The County has relied on a mixture of private companies and
County staff and equipment to collect and transport solid waste, green
waste, and recyclable material within the unincorporated area. In
1958, the Board of Supervisors, pursuant to competitive bidding, awarded
two exclusive franchises for the collection of residential and commercial
solid waste north of Calvine Road, one north of the American River
and the other south of the American River. Pursuant to the discovery
that there had been fraud and collusion among bidders for the franchise
north of the American River, the franchise was terminated in 1963.
Collection responsibility north of the American River was delegated,
on an emergency basis, to another private hauler by contract. In 1968,
the hauler became financially unstable and went out of business. The
County undertook the performance of residential solid waste collection
services directly by acquiring equipment, employing personnel, and
acting as an enterprise. Six nonexclusive permits were issued for
commercial collection north of the American River. When the second
franchise terminated in 1973, the transition was largely complete,
leaving only the area south of Calvine Road to be served by a contractor
to the County. Single-family dwelling residential curbside collection
of recyclable material began in 1991 and of green waste in 1993.
Permittees continued to collect commercial solid waste within
the unincorporated area throughout this transition. In 1975, regulations
were enacted requiring permittees to divest themselves of ownership
interests in each other. In 1996, in order to provide uniform regulation
of commercial solid waste collection, removal, and transportation,
the Sacramento Regional Solid Waste Authority (SWA) assumed regulatory
responsibility for commercial solid waste permitting in the City of
Sacramento and the unincorporated County of Sacramento. In 2000, the
SWA adopted an ordinance establishing a non-exclusive franchise system
for the collection of commercial solid waste throughout the City of
Sacramento and the unincorporated County of Sacramento.
The County began operating the Kiefer landfill in 1967 to serve
the solid waste disposal needs of residents and businesses in the
County. An expansion of disposal capacity was approved in 2005 to
extend the useful life of the landfill beyond 2036. The North Area
Recovery Station (NARS) on Roseville Road was opened in 1973 to serve
the County's waste transfer needs and still functions in this role,
along with a Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) facility and expanded
infrastructure for a variety of recyclable materials. The South Area
Transfer Station (SATS) on Fruitridge Road was opened in 1977 and
was utilized for solid waste transfer until 1999, when it was closed
to the public. While SATS continues to provide usable, permitted waste
transfer and processing capacity, since 2016 it has not been used
in that manner.
The State of California has placed increased statutory and regulatory
mandates for waste diversion from landfilling, reduced emissions and
discharges from waste management and processing, and more stringent
requirements for protecting human health and the environment from
the risks associated with solid waste. These mandates, while intended
to improve the environmental performance of municipal solid waste
management systems, simultaneously pose challenges to effective and
efficient solid waste management.
On April 23, 2019 the County Board of Supervisors adopted Resolution
2019-0277 electing to withdraw from the SWA. Such withdrawal effectively
dissolved the SWA, as it had only the City of Sacramento and the County
as member agencies, and transferred to the County commercial solid
waste collection, removal, and transportation services for its unincorporated
areas effective July 1, 2021.
The mission statement of the County of Sacramento Department
of Waste Management and Recycling is to further enhance the quality
of life in the County's unincorporated areas by providing: solid waste
management and recycling programs in a fiscally responsible manner;
public and employee health and safety; stewardship of our natural
resources and environment; consumer protection; and outstanding customer
service.
The Department is responsible for, in coordination with the
municipalities located within the County, the implementation of the
Countywide Integrated Waste Management Plan.
