Legislation passed in Sacramento which mandates that businesses separate their recyclable materials from their waste is causing the city of Ceres to force nearly 400 businesses to receive and use special containers.

Administrative Analyst Toni Cordell gave the council an update last week about the implementation of ambitious state laws to step up recycling of certain materials at businesses like what has been done with residences. One bill in particular, Assembly Bill 341 set a goal of reducing landfill disposal by 75 percent by 2020 and established mandatory commercial recycling requirements, while AB 1826 mandated commercial organics recycling. The law was passed in 2012 but enforcement has been delayed.

Cities which don’t or haven’t made an attempt to enforce the state laws could be subjected fines. In 2021 the Ceres City Council enacted an enforcement and penalty program for contamination violations. 

“With the enforcement requirement approaching, we need to take a more aggressive approach to avoid potential penalties of up to $10,000 per day,” Cordell informed the council.

The rate changes also added a 90-gallon organics cart service to all commercial accounts as part of the garbage service.

Commercial recycling cart service, however, has a separate fee for collection service which is not included in the commercial garbage service rate and must be electively subscribed to by the customer.

Businesses which generate more than four cubic yards of solid waste subscribe to recycling service.

Cordell said that Ceres has 493 businesses that fall under the collection threshold for mandated service but only 95 have voluntarily subscribed to recycling collection service. She said the city has been educating businesses about compliance.

With the passage of SB 1383, cities are required to take enforcement action on non-compliant entities starting Jan. 1, 2024. To ensure the city is meeting mandated enforcement measures, automatic service start for recycling collection will be implemented to the remaining 398 Ceres businesses currently not in compliance. Thus, 90-gallon recycling carts will be delivered to the businesses beginning later this month and be charged extra for the service once collection starts.

The city could find that some businesses could be exempt depending on factors such as zoning requirements, lack of sufficient space in multi-family complexes to provide additional recycling bins, lack of markets, non-generation of recyclable materials, or a business that already recycles a significant portion of its commercial waste.

“Right now we’re currently developing a waiver exemption program but information will be made available at a later date,” Cordell told the council. “It is important to note however that the exemptions will only be made on a case-by-case basis and issuance will be made at the discretion of the city.”