Yorba Linda City Council agrees with Grand Jury report on 'unrealistic' rules regarding organic trash collection

 Yorba Linda's City Council has agreed with a recent Orange County Grand Jury finding that it is “unlikely” a state-mandated 75% reduction in organic waste sent to landfills will be achieved by a 2025 deadline.

And the council agreed with a jury finding that many county jurisdictions were unable to meet the 50% requirement to reduce organic waste moved to landfills by January 2020.

Cities are required to respond to certain findings and recommendations in jury reports, and Yorba Linda officials noted the city's responses can only agree with the findings “insofar as they may be true” for Yorba Linda.

State legislation in 2016, codified in Senate Bill 1383, required all jurisdictions to enforce mandatory organic waste collection and recycling to divert organic waste from landfills to reduce emissions of “short-lived climate pollutants,” including methane.

The jury report noted: “Another key benefit of the diversion of organic and other recyclable materials from landfills is the preservation of overall landfill capacity.”

The legislation set goals for organic waste reduction based on a 2014 baseline that included a 50% reduction by Jan. 1, 2020, and a 75% reduction by Jan. 1, 2025, but the jury report noted a 23% increase in organic waste sent to landfills.

The jury's 33-page “Talking Trash: Recyclables and Organic Waste” report states there is “a clear need to improve education and outreach efforts, develop enforcement mechanisms and processes and to coordinate and collaborate among all jurisdictions to collectively address the challenges and to achieve the goals and targets of SB1383.”

According to the jury's report, as of Jan. 1, all jurisdictions are subject to enforcement, including monetary fines. Fines would begin after supplying violators with educational materials and, after that, warning notices.

Fines are listed as $50 to $100 for a first violation, $100 to $200 for a second violation and $250 to $500 after a third and subsequent violations. Yorba Linda indicated in the city's responses to the report that fines would be deposited in the city's general fund account.

Yorba Linda's council also has agreed with several other jury findings, including the state's mandates being “unrealistic and likely unachievable by most jurisdictions,” and the formula the state used to calculate targets did not account for population density or geographic size.

Other Yorba Linda agreements: a concern there are not enough composting facilities in the county to process all organic waste, forcing some haulers to transport waste long distances, and the lack of methodology to determine education and outreach effectiveness.

One interesting feature of the state legislation that is outlined in the jury report is a statewide standardization of container color schemes: green for organics, blue for recyclables and gray for trash. Jurisdictions have until 2036 to comply with this requirement.