Alameda Municipal Code § 21-20 Franchise Agreements

The City Council may enter into franchise agreements for the collection, processing and/or disposal of solid waste, recyclable materials, and organic materials collected from residential and commercial premises, in accordance with City Charter Sections 3-10, 3-12, and 18-1. These franchises may be non-exclusive, exclusive, or wholly exclusive in nature.

(Ord. No. 3310 N.S., § 2, 11-16-2021)

Collection and removal of solid waste, C&D debris, recyclable materials, and organic materials by the franchisee shall be made in accordance with the terms and conditions of this chapter and any agreement between the City and the franchisee.

(Ord. No. 3310 N.S., § 2, 11-16-2021)

All solid waste, C&D debris, recyclable materials, and organic materials within the City shall be collected and transported through the streets of the City by franchisee only at the time and in the manner hereinafter set forth. Exempted from this requirement are:

a. Self-Hauling. As allowed for under subsection 21-20.4(d), solid waste, recyclable materials, organic materials, and specialty recyclable materials may be removed from any premises and transported to a disposal site or processing site by the owner or occupant of such premises, by an employee of an owner or occupant, or by an independent contractor whose removal and transportation of the solid waste, recyclable materials, organic materials or specialty recyclable materials is incidental to another service performed by that contractor, such as construction or landscaping services, as where construction or demolition debris directly loaded onto a fixed body vehicle and hauled directly to a recycling or disposal facility. Commercial businesses or multi-family residential dwellings who provide services described in the foregoing sentence shall, within thirty (30) days of doing so, submit evidence acceptable to the City Manager that the materials were disposed of in a lawful manner. Such evidence shall include dump receipts, transfer facility tags or other evidence reasonably acceptable to the City Manager. Persons regularly engaged in this activity shall file evidence on a monthly basis for all of their activities in the City. Any person who provides the services described in this Section 21-20.3(a) shall comply with the requirements set forth in Section 21-2.13;

b. Donations. Recyclable materials and organic materials and specialty recyclable materials source separated at any premises by an owner or occupant and sold or donated to youth, civic, charitable, or other nonprofit organization;

c. Commodities. Source separated recyclable materials or organic materials or specialty recyclable materials generated by business establishments including City facilities, removed from the premises by a permittee, provided that the owner or occupant receives lawful consideration for sale of the materials. Any purchaser of commodities who collects them from premises within the City and hauls them through the City shall obtain a permit under Article IV of this chapter in order to ensure that the commodities are not returned to the waste stream in a manner that would undermine the purposes of this chapter. It is the intent of this section to regulate those who purchase and haul recyclable commodities for the limited purpose of ensuring that the waste diversion goals of AB 939 and Measure D are accomplished and not to require waste or commodities to be hauled to any particular location or to interfere with the use of private property. The essential obligations imposed on haulers under this provision are to make good faith efforts to divert waste from disposal sites and to provide information to the City so that it may document compliance with AB 939 and Measure D;

d. Redemption. Containers delivered for recycling under the California Beverage Container Recycling Litter Reduction Act, § 14500, et seq. California Public Resources Code;

e. Composting. Organic materials composted or otherwise legally managed at the site where it is generated (e.g., backyard composting, on-site anaerobic digestion);

f. C&D Permittee. Construction and demolition debris removed from premises by a permittee with respect to a construction and demolition project which the City reasonably determines will cost one hundred thousand ($100,000.00) dollars or more to construct. Construction and demolition debris removed from the premises with respect to a smaller project shall be subject to the franchise and the rates authorized thereby unless another exemption by this chapter applies;

g. Historical Recyclers. Any person who lawfully provided recycling services within the city during calendar year 2001, who obtains a permit pursuant to this chapter may continue to provide the services it actually provided in calendar 2001 to the customers it was serving at that time. This restriction is imposed in order to serve the purposes of the City's solid waste franchise agreement and this ordinance to reduce the number of heavy vehicles serving the City which impact the City's infrastructure and disturb the peace of its residents, to ensure compliance with AB 939 and Measure D, and to reduce the burden and cost of the regulatory program accomplished by this chapter, and to ensure the economies of scale which can be accomplished by the exclusive franchisee. However, the City grants the limited historical recyclers exception of this paragraph to moderate the impact of this regulatory change on those persons who have previously established relationships with customers in the City;

h. Grease. Animal waste and remains from slaughterhouse or butcher shops, grease waste for use as tallow, or used cooking oil;

i. Sewage. By-products of sewage treatment including sludge, sludge ash, grit and screenings;

j. Hazardous Materials. Household hazardous waste, hazardous and other excluded materials regardless of its source;

