Item 11 - Orange County Grand Jury Report: Talking Trash: Recyclables and Organic Waste

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Talking Trash: Recyclables and Organic Waste o Renewable energy (transportation fuel, electricity, and gas for heating) from anaerobic digestion o Electricity from biomass conversion Each jurisdiction's procurement target is calculated by multiplying its population, as reported by the California Department of Finance, by the per capita procurement target (0.08 tons of organic waste per California resident per year). The resulting procurement target can then be multiplied by product conversion factors (as established by the regulations) to determine the annual procurement requirements for recovered organic waste products. Source: CalRecycle As one of the survey respondents stated: "Meeting the annual procurement target presents a significant challenge. In addition, the formula used to calculate a jurisdiction's procurement target does not account for density or square miles. Denser areas equal less space to distribute mulch or compost. More people equals higher procurement target. " As a result, a number of jurisdictions with high procurement targets had to use grant funding to purchase the required amounts of compost/mulch. Because the required target procurement amounts exceeded what they can utilize in their communities, they had to distribute the compost/mulch (via hauler) to agricultural communities outside Orange County. They also admitted that without grant funding, meeting the targets will be even more difficult and will require diverting resources from their own communities or raising rates. The regulations limit procurement to "use or giveaway, and do not include the sale of products [14CCR Section 18993.1(e)(1)] so jurisdictions cannot sell the procured recovered organic waste products, such as compost, via a third party." (CalRecycle, 2022) Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) is one of the products that can be counted towards meeting a jurisdiction's procurement goal. Haulers operating in Orange County, including Republic, CR&R, and Waste Management, utilize trucks powered by RNG. However, in most cases the RNG they use is not purchased from an approved facility so it cannot be counted towards the required procurement goal. CalRecycle maintains a list of anaerobic digestion facilities in California to help jurisdictions find renewable gas that may be eligible towards their SB 1383 procurement obligations. Currently, this list contains only six facilities that produce Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), which in this case is presumably compressed RNG. None of these facilities is located in Orange County. The closest are located in Riverside County (Perris), San Bernardino County (Victorville and Rialto), and San Diego County (Escondido). The issue of RNG is further complicated by the fact that some sewage treatment plants also produce RNG, which (according to CalRecycle) is mostly ineligible. Below is the 2023-2024 Orange County Grand Jury Page 15