The state-mandated garbage inspections that begin next year as part of a new composting law will be difficult for towns across California, but two West Marin communities face an outsized challenge. Bolinas and Stinson Beach, with fewer than 2,000 residents between them, must devise their own independent plans for trash inspections and enforcement.
When California lawmakers passed the ambitious Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Act, Senate Bill 1383, early this year, it was regarded as the biggest change to state solid waste law in more than 30 years. To help meet new climate-oriented goals, the bill made composting mandatory, required businesses to donate more uneaten food and instructed trash collectors to accept food scraps in compost bins. Crucially, the bill came with teeth: Municipalities had to develop plans to inspect private and commercial bins to ensure compliance.
Most of West Marin can rely on the county’s Department of Public Works to develop an enforcement plan through its franchising agreement with the area’s chief garbage collector, Recology. But the two villages that abut Bolinas Lagoon have their own separate franchising agreements with Recology, meaning state regulators expect them to develop their own enforcement programs.
“In terms of the substance and intent of the law, Bolinas has been in compliance for many years,” said Jennifer Blackman, general manager of the Bolinas Community Public Utility District, the agency that contracts with Recology. Bolinas residents have already been composting plant material and raw produce in green bins, and the town has its own small yard-waste composting facility. But the district is not equipped to handle the enforcement side, and planning for the requirement is already straining staff and directors.
“This has to do with things like reporting and enforcement, which is not something we’ve ever had to undertake,” Ms. Blackman said. “These requirements are way beyond and outside of the expertise of these special districts.”
CalRecycle, the state agency that administers S.B. 1383 requirements, says that jurisdictions must develop plans to monitor compliance with “in-person or camera inspections” of garbage collection areas.
“We should be exempt from it,” BCPUD board president Jack Siedman said. “I don’t even know how we’re going to do it, to be candid.”
In January, the district applied for a low-population waiver from CalRecycle. Incorporated towns with fewer than 7,500 residents, or sparsely populated unincorporated communities, can be exempt from the enforcement requirements of S.B. 1383. But Bolinas failed to meet the density threshold of fewer than 75 residents per square mile, and an appeal by BCPUD staff was denied.
Ms. Blackman said she believed state legislators intended places like Bolinas to be granted exemptions when they wrote the low-population waiver into the law. Believing BCPUD would qualify, the agency was left behind the curve when its appeal was denied and never received a written explanation for the denial, Ms. Blackman said. The board plans to write a letter to Marin’s state representatives drawing their attention to CalRecycle’s refusal to exempt small districts like BCPUD.
Faced with the prospect of daily fines if they don’t begin enforcement by the end of next year, Bolinas and Stinson Beach—where the Stinson Beach County Water District holds the contract with Recology—have considered hiring their own employees, or a joint employee, to inspect garbage bins. But both districts are now asking the garbage hauler itself to conduct the “lid-tipping” inspections.
“Because they have their own trucks and uniforms, it won’t concern people as much as when somebody starts going through their garbage,” said Ed Schmidt, general manager of the Stinson Beach County Water District. BCPUD officials said their agency has worked to build the trust of its customers and doesn’t want to be in the position of pursuing enforcement against them.
The districts have secured one-time grants from Zero Waste Marin and CalRecycle to reimburse them for compliance and staffing costs, but the grants are unlikely to pay for ongoing enforcement. Ms. Blackman said she anticipates that customer rate increases from Recology will cover the inspections.
The new bill has also interrupted the operations of downtown Bolinas’s own composting facility, the Resource Recovery Project. Until January, the site accepted the contents of residential green bins hauled by Recology, along with plant trimmings and yard waste from self-haulers like private homeowners, gardeners or tree trimmers. While other West Marin households could throw cooked food scraps into their Recology green bins, Bolinas residents could only use the bins for yard waste and uncooked fruits and vegetables. But after S.B. 1383 required all homeowners to throw any food scraps into their green bins, the site, which has never been permitted to process food waste, had to stop accepting drop-offs from Recology. Cooked food waste falls into a separate regulatory category for composting facilities. Now the facility accepts only self-hauled yard waste, and Recology drives green-bin waste over the hill. Though the change has cut operating costs for Resource Recovery, Ms. Blackman said it was a “shame” that residential green-bin waste now has to travel further.
This year, CalRecycle says it is focused on helping jurisdictions comply with S.B. 1383. In October, BCPUD, Stinson Beach and the county will submit records on their waste enforcement ordinances and compliance to CalRecycle. Starting in January 2024, those contract holders must take action against non-compliant Recology customers. Each jurisdiction can devise its own specific enforcement guidelines, but CalRecycle says agencies like BCPUD can notify customers and give them time to comply before issuing fines.
The county’s Department of Public Works is also in the midst of developing an enforcement program for S.B. 1383. When Marin adopted a draft composting ordinance in February in response to the bill, the enforcement clause explained that first-time violators will be issued a written warning and repeat offenders will get notices requiring them to correctly sort waste within 60 days or face administrative fines of up to $500 per violation.