(SCC 517 § 2, 1982; SCC
229 § 2, 1975; SCC 1044 § 2,
1996; SCC 1654 § 1, 2019; SCC 1672 § 1, 2021; SCC 1720 § 1,
2023)
A. The
purposes of this chapter are to express the County's overall plan
for the collection, recycling, and disposal of solid waste, organic
material, and recyclable material within the unincorporated areas
and to establish uniform regulations ensuring the implementation and
execution of the plan in a manner which protects public health, safety
and welfare. It is also the purpose of this chapter to provide mechanisms
to sustainably fund the abovementioned critical endeavors and achieve
compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
B. The
Board of Supervisors finds as follows:
1. The
safe and sanitary collection and disposal of solid waste and the diversion
of recyclable material and organic material are of such importance
to the protection of the health, safety and welfare that either direct
provision by government or constant monitoring, regulation, and evaluation
by government must be sustained to ensure continuing adequacy, reliability
and efficiency of private service systems;
2. Economies
and efficiencies expected from privately provided commercial and rural
collection services will best promote the public interest if such
services are sufficiently monitored, regulated and evaluated to insure
reliability and adequacy;
3. A
variety of factors dictate the necessity for exclusivity in the provision
of solid waste collection services in varying degrees depending upon
the nature, extent, and magnitude of service demands;
4. The
factors include, but are not limited to, the following: (a) the provision
of efficient service requires heavy capital investment in trucks and
other equipment and maintenance of trucks in continuing operating
condition in order to insure regularity of service and the meeting
of collection schedules; (b) unrestricted competition may or may not
result in a sufficient number of adequately equipped firms to satisfy
the total demand and need for reliable collection service, and may
discourage the introduction of capital investment among competing
firms sufficient to satisfy service inadequacies; (c) by severely
restricting the authority of a local agency to substitute an exclusive
direct governmental or franchised service for service provided by
holders of solid waste collection franchises, State law (Health and
Safety Code Sections 4270 through 4273) impairs the ability of local
government to effectively correct any service inadequacies produced
by an unrestricted competitive environment; (d) revocation of franchises
for cause relating to unreliable or inadequate service or failure
to fulfill minimum standards requires heavy commitments of County
staff, prolonged investigations, and results in time consuming and
costly hearings, and litigation while services remain inadequate and
endanger the health, safety and welfare; (e) certain types of collection
services (particularly those in areas with low density) are so costly
as to make the price of collection prohibitive unless the collector
can equalize costs and charges associated with low density or rural
areas with those associated with high density or urban areas, and
competition will divide the high density high efficiency business
in a manner which produces inadequate or nonexistent service to low
density areas; (f) certain types of collection (particularly residential)
will produce the most efficient service at the lowest cost when collection
routes provide door-to-door service uninterrupted by competition in
the same area; and (g) objectives of energy conservation in fuel consumed
by collection equipment and the reduction of traffic congestion on
roads and streets;
5. Sacramento
County has the second largest unincorporated area population of any
County within the State of California, and experiences service and
regulatory demands similar to those in large cities;
6. The
unincorporated area population of the County is predominantly concentrated
north of Calvine Road. The remainder of the unincorporated area is
largely devoted to agricultural uses with sparse and low density population
and intermittent commercial use, and as such, the provision of waste
material management services, including diversion programs, are less
efficient. Solid waste self-hauling in low density areas is traditional
and waivers for diversion mandates are commonly found in State law;
7. The
demographical characteristics of the unincorporated area of the County
require variable approaches to the provision of solid waste collection
services based upon factors which include, but are not limited to,
weighing and balancing the following: (a) the degree to which exclusivity
of collection is necessary to support the public interest; (b) the
nature and extent of capital investment required to provide adequate
services within particular areas; (c) the cost of providing collection
services within various areas; and (d) the extent to which the cost
of serving areas to which service cannot be provided economically
should be spread to high density areas;
8. Illegal
hauling, illegal dumping, and otherwise irresponsible management of
waste materials such as littering persistently present dangers to
the health, safety, welfare, public finances, quality of life, and
environment of Sacramento County.
(SCC 517 § 2, 1982; SCC
1044 § 2, 1996; SCC 1654 § 1,
2019; SCC 1672 § 1, 2021; SCC 1720 § 1, 2023)
It is hereby determined that the public interest will be best
promoted within the unincorporated area of the County by the following
types of service delivery systems:
A. Exclusively
by the County Solid Waste Enterprise: cart collection service to residential
areas from single-family residences, duplex residences, and certain
triplex and quadplex residences, multiple-family dwelling units, mobile
home parks, and commercial establishments best served by standard
waste material carts or other County supplied containers, as determined
by the Director to be in the public interest, rather than by larger
containers such as dumpsters, drop boxes or compactors. The Director's
determination may apply to some or all waste material containers used
by that waste generator. The County may contract with a private collector
for collection from certain residential areas where determined by
the Director to be in the best interest of the County rate payers.
B. By County
franchisees: containerized service to commercial and industrial sources,
multi-family residential properties, schools, public agencies, and
construction and demolition activities.
C. By self-hauling:
certain residential and commercial waste generators may self-haul
recyclable and organic material consistent with this chapter.
(SCC 517 § 2, 1982; SCC
568 § 2, 1983; SCC 0823 § 2,
1991; SCC 1044 § 2, 1996; SCC 1654 § 3, 2019; SCC 1672 § 1,
2021; SCC 1720 § 1, 2023)
Unless the context indicates otherwise, the following definitions
of terms shall govern the meaning of those terms as used in this chapter.
"Accessory dwelling unit"
means "dwelling, accessory unit" as defined in the Sacramento
County Zoning Code, which code may be amended from time to time.
