LAKEPORT >> Following Clearlake’s declaration of mandatory organics recycling exemption, the Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance this week extending to the county.
Last year’s AB 1826 requires businesses to arrange organic waste recycling services. Business are phased in over the next three years based on how much waste they generate.
“If you are a commercial account you have to have green waste recycling … and as we know not everybody has green waste when you’re a commercial account,” Lake County Public Services Director Caroline Chavez said.
However, the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) included a provision in the law allowing exemptions from all requirements of AB 1826 for the smallest counties (population less than 70,000) until January 1, 2020. With the exemption, the county is not required to follow the recycling requirements.
Businesses that generate eight cubic yards or more of commercial organic waste per week will be phased in by April 1, 2016. Whereas businesses generating four cubic feet or more each week would be phased in by Jan. 1, 2017. Finally, businesses generating four cubic feet or more of solid waste each week would be phased in by Jan. 1, 2019.
“We already have a lot of recycling programs for green waste and the like that encourage people to do that,” Chavez explained.
“There are few commercial properties … large enough to generate the first two thresholds that would require on-site collection of organics,” Chavez added. “Moreover, it is not known how we could determine the volume of organics generated by private business.”
Even with the exemption, the third tier may be re-visited legislatively in the next couple of years before the exemption expires.
“This is the only phase where we could know which Lake County businesses would be subject to the regulations,” Chavez said. “But a business generating four cubic yards of solid waste may generate little to no organic waste, depending on the property and the nature of the business.”
“This program is very bureaucratic,” District 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington said. “It is burdensome on our businesses, on our staff in tracking and on those costs.”
In April, Clearlake filed an exemption from the requirements and Lakeport is expected to pass their exemption soon.
Contact J. W. Burch, IV at 900-2022.
