How California Jurisdictions are Beefing up Organics Diversion Compliance

Pasadena, California residents have long been asked to recycle more, compost more, and landfill less. Overall, they have done a pretty good job. Contamination rates lay low—down around 7 to 15 percent (even lower for organics). And the city’s recycling rate is nearly 60 percent.

But is Pasadena and the rest of the state ready for SB 1383? The law that first required businesses to divert organics now requires California residents to do the same—they must separate all their organics from the rest of their trash, from sticky banana peels and chicken bones to grass clippings and paper.

It’s a big transformation for communities who are new to food scraps recycling. They will have at least one more stream and one more bin to learn what to do with. Some residents will also see higher service bills.

Thanos Gauthier, an administrator at Pasadena Public Works, doesn’t expect the law to shake much up in his community.

People there are used to separating their food scraps from the rest of the stream. They have been stuffing putrescents in clear bags and tossing them in their trash cans for some time.  Now they just have to throw those bags into a different bin—designated for organics.

Teaching communities how to manage any discards, “icky” organics or other, is about clear communication and keeping it simple, especially when implementing a new routine, Gauthier says. That’s what works best, along with years of practice at changing habits —decades of practice in Pasadena’s case.

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City workers have tagged yard waste and recycling containers for contamination for over 30 years with direct messaging explaining what materials were misplaced and where they belong.  

“It’s basically what we have been telling people to do all along. It’s put the right material in the right can. Let our operations take care of it from there. And if you are doing it wrong, let’s get you on the right track,” Gauthier says.

But SB 1383 will bring changes for the jurisdictions themselves. For one, they can no longer confiscate cans for ongoing failures to properly place discards. Their recourse in this scenario will be fines, anywhere from $50 for the first violation up to $500 per violation for repeat infractions.

Gauthier doesn’t foresee having to pull out the monetary penalty card often.

“We will continue to get their attention through tags. Please don’t put it there; put it here. If we have to continue to tag your cans it will come with a price. People understand that. Nobody likes to pay extra.”

Perhaps the biggest transformation for jurisdictions is that now CalRecycle will require them to step in as enforcer, a job the state formerly owned.  Cities and counties that do not bring their communities to compliance could face administrative civil penalties from $500 per violation per day to $10,000 per violation per day.

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Local governments will also now have outside help beefing up diversion.

“We are going to have a team from a grant-funded fellowship sent from the governor’s office to work with us soon. While before we did spot checks of cans, now our administrative staff and these fellows will be tipping every lid of every can in the city,” Gauthier says.

San Francisco, like Pasadena, is ahead of the curve. It has mandated source separation since 2009. The city and county have long encouraged compliance through various financial mechanisms.

One of them is service discounts for recycling more and landfilling less. For example, one-unit building rates can drop from as high as $80.79 per month down to $47 per month, depending on the sizes of the chosen recycling and trash containers.

Oops tags placed on containers point out contamination, and after so many notices, customers incur charges. Residents are charged once for each violation; the one-time penalty incrementally increases with subsequent violations. Multifamily and commercial properties are subject to an ongoing contamination charge for repeat failures to comply.

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But the intention is not to collect scores of charges, says Hilary Near, commercial zero waste senior coordinator for San Francisco Environment Department.

“We strive to educate first. We’d rather have accounts optimizing cost savings by recovering as much as possible than impose fines to process [material] as trash or do post-processing at a higher cost,” she says.

San Francisco Environment partners with its service provider Recology to do outreach on city and county zero waste programs. New accounts receive welcome packets with information on what materials go where and why their choices are important. Sometimes they go door-to-door further educating on diversion and informing of updated service levels and other details to keep residents in the loop.

Even with education and the mantra, “keep it simple” with just a few clear steps, getting best outcomes is not always easy, particularly in multiunit or mixed-use buildings. They have their own dynamics whether related to limited space for storage and collections or rapid staff and tenant turnover.

Getting decent participation takes a lot of preparation.  But the front-end work has had payoffs: a lesser need to put muscle into pushing compliance later.

“Everyone knew what was coming, and we made it easy to participate. So, when it came time to implement the program people were ready. We didn’t have to bring in enforcement teams to go out and tell them they are doing it wrong,” Gauthier says.

The impacts of climate change are no distant threat. Californians already experience its impact, from bigger storms to warmer temperatures that dry forests and contribute to more frequent and destructive wildfires.  This was the impetus for the law and its aggressive goals, says CalRecycle spokesperson Jessica Pureco-Garcia.

“Because methane breaks down faster in the atmosphere, reducing this super pollutant is among the fastest ways we can impact the climate crisis. Reaching the goals for SB 1383 will cut climate pollution equal to taking three million cars off the road each year," she says.

Since the law took effect in 2022, 93 percent of jurisdictions report providing food scrap and organics collection to homes, and 700 million meals were rescued and redirected to feed people.

Some cities are still lagging in implementing programs, so it will take time to get to the next target: 75 percent organics diversion, a goal originally set for 2025.

Says Gautier: “We are not going to get there by 2025. Can we get there? Yes, and eventually we will.”