"Alternative service activity"
means the manner in which a generator may lawfully divert recyclable material and/or organic material to satisfy recycling compliance, pursuant to this chapter, including rules and regulations promulgated under Section
6.20.035. Alternative service activities include self-hauling, shared service, backhauling, and third-party hauling.
"Backhauler" or "backhauling"
means a business generator who transports their recyclable
material and/or organic material to a consolidated location to be
reused or recycled. Backhauling is not a method of compliance available
to residential generators or multi-family generators.
"Board"
means the Board of Supervisors of the County.
"Broker" or "brokering"
means a person that arranges waste material collection, recycling,
and/or disposal services for a commercial generator that are provided
by a franchisee.
"Business generator"
means a business, including commercial and industrial sources
(e.g., stores, business offices, commercial warehouses, hospitals,
hotels, food trucks, etc.), educational, health care, military, and
correctional institutions, special events, non-profit organizations,
government offices, schools, and public agencies, that contracts for
waste material collection service, back-hauls, and/or self-hauls.
Business generator also includes those that engage in construction
and demolition activities. A business generator is a type of commercial
generator.
"CalRecycle"
means the California Department of Resources, Recycling,
and Recovery.
"CFR"
means the Code of Federal Regulations.
"C&D debris"
means used or discarded materials resulting from construction,
renovation, remodeling, repair or demolition operations on any pavement,
house, commercial building, or other structure and such other materials
as may be removed during the normal cleanup process of such construction,
renovation, remodeling, repair, or demolition operations. C&D
debris includes mixed C&D debris and source-separated recyclable
C&D material.
"Clerk"
means the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors of the County.
"Collection"
means the act of removing waste material at the place of
waste material generation.
"County"
means the County of Sacramento.
"Director"
means the Director of the Department of Waste Management
and Recycling (DWMR) and/or his or her designee.
"Dwelling"
means any building or portion thereof used or designed for
residential occupancy, including any garages or other accessory buildings
belonging thereto, and including those which are rented or leased
for any term or duration, type or tenure.
"Dwelling unit"
means "dwelling unit" as defined in the Sacramento County
Zoning Code, which code may be amended from time to time.
"DWMR"
means the Sacramento County Department of Waste Management
and Recycling. As indicated by context, DWMR may include "its designee"
(e.g. when referring to enforcement), or "a contractor acting on its
behalf" (e.g., when referring to collection).
"EMD"
means the Sacramento County Environmental Management Department
or successor thereto.
"Farm" or "ranch"
means a place where agricultural production is the primary
use and shall include, but not be limited to, the cultivation and
tillage of the soil; dairying; the production, cultivation, growing,
and harvesting of any agricultural commodity including timber, viticulture,
apiculture, or horticulture; the raising of livestock, fur-bearing
animals, fish, or poultry; and any place where practices performed
by a farmer or on a farm as incidental to or in conjunction with such
farming operation, including preparation for market, delivery to storage
or to market, or to carriers for transportation to market.
"Food waste"
means "food material" as defined in Section 17852(20) of Title
14 of the
CCR.
"Franchisee"
means any person holding a valid commercial solid waste collection
franchise issued by the County.
"GAAP"
means the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles comprised
of a standard framework of guidelines generally accepted in the United
States of America. GAAP includes the established standards, conventions,
and rules accountants follow in recording and summarizing transactions,
and in the preparation of financial statements.
"Garbage"
means discarded non-putrescible or putrescible household
items, objects, or materials for which there is no use or reuse intended.
Garbage does not include source-separated recyclable materials or
sourceseparated organic materials set out for separate collection
for recycling.
"Generator"
means a business generator, a multi-family generator, a residential
generator, or a self-hauler. A generator is not a broker.
"Green waste"
means "green material" as defined in Section 17852(21) of Title
14 of the
CCR.
"Hearing Officer"
means the person appointed by the County Executive, pursuant
to
Government Code Section 27720, et seq., to preside over and render
judgments at hearings in accordance with this chapter. The Hearing
Officer may be an employee of the County. However, they shall not
have any interests in any property subject to any hearing at which
they preside. The Hearing Officer may also be a person who is not
a County employee, but who is retained pursuant to a contract to provide
such services. Any such Hearing Officer shall be qualified by training
or experience or shall be an attorney or an administrative law judge.
"Materials recovery facility" or "MRF"
means a permitted waste material management facility where
solid wastes or recyclable materials are sorted, or separated, by
hand or by use of machinery, for the purposes of recycling. This definition
shall apply only within the framework of materials recovery facility
services and the reporting requirements of this chapter.
"Mixed C&D debris"
means C&D debris that includes commingled recyclable
C&D materials or recyclable C&D materials and non-recyclable
C&D debris generated from a construction or demolition project.