k. Materials Generated by Federal, State, and County Facilities. Materials generated by Federal, State, and County facilities located in the City, including but not limited to the Alameda Unified School District, provided the generator self-hauls, has arranged services with other persons, or has arranged services with the franchisee through a separate franchise agreement;

l. Edible Food. Edible food which is provided by the generator for the purposes of feeding people, regardless of whether it is donated, or a fee has been paid for other person(s) to collect it from the generator;

m. Materials Removed by Customer's Contractor as Incidental Part of Services. Recyclable materials, organic materials, solid waste, and bulky items removed from a premises by a contractor (e.g., gardener, landscaper, tree-trimming service, construction contractor, residential clean-out service) as an incidental part of the service being performed, rather than as a separately contracted or subcontracted hauling service; or if such contractor is providing a service which is not included in the scope of the franchise agreement; and

n. Materials That Contractor Does Not Divert. Discarded materials which the franchisee is not required to process and divert under the current franchise agreement which, in the City's reasonable judgment, is economically feasible to source separate and divert. In such event, the franchisee shall have the exclusive right to collect and process such materials if the franchisee agrees to do so without any change in rates. If franchisee is unwilling to process and divert such new materials at existing rates, the City may provide for collection, processing, and diversion of such source separated materials in any manner it deems appropriate. Such source separated materials may include, but not be limited to, organic materials which the franchisee would otherwise dispose. The franchisee may not enforce its exclusive franchise rights in a manner that would prevent the diversion of source separated material that the franchisee is unable or unwilling to divert.

(Ord. No. 3310 N.S., § 2, 11-16-2021)

a. Establishing Charges. The City shall establish rate-setting policies and rate ceilings through City Council resolution or through the franchise agreement. Prior to establishing rate policies or rate ceilings, the City Council shall hold a public hearing.

b. Payment. Every customer receiving integrated waste collection service for solid waste, and/or recyclable materials, and/or organic materials shall pay the rate for those services established by the franchisee in accordance with City-established policies, whether used in whole or in part. If an occupant of a premises fail to pay, the property owner shall be responsible for payment to the franchisee.

c. Special Rate Programs.

1. Low Income Residents and Senior Residents Discount. Franchisee shall provide low income and senior discounts for residents provided that a customer may not obtain both a low income resident and a senior resident discount. Franchisee shall determine that a customer qualifies for the low income discount by obtaining documentation that the customer's household qualifies as a very-low-income household under the Section 8 eligibility guidelines as determined by the federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) formula. Franchisee shall determine that a customer qualifies for the senior resident discount by verifying that the head of household of the residential premises is sixty-five (65) years of age or older. Senior discount shall not apply to any solid waste container greater than thirty-two (32) gallons.

d. Service Exemptions.

1. Continuation of Prior Exemptions. All service exemptions granted by the City prior to the effective date of the ordinance that enacted this provision shall be terminated.

2. Integrated Waste Collection Exemption. A complete exemption from mandatory integrated waste collection shall be granted if the customer demonstrates to the reasonable satisfaction of the City Manager that no solid waste, recyclable materials, and organic material of any kind is generated on the premises. The occupants of a residential structure may be completely exempted from mandatory integrated waste collection only upon proof that they are regularly self-hauling integrated waste generated on the property to a lawful disposal site, department of conservation approved reclamation center or transfer station by providing monthly receipts or other evidence satisfactory to the City Manager.

3. Vacancy Exemption. An owner of residential premises may receive a temporary exemption from the requirement to subscribe to and to pay for solid waste, recyclable materials, and organic materials collection services if they can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the City Manager that the premises are vacant for at least thirty (30) days. Evidence that either water or power was not consumed on the premises shall be sufficient evidence of vacancy.

4. Service Location Exemption for Disabled Persons. Franchisee shall collect containers from the backyard of a single-family or multi-plex premises occupied by an owner or occupant with a disability within the meaning of the American Disabilities Act at no additional cost.

e. Application Process.

1. Filing of Application. A customer may file an application with the franchisee for a special rate or service exemption pursuant to subsections 21-20-4(c) and 21-20-4(d). The occupant must consent to an unscheduled on-site inspection by the City and/or the franchisee of occupant's integrated waste (solid waste, recyclable materials, and organic materials) in order to qualify for any service exemption.

2. Review of Application. The franchisee shall inspect each applicant's property, and the applicant's integrated waste (solid waste, recyclable materials, and organic materials). Franchise shall complete this review within fifteen (15) business days of receipt of an application.

