Mandatory Commercial Business Organics Waste & Recycle Law (SB 1383)

Diverting Organic Waste and Recyclables Now Mandatory Under New State Law SB 1383

Effective January 1, 2024, jurisdictions can issue notice of violations and fines for generators that are not compliant with SB 1383.

Effective January 1, 2022, California state law Senate Bill (SB) 1383 Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy, requires all businesses, residents, and multifamily properties, to separate organic materials (such as plant debris, food waste, food soiled papers, untreated wood waste) and recyclable materials from trash, and either subscribe to the required collection services or self-haul to an appropriate facility for diversion.

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The Goal of SB 1383

Reduce organic waste disposal 75% by 2025.
Rescue 20% of surplus edible food for those that need it by 2025.

SB 1383 Requirements and Timeline

Source: CalRecycle

WHO: Who Does This Affect?

Single-Family homes/Condos/Townhomes
Multifamily properties with 5+ more units
Commercial Businesses*
Commercial Edible Food Generators
Commercial Self-Haulers
Public/Private Schools

*Waivers:

Limited waivers will be considered if you can demonstrate that your business generates less than 20 gallons of organics per week. Select SB 1383 Organics Waiver Request to learn more about the qualifications and to access the SB 1383 Online Self Reporting Form.

WHAT: What Does This Mean?

The SB 1383 law has expanded on the requirements of AB 341 – Mandatory Commercial Recycling and AB 1826 – Mandatory Commercial Organics.

The Changes:

This impacts residents, businesses, and multifamily properties – sorting of organics and recyclables is now mandatory.
Large food-generating businesses like Supermarkets and Wholesale Food Distributors are now required to contract with an edible food recovery organization to donate excess edible food to help feed people.

HOW: How Do I Participate?

Here are the law requirements for businesses and how you can participate to be compliant with the SB 1383 law:

BUSINESSES

Subscribe to Collection Service
Subscribe to curbside organics and recycling service from your waste collection company. Depending on your city, these diversion services can usually be added at no additional cost.
Provide Containers for Organic and Recycling Waste
Businesses are also required to make organics and recycling collection containers available to customers for the waste materials generated in self-serve areas.
The containers must be green, blue, and black, or be labeled wtih “organics”, “recyclables”, and “garbage”.
Who to contact for collection service:
For businesses located in El Cerrito (for organics collection) contact East Bay Sanitary at (510) 237-4321.
For businesses located in El Cerrito (for recycling collection) contact City of El Cerrito at (510) 215-4350.
For businesses located in all other cities of West Contra Costa County, contact Republic Services.
Sort Waste Materials: Require employees to place organic waste only in organics containers
Effectively separate all waste materials your business generates. Building effective waste management into your standard operating procedures can help with staff satisfaction, sustainability marketing, and also possibly save you money.
Provide yearly information to employees about proper sorting of organic waste
Employee training, instructional resources, and free interior containers are available from your waste collection service company to help you to implement these programs.
Periodically inspect organic waste containers for contamination
Allow access to the property for inspections from designated jurisdiction or state representatives
Implement Surplus Edible Food Recovery Program (Applies to large food generating businesses only)
Some large food-generating businesses (such as supermarkets and wholesale food distributors) are required to contract with an edible food recovery agency and track your recovered food.
If your business falls within with one of the categories below, you will need to implement a surplus edible food recovery program by the effective date.

Type	Type of Food-Generating Business	Effective Date to Implement
Tier 1	Supermarkets with revenue ≥ $2 million Grocery Stores with facilities ≥ 10,000 sq.ft. Food Service Providers Food Distributors Wholesale Food Vendors	January 1, 2022
Tier 2	Restaurants with ≥ 250 seats or total facility size of ≥ 5,0000 sq. ft Hotels with an on-site food facility and ≥ 200 total rooms Health Facilities with an on-site food facility and ≥ 100 beds Large Permanent Venues that serve/seats > 2,000 individuals per day of operation Large Events that serve an average of > 2,000 individuals per day of operation State Agencies with a cafeteria and has ≥ 250 seats or a total cafeteria size of ≥ 5,000 sq.ft. Local School/Education Agencies with an on-site food facilityFarmers Markets	January 1, 2024

Type

Type of Food-Generating Business

Effective Date
to Implement

Tier 1

Supermarkets with revenue ≥ $2 million
Grocery Stores with facilities ≥ 10,000 sq.ft.
Food Service Providers
Food Distributors
Wholesale Food Vendors

January 1, 2022

Tier 2

Restaurants with ≥ 250 seats or total facility size of ≥ 5,0000 sq. ft

Hotels with an on-site food facility and ≥ 200 total rooms

Health Facilities with an on-site food facility and ≥ 100 beds

Large Permanent Venues that serve/seats > 2,000 individuals per day of operation

Large Events that serve an average of > 2,000 individuals per day of operation

State Agencies with a cafeteria and has ≥ 250 seats or a total cafeteria size of ≥ 5,000 sq.ft.

Local School/Education Agencies with an on-site food facilityFarmers Markets

January 1, 2024

For more information on how to implement a surplus edible food recovery program, select this link: SB 1383 Commercial Edible Food Recovery.

WHY: Why is This Important?

Complying with this state law helps combat climate change by recycling organic waste correctly. Organic waste is the largest waste stream in California and items like food scraps, yard trimmings, paper, and cardboard make up half of what Californian’s dump in landfills. When these organic materials are sent to a landfill, they generate methane, a powerful climate pollutant. Landfills are the third largest source of methane in the state and are contributing to the drought, wildfires, and flooding that we are seeing around the state and nation. In addition, air pollutants contribute to health conditions and breathing issues like asthma.

Landfillls are the Third Largest Source of Methane Gas in California

Source: CalRecycle

By diverting organic material to compost facilities, we are directly reducing the amount of climate pollutants generated by our waste materials.

Fighting Climate Change by Recycling Organic Waste

Organic Waste is the largest waste stream in Californa

Source: CalRecycle

ENFORCEMENT: Compliance Monitoring, Sorting, and Violations

VIOLATIONS

As of January 1, 2024, jurisdictions can issue notice of violations and fines for generators that are not compliant with SB 1383, as written in city municipal code/ordinance.

MONITORING OF PROPERLY SORTING WASTE

As a requirement of SB 1383, annual audits for Businesses must be performed to ensure waste is properly sorted.

Your garbage collection company will be conducting random inspections of containers periodically to identify contamination and encourage proper materials separation.

These inspections will involve minimal handling of your material and may include opening of bags to inspect container contents. Auditors will be wearing reflective vests and may spend several minutes conducting their audit activities, in the early morning hours. If your containers have been inspected, you will be notified with a tag placed on your container with the outcome.

If you have any questions, please contact your garbage collection company: Republic Services Customer Service Department at (510) 262-7100 or East Bay Sanitary Customer Service Department at (510) 237-4321.