VC Star
August 3, 2024
Professional environmentalists in local government used to complain, “I’m sick of writing plans and reports that just sit on shelves and gather dust.”
Not only has the dust collection analogy become outdated with the advent of electronic reporting and document storage, but so has the concept of planning and reporting that does nothing. Increasingly, plans meeting specific guidelines are required for local public agencies to qualify for state or federal grants, while reports showing progress in carrying out those plans are required for compliance with legal mandates.
For example, a few months ago, millions of dollars in grant funds from the Inflation Reduction Act became available, and only jurisdictions with an acceptable Climate Action Plan could apply. To be funded, projects will have to show how they meet the goals of the plans.
As another example, each year, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, which oversees stormwater pollution issues and related matters in Ventura County, makes its approval of permits dependent on appropriate planning and reporting by a coalition of local jurisdictions.
In the case of recycling, the state of California can impose penalties for local governments either failing to plan for improvements or failing to document progress toward specific waste reduction goals. Consequences for noncompliance start small. The state Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, known as CalRecycle, sends gentle reminders of documents due for upload to their database. A simple email to the person in charge of submitting plans and reports, often with a copy sent to that person’s boss, is usually enough to motivate action.
Next, CalRecycle might send a letter via certified mail registering their dissatisfaction with a jurisdiction’s compliance. Last April, CalRecycle’s enforcement branch sent such a letter investigating potential errors in a Ventura County report calculating plans for, and progress toward, rescuing edible food from disposal and feeding it to hungry people. A few email exchanges, explanations and documentation of calculations resolved that misunderstanding. In cases where concerns are not resolved, penalties can include compliance orders and can eventually escalate to fines.
Last week, by Aug. 1, every city and county in California was required to submit to CalRecycle a report detailing compliance with a wide range of solid waste management mandates. These mandates range from ensuring sufficient landfill capacity to providing opportunities for safe handling of household hazardous waste and include ensuring only qualified businesses are exempted from various recycling requirements.
If you want to find out how your city or county is meeting waste reduction mandates, ask your local recycling coordinator for a copy of your city’s report. For just the most interesting part of these annual reports to CalRecycle, ask for just the report’s final item.
At the end of a long and detailed reporting form, requiring well-researched answers, mostly in the form of numbers filled into a database of possible responses, the final item is different. CalRecycle asks each jurisdiction a general question, “Is there anything else you would like to tell CalRecycle about unique or innovative efforts … or about specific obstacles to reaching your jurisdiction’s implementation of an organic recycling program?”
Sarah Ahern, outreach and education specialist with the city of Oxnard, used this section of her city’s annual report to mention an innovative regional program Oxnard joined in 2023. Oxnard and seven of the nine other local cities joined the county in forming a joint Ventura County Edible Food Recovery Program. Through this program, the county hired a consultant, Abound Food Care, to research and report on how much edible food is being disposed, how food rescue organizations are growing to meet this need, how many businesses and agencies are complying with requirements to prevent edible food from going to waste and what can be done to improve these numbers.
With the power of state-mandated legislation and regulation, do not expect Abound’s research and recommendations to gather dust on a shelf, or gather electrons in a cloud storage device. Plans and reports now make a difference.
