A city, a county, a city and a county or a special district may use a Joint Powers Authority to meet the requirements of this chapter, except that the individual city, county, city and county or special district will ultimately remain responsible for compliance. The decision to treat waste must address how and where the waste and any resulting waste or by-product will continue to be managed. In addition, they are required to annually provide information to employees, contractors, tenants, and customers about organic waste recovery requirements and the proper classification of organic waste. While all land may not be exempted, generators below the 4,500 foot threshold are not exempt from the requirement to collect, separate, and recover food waste and food-contaminated paper.
Counties, in coordination with jurisdictions and regional agencies located within the county, must identify the amount, in tons, of existing organic waste recycling infrastructure capacity, located both in the county and outside the county, that is verifiably available to the county and jurisdictions located within the county. Article 3, section 18984.13, addresses this type of quarantined material and the mandatory federal requirements and ensures that these state regulations do not conflict with federal regulations regarding the required disposal of the types of organic waste defined in this section. Since minimizing waste has significant environmental and economic benefits, waste should be minimized from the start and to the greatest extent possible during the response to an incident. The elevation exemption is limited in scope, and jurisdictions that meet the requirements to obtain it will continue to be subject to other regulatory requirements, such as procurement, edible food recovery, and other types of organic waste collection.
The type and nature of waste streams, the level of pollution, the lack of storage space or transport vehicles, the limited capacity of accessible facilities, the refusal of a facility to accept certain types of waste, and the available opportunities for reuse or recycling are just a few of the reasons why the choice of several waste management options may be necessary or preferable. Waste storage or storage activities can also serve to move waste management away from the “critical path” to reoccupation, by preventing the decision-making process about waste management and its various transportation, treatment and disposal problems from affecting the deadline for people to return to their homes or jobs. Jurisdictions are not required to separate and recover organic waste removed from homeless encampments. A special district is not subject to the authority of a city or county and would otherwise be exempt from providing organic waste collection and education services to residents and businesses.
CalRecycle will use its statewide waste characterization studies and its recycling and disposal reporting system to measure the achievement of state goals for the recovery of organic waste and edible food. As you have already learned, the process of disposal of construction and demolition waste varies greatly depending on the type of construction, the location of the work, and the regulations governing the disposal of hazardous waste in your region. For example, treating waste to eliminate or inactivate the pollutant will make the waste non-hazardous or less contaminated, which means that transportation and waste management (for example, green building programs, local waste management ordinances, and building code requirements) can encourage the creation and maintenance of a functioning reuse and recycling infrastructure.
