By Alison Schlick, Attorney at Law
California continues to experience the effects of a climate crisis including, hotter summers with world record-breaking temperatures, devastating wildfires with longer fire seasons, megadroughts, and rising sea levels. Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) are a result of human activities such as burying food and yard waste in landfills and contribute to the ongoing effects of climate change. Organic waste, which includes food scraps, yard trimmings, paper and cardboard, makes up half of what Californians dump in landfills.
Landfills are the third-largest source of methane emission in California, and organic waste disposal in landfills constitutes 20% of the state’s total methane pollution, according to CalRecycle. Organic waste in landfills is particularly problematic because organic waste is a climate super pollutant—84 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term. Reducing organic waste in landfills would significantly cut down GHG emissions in California if organic waste is turned into soil amendments such as mulch or compost, or into energy through anaerobic digestion.
Senate Bill 1383 – California’s Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy
In an attempt to reduce methane emission and combat climate crisis, former Governor Edmund Brown Jr. signed Senate Bill (SB) 1383 in September 2016, which enacted California’s Short-Lived Climate Pollutants Reduction Strategy laws. SB 1383 put into motion a statewide effort to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants including organic waste in landfills. SB 1383 required a 50% reduction in landfill disposals of organic waste by 2020 and a 75% reduction by 2025. (Cal. Health & Saf. Code § 39730.6(a).) SB 1383 also created a requirement that “20 percent of edible food that is currently disposed of [be] recovered for human consumption by 2025.” (Cal. Pub. Resources Code, § 42652.5(a)(2).)
California’s Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), a department within California’s Environmental Protection Agency, is responsible for adopting regulations that achieve the specified targets for reducing organic waste in landfills. CalRecycle created five priority strategies and three focus areas “to strive for the ambitious goal of 75 percent recycling, composting or source reduction of solid waste.” CalRecycle’s first prioritized strategy is “Moving Organics Out of the Landfill.”
Under SB 1383, all cities and counties will be required to provide organic waste collection services to all residents and businesses and recycle these organic materials starting in 2022. Also starting in 2022, jurisdictions will be required to establish edible food recovery program for all Tier 1 and 2 commercial edible food generators. Tier 1 food service businesses (such as wholesale food vendors, food distributors, grocery stores, and supermarkets) must systematically donate edible food to food recovery organizations such as San Diego Food Bank. Tier 2 food service businesses (such as hotels, large venues and events, and restaurant facilities) will be required to do so in 2024. Current diversion of edible food is optional based on whim.
To achieve SB 1383’s goals, CalRecycle estimates California will need approximately 50-100 new or expanded organic waste recycling facilities to annually recycle the expected additional 20-25 million tons of organic waste. Edible food recovery infrastructure expansion is also needed.
To this end, San Diego County facilitates an Organics Subcommittee and an Edible Food Recovery Committee that meet monthly. San Diego County also has a Citizens’ Advisory Committee that meets on the second Thursday of the month and is co-chaired by Rick Anthony of Zero Waste San Diego and County Staff, Steve Weihe.
SB 619 – Proposed to Delay SB 1383’s Enforcement Provisions
In short, enforcement pushes compliance. To effectuate the state’s climate goals, SB 1383 provides for imposition of a daily penalty for failure to comply of up to $10,000 per day. (Cal. Pub. Resources Code, § 42652.5(a)(5).) SB 1383’s enforcement provisions are supposed to assist jurisdictions, non-local entities, local education districts, state, federal facilities, and CalRecycle achieve the 75% organic waste reduction goal by 2025.
SB 1383’s regulations and state enforcement mechanisms were set to begin in 2022. However, in light of Covid-related impacts, Senator John Laird recently introduced SB 619, which would prohibit CalRecycle from imposing the up to $10,000 per day penalties until January 1, 2023 so long as jurisdictions make “reasonable efforts” to timely comply.
SB 619 has gained traction in both the California Senate and Assembly. All environmental advocates should keep their eyes open if this passes, as it appears it might, because there will be a slower rollout of organic waste reduction in landfills and a delay in meeting the ambitious (but hopefully effective) climate goals for recycling and edible food recovery. On the bright side, California’s 2021 budget provides more money for recycling infrastructure, including infrastructure for organic waste recycling. Although building infrastructure will take time as mentioned above, reducing short-lived climate super pollutants like organic waste can be an effective strategy to mitigate climate crisis in California if it is rolled out soon enough.