According to CalRecycle, Californians dispose of 30 million tons of waste each year.
To curb those numbers, California Assembly Bill No. 1826 was signed into law back in 2014. While the main goal is to curb waste specifically in landfills, this bill focuses on reducing organic waste within the business community. Californians organic waste represents 34 percent of all landfill waste and consists of food, green yard waste, wood, and compostable paper products. Technically, the bill went into effect on April 1, 2016. However, the bill continues to rollout mandates over the next few months and years—and some businesses may not be ready.
Starting in January 2017, the amount of yard waste that a business can generate without having to arrange for recycling services has decreased from 8 down to 4 cubic yards. Coming this August, jurisdictions must provide information about their organic waste recycling program to CalRecycle. This requirement is ongoing and is required on an annual basis. So, if you haven’t put in place a recycling program for your organic material—now is the time. You’ll want to speak with your waste hauler and ask them to provide your business an organic recycling cart. SCHAEFER has an array of solid waste, organic waste, and recycling carts that meet the need for either front-load, rear-load, semi-automatic, and fully automatic collection.
A formal review will start during fall of 2018. After each review, businesses will be put on a two-year review cycle. All organic waste recycling programs will need to roll out and be ready for weekly service by January 2019.
As with any bill that is designed to meet goals, CalRecycle will review the program throughout the summer and fall of 2021. If the program successful in reducing waste by 50 percent, California will continue to raise the business organic recycling requirements by 2 cubic yards of solid waste per week—making the 4 cubic yard requirement decrease to only allow 2 cubic yards. The mandate will continue to grow until the reduction goal is met.
