On Wednesday, RCRC joined the California State Association of Counties, League of California Cities, and Californians Against Waste to submit a budget request to the Legislature seeking $225 million for local assistance to help cities and counties develop and begin implementing organic waste recycle programs required under regulations recently adopted by CalRecycle.
CalRecycle’s new SB 1383 regulations adopted last November require local governments to reduce landfill disposal of organic waste 75 percent by 2025 and to increase edible food waste recovery by 20 percent. These new SB 1383 Regulations are the most far-reaching solid waste management changes in decades and CalRecycle has estimated implementation will cost $20 to $40 billion over the next decade, including the addition of 50 to 100 new organic waste recycling facilities.
The budget request seeks $225 million from the General Fund for the Controller to allocate directly as grants to cities and counties, with a minimum award of $200,000 for each county and $125,000 for each city. The remaining $153 million would be allocated to cities and counties on a per-capita basis. Funds are proposed to be used by cities and counties to hire staff and consultants necessary to design and implement SB 1383 organic waste recycling programs, develop the various ordinances, programs, services, education and outreach activities, and organic waste recycling capacity planning requirements, and any other requirements imposed under the SB 1383 Regulations, and to fund initial implementation costs.
While this funding request alone is not sufficient to achieve the state’s organic waste recycling targets, especially in light of the estimated $20 to $40 billion anticipated total implementation cost, it will go a long way to help local governments and accelerate the development of the programs necessary to achieve those goals and to carry out early implementation activities.
To see the request, click here. For more information, contact John Kennedy by email or call (916) 447-4806.