3. Notification of Acceptance or Denial of Application. Franchisee shall notify an applicant of the acceptance or denial of their application within twenty (20) business days of receipt of that application. Upon approval of a special rate or service exception, the franchisee shall notify the public works director in writing.

4. Duration of Special Rate or Service Exception or Exemption. Any special rate or service exemption shall be effective for one (1) year from approval, unless service is stopped and new service is started at the premises or the circumstances that justified the special rate or service exception change. The City Manager may extend a special rate or service exemption for additional periods of one (1) year without further application upon receipt of certification from customer that the circumstances justifying the special rate or service exemption have not changed. If those circumstances change, it shall be the responsibility of the owner or occupant to notify franchisee of the changed circumstance and to initiate regular solid waste, recyclable materials, or organic materials collection service in accordance with the provisions of subsection 21-2.1. The City Manager or franchisee may review any special rate or service exemption upon receipt of evidence that such special rate or service exemption is no longer justified.

In all cases where an exception is granted, the premises must at all times be kept in a sanitary condition which does not cause a nuisance to others. Upon a determination that the integrated waste service exception should be granted, the collector shall immediately notify the owner and the City Public Works Director in writing. If the circumstances which allowed the exception should change, the owner or occupant shall then initiate regular integrated waste collection in accordance with the provisions of this section. The City Manager or the collector may require reauthorization of such exception from time to time. Occupant must consent to on-site inspection of solid waste, recyclable materials and organic materials disposal facilities by the City and/or the collector in order to qualify for the integrated waste service exemption.

5. Appeals. An applicant may appeal a denial of a special rate or service exemption as described in paragraphs (c) and (d) of this subsection by filing a notice of appeal with the City Clerk not later than ten (10) business days after the applicant was provided written notice of the decision. The notice of appeal shall be in a form prescribed by the City Manager and shall state why the applicant believes the denial does not comply with this section. The City Manager shall decide the appeal within thirty (30) calendar days of its filing, unless they continue that decision for good cause. The City Manager shall notify the applicant in writing of their decision within three (3) business days.

f. Violations. Violation of any provision of this section other than by the franchisee, the City or its employees, shall be punishable as an infraction pursuant to subsection 1-5.1 of the Alameda Municipal Code.

(Ord. No. 3310 N.S., § 2, 11-16-2021)

a. General. The franchisee shall bill each customer at rates that comply with the rate policies and rate ceilings established by the City. Each customer shall timely pay the amount billed. In the event commercial businesses share a container, the franchisee shall either bill one (1) customer for the total cost of the shared collection services or, at the request of the commercial customers sharing the containers, shall bill each customer for the service rate divided by the number of commercial customers sharing the service. Billing disputes shall be handled in accordance with subsection 21-20.7.

b. Penalties. Should any customer fail to pay any such bill within thirty (30) days of the invoice date, the franchisee may add a penalty, as established by City policy, and interest to the bill provided such interest shall not exceed the highest rate permitted by applicable law. The sum of the bill plus interest or penalty, together with any collection costs incurred may be recovered by the franchisee, as provided by law. In the event the occupant is the customer of record for a premises and occupant fails to pay such bill, the owner shall be responsible for payment.

(Ord. No. 3310 N.S., § 2, 11-16-2021)

If a customer fails to pay a bill for thirty (30) days or more, the franchisee shall undertake collection of the bill, including penalties and expenses of collection for one (1) year from the invoice date. Franchisee shall make reasonable efforts to obtain payment through late payment notices, telephone requests for payment, and assistance from collection agencies as prescribed in the franchise agreement. If a customer fails to pay a bill for ninety (90) days, franchisee may discontinue service.

(Ord. No. 3310 N.S., § 2, 11-16-2021)

Any customer who contests the amount billed shall pay such charges and file a written protest with the Public Works Director within thirty (30) days of the date the payment was due. Within thirty (30) days of filing, the Public Works Director shall notify the Customer of their decision. The decision of the Public Works Director may be appealed by any person upon payment of an appeal fee established by the City Council. The City Manager shall finally determine such appeals. The appeal fee shall be refunded to the customer in cases in which the City Manager sustains the appeal.

(Ord. No. 3310 N.S., § 2, 11-16-2021)

At any time, but not more than annually, the City may hold a public hearing which franchisee may be required by City to attend, to review the franchisee's performance and to solicit public comment regarding franchisee's performance under the franchise agreement. The public hearing shall provide for discussion and review of technological, economic, and regulatory changes in order to achieve a continuing, state-of-the-art collection, transportation, processing, and disposal system and to ensure services are provided with adequate quality, effectiveness, and economy. The City may use information obtained from public comment at its discretion.

(Ord. No. 3310 N.S., § 2, 11-16-2021)