Woodland city officials will once again consider whether its waste collection program gets “smart” in a pilot program that would increase fees for residential customers who overfill their trash containers or put the wrong material in their recycling bins.
The City Council will hear a presentation Tuesday night about a plan by Waste Management of Woodland to pick up where it left off in 2018 with a “Smart Truck” program residential-only pilot program that would begin on Nov. 1.
Basically, under the plan, Waste Management would use cameras on its collection trucks for both trash and recycling containers that record whether or not trash bins are overfilled or if the right materials are being recycled.
Those households found violating the restrictions would first be warned and fined $15 starting after two other violations.
The program — and fines — have already been implemented for commercial customers of Waste Management since December 2018.
Woodland Mayor Rich Lansburgh has already sent out a notice via social media asking for public comment on the plan.
When last tried out in 2018, residential customers became outraged primarily due to a lack of notice and the poor quality of images sent to those found in violation.
Waste Management operates under a contract with the city, to pick up trash, recyclables, green waste along with street sweeping.
According to Rosie Ledesma, the city’s environmental resource analyst, the company has developed technology it refers to as the Smart Truck program that utilizes “Third Eye” technology that includes still and video cameras on its collection trucks to assist with the identification and
documentation of contaminated and overfilled recycling, organics, and trash collection carts without requiring the driver to leave the vehicle cab.
“For the last several years, the amount of trash and contamination collected in recycling containers has increased due to changes in the types of materials collected, cleanliness of the materials, and in some cases, a lax mentality on separating recyclables,” according to Ledesma. “This, paired with stricter guidelines in the recycling market due to market restrictions caused by China’s National Sword policy, has caused recycling sorting facilities to slow down sorting lines, re-run materials for re-sorting, or reject loads altogether in order to capture clean, marketable materials.”
Without intervention, the new mixed organics recycling program could face the same level of
contamination in the near future, Ledesma stated.
By using the Smart Truck program the city and Waste Management could reduce contamination in curbside recycling and organic waste containers to help meet statewide landfill diversion targets and provide cleaner, marketable materials to be recycled.
The program also identifies apparent overfilled containers that result in spillage of contents when emptied, and often require drivers to leave the vehicles to pick up debris.
While the commercial portion of the program required some adjustment at first, there have been few reports of problems. However, rollout of the residential program was delayed due to a combination of technical issues and concerns by city staff that arose during the commercial rollout,
which will be addressed with an amendment to the existing contract.
As part of the Smart Truck program rollout, Waste Management is proposing to institute fines for customers whose carts are either “contaminated” with material not suited for recycling or organic waste processing, or have containers that are deemed “overfilled.”
Customers would be assessed a $15 fine, per offending container, for each documented violation after two warning notices. Council approved the surcharges in 2018 in anticipation of the originally intended timeline for implementing the program.
Waste Management intends to begin sending warning notices and assessing such fines after Jan. 1, following a “Pilot” phase that will begin on Nov. 1.
Ledesma reported that during the 60-day Pilot phase, Waste Management will send courtesy notices to inform customers that a problem has been identified with one or more of their carts, provide options for resolving recurring problems, and warn them that the problem may result in a fine.
California’s Integrated Waste Management Act requires that all jurisdictions divert from the landfill
at least 50% of their waste generated. Woodland has seen a decline in its waste diversion from 62% in 2012 to 53% in 2018.
“One contributing factor to the decline in our waste diversion is an increase in overall waste generation and residual waste (or contamination) in our recycling stream,” Ledesma stated. “Failing to meet the state-mandated 50% diversion goal could result in fines to the City of $10,000 per day.”
Additionally, California’s latest bill, SB 1383, requires jurisdictions to reduce organic waste disposal 50% by 2020 and 75% by 2025. The bill requires jurisdictions to adhere to strict contamination monitoring requirements and initiate enforcement for noncompliance.
Yolo County’s composting facility which processes Woodland’s organic waste, allows less than 1% contamination or may reject a truckload. The Smart Truck program reduces that risk, allows Woodland to fulfill some of SB 1383 requirements, and provides proper education for contamination prevention.
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