What is SB 1383?
California Senate Bill 1383 is a law that requires every business and resident to separate their organic waste. It also requires certain businesses to recover good, edible food and donate it to those in need instead of being thrown out.
What is organic waste? Organic waste includes food scraps, such as meat, bones, dairy, fruit and vegetable scraps; yard waste, food-soiled paper such as napkins, paper towels and pizza boxes.
When does enforcement begin?
SB 1383 went into effect January 1, 2022. Not every resident or business will start to receive service at the same time. It is being rolled-out in phases. You will receive notice from your waste hauler or property management that an organic waste diversion service is in place.
Why is compliance necessary?
When organic waste is sent to landfill, it decomposes without oxygen, creating methane.
Methane is a gas that is 84 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. By recycling our organic waste, we can:
- Reduce Methane Emissions
- Conserve Resources
- Divert Waste from Landfills (can also reduce your overall hauling costs)
- Promote Circular Economy
Who can we help?
- Any business that produces more than 2 cubic yards or more of waste material per week (these requirements apply to all for-profit and non-profit businesses, including government offices, and industrial facilities)
- All Single-Family Residences & Multi-Family Units
- All K-12 public and charter schools, school districts, county office of education, public universities and community colleges, fairgrounds, theme parks, stadiums & other large venues, resorts, prisons, state agencies, state facilities & federal facilities
- Edible Food Generators (EFG’s) The following businesses are required to donate excess edible food to a recovery organization:
Tier 1
- Supermarkets
- Grocery stores (with a total facility size ≥ 10,000 sq.ft.)
- Food service providers (contracted)
- Food distributors
- Wholesale food vendors
Tier 2
- Restaurants (with ≥ 250 seats, or ≥ 5,000 sq. ft.)
- Hotels (with an on-site food facility and ≥ 200 rooms)
- Health facilities (with on-site food facility and ≥ 100 beds)
- Large venues
- Large events
- State agencies (with a cafeteria with ≥ 250 seats, or ≥ 5,000 sq. ft.)
- Local education agencies with an on-site food facility
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How to Comply
Bottom line is you must ensure organic waste and recyclables are not landfilled and you have (3) ways you can accomplish this:
- You can self-manage your organic waste by self-hauling, back-hauling, or on-site composting.
- Subscribe to an organic waste collection service in addition to garbage and recycling through your hauler. Remember, you must ensure organic waste and recyclables are not landfilled. There are critical steps that are necessary to a successful program. Providing an adequate number of organic waste and recycling containers in all areas where garbage containers are present, education & outreach, proper signage and labelling to name a few.
- Outsource the setup of your entire program to Terra Pacific. We can provide everything necessary for a fully compliant program. Once this is complete we can continue to monitor and adjust as necessary, or train your staff to take over the operation.
Waste and Diversion Strategies
Terra Pacific will help you identify operational gaps and opportunities to comply with local and statewide regulatory requirements.
SB 1383 requires generators to divert all organic waste from landfills through approved programs
- Implement, scale and/or expand recycling and organics recycling programs
- Certain commercial edible food generators are required to donate surplus food
- Identify food recovery organizations and services that are licensed and insured to assist generator
- Assist with the creation of a food donation collection agreement
- Track food donation reporting metrics
- Third-party recycling
- Provide ongoing maintenance and monitoring of compliance
- Develop training content that is generator-specific
- Onboard new hires
- Provide annual and ongoing training to employees, tenants and residents
- Provide onboarding, annual and ongoing training for contracted janitorial staff
- Develop a process to ensure that all materials are collected and disposed of correctly for contracted janitorial staff
- Ensure proper color coding, labeling and pairing of all trash, recycling and organics collection containers
- Custom design bin signs, labels and posters that are generator-specific
- Supply internal collection containers that are designed to minimize contamination and maximize participation in recycling programs
- Supply external collection containers
- Supply trash compactors to optimize waste hauling collection fee schedules
- Waste sorting to maximize waste hauling services and minimize contamination
- Hand sorting with photo documentation creates a visual representation of the composition of the materials generated on site. By analyzing the types and quantities of waste generated, businesses can implement strategies to minimize waste generation, optimize resource utilization, and improve overall efficiency
- Helps identify recyclable and compostable materials within the waste stream, as well as the materials that are contaminating what should be clean recycle streams
- Assists with right sizing services
- Annual physical waste audit of landfill and recycle streams for TRUE Zero Waste certification
- MRc6 waste audit for LEED certification
Assess compliance with all local and state-wide regulations impacting waste. Make recommendations for how to comply
- AB 341
- AB 1826
- AB 827
- Local and regional ordinances
- Assistance with Exemption Waiver for lack of generation, verification of onsite composting or third-party collection, or lack of space, as applicable
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Helpful Resources
Large edible food service generators are required to donate excess edible food to food recovery organizations, who will redistribute the food to feed food insecure people.
Discover more detailed information about California SB 1383 Compliance with these helpful articles:
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