"Multi-family generator"
means any multi-family dwelling, building or group of buildings,
regardless of the number of dwelling units, that contracts for solid
waste collection service with or through a franchisee. It includes,
but is not limited to, apartment complexes, senior housing/care facilities,
and condominium complexes. Unless otherwise indicated, multi-family
generators also include single-family residential properties whose
solid waste collection is shared and managed by an association or
other organization. A multi-family generator is a type of commercial
generator.
"Non-residential property"
means real property that is located in the unincorporated
areas of the County, whose owner or operator contracts for waste material
collection, and is used primarily for:
1.
Commerce, including, but not limited to, offices, stores, restaurants,
motels, hotels, recreational vehicle parks, theaters, and service
stations;
2.
Not-for profit organizations; or
3.
Institutional uses, including schools, churches, and hospitals.
It does not include residential units or undeveloped land.
"Organic material"
means food waste, green waste, landscape and pruning waste,
nonhazardous wood waste, and food-soiled paper waste.
"Person"
means any individual, firm, co-partnership, limited liability
company, corporation, government agency, joint venture, association,
partnership, industry, public or private corporation, school, public
agency, or any other entity whatsoever, and includes the plural as
well as the singular.
"Recyclable material"
means materials that have been separated from the solid waste stream prior to disposal and returning them for use or for reuse in the form of raw materials for new, used or reconstituted products which meet the quality standard necessary to be used in the market place, and that are not landfilled, including, but not limited to, recyclable material designated by the Director pursuant to Section
6.20.435 or as established by the Director as minimum recycling program standards in County franchise agreements. Recyclable material is waste material.
"Recycling"
means the process of collecting, sorting, cleansing, treating
and reconstituting materials, including organic material (unless otherwise
indicated), that would otherwise become solid waste, and returning
them for use in the form of raw materials for new, used or reconstituted
products which meet the quality standard necessary to be used in the
market place. Recycling does not include "transformation" as defined
in
Public Resources Code Section 40201.
"Removal"
means the act of taking waste materials from the place of
waste generation. In some contexts, it is used interchangeably with
collection.
"Residual"
means solid waste destined for disposal, further transfer/processing,
or transformation as defined in
Public Resources Code Section 40201,
which remains after processing of recyclable material or organic material.
"Responsible person"
means the person who arranges for waste material collection
services and implementation of diversion programs. Responsible person
includes, but is not limited to, a property owner, a business owner,
a tenant, or a property manager. A broker is not a responsible person.
"Rubbish"
means "rubbish" as defined in Section 17225.59 of Title
14 of the
CCR.
"Salvageable material"
includes materials which can be separated from refuse and
sold for reuse or recycling, but shall not include material disposed
of at a landfill. Salvageable material includes, but is not limited
to, recyclable material, recyclable C&D debris, and organic material
set out for separate collection.
"SB 1383"
means Senate Bill 1383 (Chapter 395, Statutes of 2016), which was signed into law by the Governor on September 19, 2016 and mandates, among other things, a 50% Statewide reduction in the land-filling of organic wastes. It includes associated regulations promulgated by CalRecycle as contained in Titles
14 and 27 of the
CCR.
"Shared service"
is a means by which a generator achieves compliance with this chapter, including rules and regulations promulgated under Section
6.20.035, by use of waste material containers on an adjacent property and which use has been consented to in writing by the adjacent property owner.
"Solid waste"
means all putrescible and non-putrescible solid, semisolid,
wastes collected and transported for disposal, including garbage,
trash, refuse, unrecyclable paper, rubbish, ashes, industrial wastes,
construction and demolition debris, discarded home and industrial
appliances, dewatered, treated or chemically fixed sewage sludge which
is not hazardous waste, manure, vegetable or animal solid and semi-solid
wastes, and other discarded solid and semi-solid wastes. Solid waste
does not include hazardous waste as defined in the Health and Safety
Code Section 25117, or medical waste, or low-level radioactive waste
regulated under State law. Solid waste does not include source-separated
recyclable materials or source-separated organic materials set out
for separate collection for the purposes of recycling. Solid waste
is a waste material.
"Source separate" or "source-separated"
means the keeping of recyclable materials or organic materials
independently containerized or clearly segregated from solid waste
at the point of generation for the purpose of reuse, recycling, composting
or some other method of diversion and preventing them from being contaminated
by solid waste.
"Special event"
means an organized assembly of more than 50 persons, for
which the County has issued a special event permit or other approval,
occupying all or any portion of a public street, roadway, sidewalk,
alley, park or public area for a period of more than 30 minutes for
the purpose of conducting a parade, march, rally, meeting, or procession.
