some plastic bags, and detergent
bottles .
D. "LDPE film" means low density polyethylene film. This
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type of plastic is most commonly used to make dry cleaning bags and
grocery bags .
E. "Expanded Polystyrene" is the material that is most
commonly used to make foam meat trays, foam cups, packaging pellets
and foam blocks .
F. "City' s haulers" or "haulers of a city" includes a city' s
franchised, contracted or permitted residential or commercial solid
waste haulers .
G. "Landfill" means a disposal facility for land disposal of
solid waste.
SECTION IV. DIVERSION PROGRAMS REQUIRED.
A. Effective January 1 , 1994 , an operator of a landfill shall
not accept solid waste from the haulers of a city that has not
begun implementation of those alternatives or programs, identified
.,. in its SRRE, for diversion of recyclable plastics, including PET,
HDPE, LDPE film, and expanded polystyrene from itsresidentDU`and
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commercial waste stream, for a plastics diversion goal of at least
1% of the city' s total waste stream.
B. Upon and after the submittal of a city' s firs* annual
report to the California Integrated Waste Management Board, an
operator of a landfill shall not accept solid waste from the hauler
of a city if the programs or alternatives identified in the city' s
SRRE for diversion of -recyclable plastics, including PET, HDPE,
LDPE film and expanded polystyrene from the city' s residential and
commercial waste stream report that the programs or alternatives
are achieving less than 1% diversion of plastics from the city' s
total waste stream.
C. If .a city' s hauler delivers the city's solid waste to a
transfer or processing station, the requirements of subsection A
and B apply to a landfill operator' s acceptance of a city' s solid
waste from the station operator and/or the station operator' s
contractors and subcontractors . Where a station operator accepts
solid waste from a city that. has not met the recyclable plastics
diversion requirements of subsection A and B, the station operator
shall certify to the landfill operator that such city' s solid waste
is not being delivered to the landfill .
D. The landfill ban requirements of subsection A and B shall
apply to a city until such city meets the recyclable plastics
diversion requirements of the applicable subparagraph-.
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SECTION V. EXEMPTIONS . The Board of Supervisors may grant to a
city, an exemption from the requirements of Section IV, Subsections
A or B, after holding a public hearing and finding: .that the city
has made a good faith effort to meet the diversion goals of said
subsection(s ) , and that future - implementation of the city' s
proposed alternatives or programs are likely to result in the
attainment of said recyclable plastics diversion goal; or that the
total amount of plastics in the city's waste stream makes the
diversion goals in Subsections (A) and/or (B) infeasible, and that
the city is implementing recyclable plastics diversion alternatives
or programs resulting in a maximum feasible amount of plastics
diversion from the total waste stream.
SECTION VI . EFFECTIVE DATE. This ordinance becomes effective 30
days after passage, and within 15 days after passage shall be
published once with the names of . the Supervisors voting for and
against it in the a newspaper of general
circulation published in this County.
PASSED ON , by the following
vote:
AYES
NOES
F. ABSENT
ABSTAIN
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ATTEST, Phil Batchelor, Clerk of
the Board of Supervisors and County
Administrator
By:
Deputy
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