Professional environmental activists in local government used to complain, “I’m tired of writing plans and reports that just sit on the shelf and collect dust.”
Not only is the dust extraction analogy outdated with the advent of electronic reporting and document storage, but so is the concept of doing nothing planning and reporting. Increasingly, plans that meet specific guidelines are required for local government agencies to qualify for state or federal grants, while reports demonstrating progress toward implementing those plans are required for compliance with statutory mandates.
For example, a few months ago, millions of dollars in Inflation Reduction Act grants became available, and only jurisdictions with an acceptable Climate Action Plan could apply. To be funded, projects must demonstrate how they meet the goals of the plans.
Another example is the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, which oversees stormwater pollution and related issues in Ventura County. Each year, it conditions permit approvals to appropriate planning and reporting by a coalition of local governments.
In the case of recycling, the state of California can impose fines on local governments that either fail to plan for improvements or fail to document progress toward specific waste reduction goals. Consequences for noncompliance start small. The state’s Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, known as CalRecycle, sends out friendly reminders to upload documents to their database. A simple email to the person responsible for submitting plans and reports, often with a copy to that person’s boss, is usually enough to motivate action.
Next, CalRecycle could send a letter via certified mail expressing displeasure with a jurisdiction’s compliance. Last April, CalRecycle’s enforcement division sent such a letter to investigate possible errors in a Ventura County report that calculated plans and progress toward rescuing edible food from the waste disposal and feeding it to hungry people. A few email exchanges, explanations, and documentation of calculations cleared up that misunderstanding. In cases where concerns are not addressed, penalties can include compliance orders and eventually escalate to fines.
Last week, by August 1, every city and county in California was required to submit a report to CalRecycle detailing its compliance with a wide range of solid waste management mandates. These mandates range from ensuring adequate landfill capacity to providing options for safe disposal of household hazardous waste to ensuring that only qualified businesses are exempt from various recycling requirements.
If you want to know how your city or county is meeting waste reduction mandates, ask your local recycling coordinator for a copy of your city’s report. For only the most interesting part of these annual reports to CalRecycle, ask for just the last item on the report.
At the end of a long, detailed reporting form that requires well-researched answers, usually in the form of numbers entered into a database of possible answers, the final item is different. CalRecycle asks each jurisdiction a general question: “Is there anything else you would like to tell CalRecycle about unique or innovative efforts … or specific obstacles to achieving implementation of an organics recycling program in your jurisdiction?”
Sarah Ahern, an outreach and education specialist for the city of Oxnard, used this portion of her city’s annual report to highlight an innovative regional program that Oxnard joined in 2023. Oxnard and seven of the nine other local cities joined with the county to create a joint Ventura County Edible Food Recovery Program. Through this program, the county hired a consultant, Abound Food Care, to research and report on how much edible food is being thrown away, how food rescue organizations are growing to meet this need, how many businesses and agencies are meeting requirements to prevent edible food from being wasted, and what can be done to improve these numbers.
Don’t expect Abound’s research and recommendations, with the force of state-mandated legislation and regulation, to gather dust on a shelf, or collect electrons in a cloud storage device. Plans and reports make a difference now.
Eco-Tip was written by David Goldstein, an environmental analyst for the Ventura County Public Works Agency. He can be reached at 658-4312 or david.goldstein@ventura.org.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Eco Tip: Expect the new plan to make a difference for recycling efforts
