Will my city/county need to adopt a mandatory commercial recycling ordinance?

No. Some communities may choose to adopt a mandatory commercial recycling ordinance; however, an ordinance is not required. Approaches to enforcement might include: 1) requiring businesses to participate in the recycling services that are already available in the city or county, 2) requiring businesses to use a mixed waste processing facility, or 3) implementing a mandatory commercial recycling program using an ordinance.

A number of communities, such as Sacramento, Rancho Cordova, and Chula Vista, have implemented a mandatory commercial recycling ordinance. Please visit the Institute for Local Government’s commercial recycling website to view sample ordinances, case studies, and sample outreach, education, and enforcement examples and review information provided by a number of jurisdictions that have implemented mandatory commercial recycling programs.

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1. Will my city/county need to adopt a mandatory commercial recycling ordinance?
2. What are the jurisdiction’s requirements in terms of providing education, outreach, and monitoring to businesses?
3. Would a jurisdiction be able to phase in education, outreach, and monitoring efforts or do jurisdictions need to ensure that efforts to address all businesses in the jurisdiction are already in place?
4. If a jurisdiction opts to phase-in education, outreach and/or monitoring, what would be an acceptable timeline for the phase-in period?
5. Is there a rural exemption in the current regulatory language? What are the general provisions that may be or are available to rural jurisdictions under the proposed regulation?
6. Do we need to have a franchise agreement for recycling collection services to comply with the regulation?
7. Will existing franchises need to be amended to comply with this regulation?
8. Under the proposed regulation, would these businesses be required to subscribe to the recycling service?
9. My hauler has indicated that it will need a significant rate increase to comply with the regulation. What additional requirements will be placed on the hauler that would result in cost increases?
10. Will there be any financial assistance available to help offset the costs associated with implementing the regulations?
11. Is there anything in the regulatory language that includes a stipulation that the jurisdiction would be required to provide a curbside program?
12. We have found residential and commercial recycling programs can be incongruent. How or will the rule-making process address these issues?
13. Do we need to develop a specific type of program (e.g., commercial food waste collection, on-site recycling collection, construction and demolition debris recycling) to comply with the regulations?
14. Do the regulations change the provisions of transformation as provided for in Public Resources Code section 41783?
15. How does a jurisdiction determine the amount of solid waste a business generates? Is it what the business subscribes to (a four cubic yard solid waste bin), even if it only fills the bin half full?
16. How should a jurisdiction determine the businesses that are subject to the legislation and regulations?
17. Are there any exemptions for temporary waste generating activities, such as filming locations, special events, seasonal store sites, etc.?
18. Can you clarify what is meant by authorizing a local agency to charge and collect a fee from a commercial waste generator to recover the local agency’s costs incurred in complying with requirements?
19. Is a webpage with information about the mandatory commercial recycling requirement enough?
20. How frequently should outreach information be provided to businesses?
21. I have been unsuccessful in the past in making contact with the commercial sector. Are there any recommendations for making contact with businesses?
22. How should a jurisdiction handle businesses that are resistant in providing information on self-hauling and other recycling activities not provided by the jurisdiction’s franchised/permitted hauler?