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

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Talking Trash: Recyclables and Organic Waste METHOD OF STUDY The OCGJ toured several local waste facilities, including: The Frank R. Bowerman landfill in Irvine, owned by the County of Orange and managed and operated by OC Waste & Recycling (OCW&R). This enabled the OCGJ to gain a better understanding of the refuse collection and disposal process. • The MRF operated by Rainbow Environmental Services, located at 17121 Nichols Lane in the city of Huntington Beach. This facility was previously decommissioned then reopened on short notice when the newer Anaheim MRF was destroyed by fire in February 2022. The MRF operated by Waste Management, located at 2050 North Glassell Street in the city of Orange. This tour allowed the OCGJ to gain information on the operation of a newer, larger MRF. The OCGJ reviewed SB 1383 and related documents, training videos, public meeting recordings, and presentations available on the CalRecycle website. The OCGJ reviewed online publications from various organizational and media sources related to trash hauling and general operations of the waste and recycling industry and conducted fourteen interviews with representatives from the waste industry, local jurisdictions, and the State's enforcement agency. The OCGJ also disseminated a nine -question survey to each of the thirty-four Orange County cities and the County to obtain their perspectives on local implementation of SB 1383. Follow-up interviews were conducted with representatives of the same ten cities included in the 2019-2020 OCGJ report "OC Recycling: Doing it the Right Way" and the County for additional insight into each jurisdiction's implementation of, and compliance with, SB 1383's requirements. The OCGJ utilized the same sampling of ten cities as well as the County of Orange (for its unincorporated areas) because they represent different geographical areas of the county (from Brea in the north to Dana Point in the south) and reflect a variety of larger cities by population and/or land area (e.g., Santa Ana, Irvine) and some that are smaller (e.g., Buena Park, Mission Viejo). Individual members of the OCGJ also observed the types and colors of carts, their labeling, and their contents at various locations throughout the county. These observations were documented via photographs to illustrate dissimilar details and nuances among jurisdictions and haulers. 2023-2024 Orange County Grand Jury Page 5