"Third-party hauler" or "third-party hauling"
means a collector of recyclable material and/or organic material, that is not a franchisee, and collects bulky items, recyclable material, and/or organic material from any generator, in a manner consistent with this chapter, including rules and regulations promulgated under Section
6.20.035, to a recycling facility.
"Transfer/processing facility"
means a solid waste facility permitted or otherwise regulated
by CalRecycle where waste materials are tipped for transfer to a landfill
or subsequent processing, and/or are sorted, or separated, by hand
or by use of machinery, for the purposes of recovery.
"Treated medical waste"
means medical waste treated in the manner described in Health
and Safety Code Section 25123.5, subdivision (a).
"Truck"
means any truck, trailer, semitrailer, conveyance, vehicle
or equipment used to collect or haul waste materials.
"Waste generator"
means each person, as defined by
Public Resources Code Section
40170, and each single-family home resident, business, non-residential
property, multi-family residential property or single-family residential
property managed by an association, or other organization, or the
owner, manager, or operator thereof, that contracts for waste material
collection service, that generates waste material as a result of activities
conducted thereon.
"Waste log"
means the record sheet (provided as a blank form by DWMR
to the applicant) with periodic entries (completed by the project
manager or permit holder) that detail the C&D debris management
activity for the project pursuant to Sections 4.408.5 and 5.408.5
of Title 24 of the
CCR, as amended from time to time, and Board Resolution
2011-0024.
"Waste management plan (WMP)"
means a completed WMP form prepared by the applicant and
submitted for approval by the DWMR for the purpose of compliance with
this chapter pursuant to Sections 4.408.5 and 5.408.5 of Title 24
of the
CCR, as amended from time to time, and Board Resolution 2011-0023.
"Waste material container"
means any dumpster, roll-off container, compactor, bin, cart,
or other container provided by the County or a franchisee and used
to place waste materials.
(SCC 517 § 2, 1982; SCC
1044 § 2, 1986; SCC 1322 § 1,
2006; SCC 1522 § 1, 2013; SCC 1618 § 56, 2018; SCC 1654 § 3,
2019; SCC 1672 § 1, 2021; SCC 1688 § 1, 2022; SCC 1720 § 1,
2023)
The Director is authorized to promulgate and enforce rules and
regulations governing the following:
A. Waste
material generation, storage, recycling, recovery, accumulation, collection,
transportation, and disposal;
B. Types,
size, number, location, minimum frequency of collection, and hours
of collection of waste material containers and the vehicles used therefor;
C. The
operation and maintenance of sanitary methods of waste material recycling
disposal;
D. The
designation of recyclable materials, recyclable organic materials,
and recyclable C&D materials required to be diverted;
E. Reporting
requirements for franchisees, and facilities that manage waste material,
necessary for implementation of this chapter; and
F. The
effective administration of this chapter.
All such rules and regulations shall be consistent with the
provisions of this chapter and effective on the 30th day following
filing thereof with the Clerk.
|
It is unlawful and constitutes a violation of the provisions
of this section for any person to violate or fail to comply with the
provisions of regulations issued pursuant to this section which are
expressly authorized by other provisions of this chapter.
|
(SCC 517 § 2, 1982; SCC
1044 § 2, 1996; SCC 1618 § 57,
2018; SCC 1654 § 3, 2019; SCC 1672 § 1, 2021; SCC 1720 § 1,
2023)
The generation, storage, recovery, collection, transportation, transfer, disposal, and recycling and recovery of waste material as well as the operation of solid waste facilities and other waste material management facilities within the unincorporated area of the County, including the handling of special waste such as hazardous waste, shall be regulated by the provisions of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (codified as 40 CFR Sections 239-282); Titles
14 and 27 of the
CCR; and all other applicable Federal, State and local statutes, ordinances and regulations, as the same may be hereafter amended. All such regulations shall be enforced in the same manner as provisions of this chapter, and violations of any such regulations shall constitute violations of this chapter.
(SCC 517 § 2, 1982; SCC
1044 § 2, 1996; SCC 1618 § 59,
2018; SCC 1654 § 5, 2019; SCC 1672 § 1, 2021; SCC 1720 § 1,
2023)
Unless otherwise specified in this chapter, the Director shall
enforce the provisions of this chapter.
(SCC 517 § 2, 1982; SCC
1044 § 2, 1996; SCC 1322 § 2,
2006; SCC 1618 § 60, 2018; SCC 1654 § 5, 2019; SCC 1672 § 1,
2021; SCC 1720 § 1, 2023)