Item 16 - Agreement for the Waste Infrastructure System Enterprise

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ORGANIC SERVICES AGREEMENT THIS ORGANIC SERVICES AGREEMENT (“Organics Agreement” or “OSA”) is made and dated as of the date indicated on the cover page hereof between the County of Orange, a political subdivision of the State of California (the “County”), and the City designated on the cover page of this Agreement (the “City”). County and City may hereinafter be referred to singularly as “Party” or collectively as “Parties.”. RECITALS The County owns, manages and operates a Waste Infrastructure System to manage municipal and solid waste generated within the County of Orange or imported from outside the County pursuant to contractual agreements. The Waste Infrastructure System collectively includes active Class III sanitary landfills (“County Landfills”), resource recovery, recycling and organics programs, infrastructure and operations, and regional household hazardous waste collection centers and other waste management related systems as may be deemed necessary by the County. County Landfills are used for the management of municipal solid waste pursuant to legislation including but not limited to the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 (Division 30 of the California Public Resources Code) (the “Act”) and the Short-lived Climate Pollutants Reduction Act (“SB 1383”). County Landfills are also subject to other State and federal regulations designed to ensure that landfill operations minimize the impacts to public health and safety and the environment. Pursuant to Resolution, the County established the Waste Management Enterprise Fund pursuant to Government Code §25261 to ensure that all costs associated with the operation and management of the Waste Infrastructure System are financed by charges imposed for services provided by the Department and are not funded by tax revenue or the County General Fund. The City, in the exercise of its police power, its powers under the Act, and other Applicable Law, has entered into a franchise or other agreement with or issued permits or licenses to one or more private haulers for the collection, recycling, diversion and disposal of municipal solid waste generated within the City. A significant portion of municipal solid waste generated within the City historically has been and currently is delivered by such hauler or haulers to the County for disposal in the Disposal System. Since 1997, the City and the County have provided for the management of municipal solid waste through Waste Disposal Agreements (“WDAs”), wherein the County agreed to provide disposal capacity for waste generated in the City, and the City agreed to deliver or cause the delivery of waste generated in the City to the Disposal System, as more specifically set forth in, and subject to the terms and conditions of the WDAs. Starting in approximately 2014, the Legislature of the State of California passed several pieces of legislation (“Organics Legislation”) that require significant reductions in the disposal of Organic Waste. The purpose of the Organics Legislation is to mandate organics recycling and curtail the impacts of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions such as methane. In this regard, the decomposition of organic material in the State’s landfills was identified as a significant source of methane that could be reduced. Prior to the passage of Organics Legislation, Processed Green Material (“PGM”) could be utilized as Alternative Daily Cover (“ADC”) for landfill operations and qualified for diversion credit. However, passage of Assembly Bill 1594 resulted in PGM used as ADC no longer being eligible for diversion credit starting on January 1, 2020. In addition to the loss of diversion eligibility for PGM used as ADC, SB 1383 requires a 50% reduction in the disposal of Organic Waste by January 1, 2020 and a 75% reduction of Organic Waste by January 1, 2025. In addition, the law requires 20% of edible food waste be recovered by 2025. On April 23, 2019, the Orange County Board of Supervisors passed Resolution 19-031 to respond to the State’s increasing landfill diversion requirements and identified the need for additional organic processing infrastructure in the County and directed the Department to develop additional organics recycling infrastructure to support the region in meeting State organic recycling mandates. (See Attachment 4)