Solid waste: organic waste.

(1) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, which is administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, establishes an integrated waste management program that requires each county and city and county to prepare and submit to the department a countywide integrated waste management plan. The act requires a business, which is defined as a commercial or public entity, that generates more than 4 cubic yards of commercial solid waste per week or is a multifamily residential dwelling of 5 units or more, to arrange for recycling services. Existing law also requires jurisdictions to implement a commercial solid waste recycling program meeting specified elements. This bill would, commencing April 1, 2016, require a business that generates a specified amount of organic waste per week to arrange for recycling services for that organic waste in a specified manner. The bill would decrease the amount of organic waste under which a business would be subject to those requirements from 8 cubic yards or more to 4 cubic yards or more on January 1, 2017. The bill would also require a business that generates 4 cubic yards or more of commercial solid waste per week, on and after January 1, 2019, to arrange for organic waste recycling services and, if the department makes a specified determination, would decrease that amount to 2 cubic yards, on or after January 1, 2020. This bill would require the contract or work agreement between a business and a gardening or landscaping service to require the organic waste generated by those services to comply with the requirements of this act. This bill would require each jurisdiction, on and after January 1, 2016, to implement an organic waste recycling program to divert organic waste from the businesses subject to this act, except as specified with regard to rural jurisdictions, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program by imposing new duties on local governmental agencies. The bill would require each jurisdiction to report to the department on its progress in implementing the organic waste recycling program, and the department would be required to review whether a jurisdiction is in compliance with this act. This bill would authorize a local governmental agency to charge and collect a fee from an organic waste generator to recover the local governmental agency's costs incurred in complying with this act. This bill would require the department to identify and recommend actions to address permitting and siting challenges and to encourage the continued viability of the state's organic waste processing and recycling infrastructure, in partnership with the California Environmental Protection Agency and other specified state and regional agencies. The bill also would require the department to cooperate with local jurisdictions and industry to provide assistance for increasing the feasibility of organic waste recycling and to identify certain state financing mechanisms and state funding incentives and post this information on its Internet Web site. (2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.