La Mesa Municipal Code Ch. 7.22 Mandatory Recycling

For the purposes of this chapter, certain words and phrases are defined as follows:

(a) "Aluminum" means recoverable aluminum materials such as used beverage containers, siding, and other manufactured items.

(b) "Collection" means the act of collecting solid waste materials or recyclables at single-family residential dwellings, multi-family residential dwellings, commercial businesses, industrial, or governmental sites, and hauling it to a facility for processing, transfer, or disposal.

(c) "Colored plastic bottles" means "plastic beverage bottles" and other bottles marked PET or PETE (1) and HDPE (2) on the bottom which have a narrow neck and an opening smaller than the body of the container.

(d) "Commercial recyclables" means recyclable materials from commercial business waste stream including, but not limited to, newspaper, plastic beverage bottles, colored plastic bottles, aluminum, tin and bi-metal cans, yard wastes, organic waste, white goods (appliances), glass bottles and jars, metal, paper products, printing and writing papers, and non-organic recyclables.

(e) "Corrugated cardboard" means post-consumer waste paper grade corrugated cardboard (#11), kraft (brown) paper bags or solid fiber boxes which have served their packaging purpose and are discarded and can later be reclaimed for collection and recovery for recycling.

(f) "Designated recyclable materials" means materials that are recyclable and/or reusable within the following categories of single-family residential dwellings, multi-family residential dwellings, commercial businesses (office and hospitality), and industrial as defined more specifically within each category as listed within this chapter.

(g) "Garbage" means solid waste.

(h) "Glass bottles and jars" means food and beverage glass containers including container glass covered by the deposit law, and excluding household and kitchen containers such as drinking glasses, cups, and cooking and serving dishes.

(i) "Hospitality industry" means any establishment that offers dining services or food or beverage sales including taverns, bars, cafeterias, and restaurants, as well as motels and hotels, hospitals, schools, colleges, and other such establishments that have dining services or a restaurant or bar on their premises.

(j) "Industrial recyclables" means recyclables from industry/construction waste streams including dirt, asphalt, sand, land clearing brush, concrete and rock.

(k) "Mixed paper" means magazines, junk mail, phone books, and cereal and other non-corrugated food boxes generated by residential households.

(l) "Multi-family residential recyclables" means those specific recyclable materials from the residential waste stream including, but not limited to, newspaper, plastic beverage bottles, colored plastic bottles, aluminum, tin and bi-metal cans, yard wastes, organic waste, white goods (appliances), glass bottles and jars, metal, paper products, printing and writing papers, and non-organic recyclables.

(m) "Newspaper" means materials printed on newsprint.

(n) "Office paper" means waste paper grades of white and colored ledgers. Examples include forms, copy paper, stationery, and other papers that are generally associated with desk activity.

(o) "Plastic beverage bottles" means plastic containers with narrow necks, or mouth openings smaller than the diameter of the container bodies, used for containing milk, juice, soft drinks, or water intended for human consumption; to be distinguished from non-food bottles such as those for containing motor oil, detergent, or other household products.

(p) "Putrescible wastes" means the waste in organic material with the decomposition capacity to emit noticeable quantities of odor and gas by-products. Material in this category includes, but is not limited to, kitchen waste, dead animals, food from containers, etc.

(q) "Recyclable materials" means materials which would otherwise become solid waste, and which can be collected, separated, and processed and returned to use in the form of raw materials or products.

(r) "Removal" means the act of taking solid waste materials or recyclables from the place of generation either by an approved collector, agent for the collector, or by a person in control of the premises.

(s) "Residential recyclables" (See "multi-family residential recyclables" and "single family residential recyclables").

(t) "Rubbish" means non-putrescible solid wastes such as ashes, glass, bedding, crockery, non-recyclable plastics, rubber by-products or litter.

(u) "Segregation of recyclable materials" means any of the following: the placement of recyclables in separate containers; the binding of recyclable material separately from the other waste material; the physical separation of recyclables from other waste material.

(v) "Single family residential recyclables" means those specific recyclable materials from the residential waste stream including, but not limited to, newspaper, mixed paper, plastic beverage bottles, colored plastic bottles, aluminum, tin and hi-metal cans, yard wastes, organic waste, white goods (appliances), glass bottles and jars, metal, paper products, printing and writing papers, and non-organic recyclables.

(w) "Solid waste" has the same meaning as defined in State Public Resources Code Section 40191, which defines solid waste as all putrescible and non-putrescible solid, semisolid, and liquid wastes, including garbage, trash, refuse, paper, rubbish, ashes, industrial wastes, demolition and construction wastes, abandoned vehicles and parts thereof, discarded home and industrial appliances, dewatered, treated, or chemically fixed sewage sludge which is not hazardous waste, manure, vegetable or animal solid and semi-solid wastes, and other discarded solid and semisolid wastes, with the exception that solid waste does not include any of the following wastes: (i) Hazardous waste, as defined in the State Public Resources Code Section 40141; (ii) Radioactive waste regulated pursuant to the State Radiation Control Law (Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 114960) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the State Health and Safety Code); (iii) Medical waste regulated pursuant to the State Medical Waste Management Act (Part 14 (commencing with Section 117600) of Division 104 of the State Health and Safety Code). Untreated medical waste shall not be disposed of in a solid waste landfill, as defined in State Public Resources Code Section 40195.1. Medical waste that has been treated and deemed to be solid waste shall be regulated pursuant to Division 30 of the State Public Resources Code.

(x) "Tin and bi-metal cans" means any steel food and beverage containers with a tin or aluminum plating.

(y) "White goods" means kitchen or other large enameled appliances.

(z) "Yard wastes" means leaves, grass, weeds and wood materials from trees and shrubs.

(aa) "Blue container" has the same meaning as in 14 CCR Section 18982.2(a)(5) and shall be used for the purpose of storage and collection of source separated recyclable materials or source separated blue container organic waste.

(bb) "Commercial" or "commercial business" means a firm, partnership, proprietorship, joint-stock company, corporation, or association, whether for-profit or nonprofit, strip mall, industrial facility, or a multi-family residential dwelling. A residential dwelling that consists of fewer than five units is not a commercial business for purposes of implementing this chapter.

(cc) "Excluded waste" means hazardous substance, hazardous waste, infectious waste, designated waste, volatile, corrosive, medical waste, infectious, regulated radioactive waste, and toxic substances or material that facility operator(s), which receive materials from the city and its generators, reasonably believe(s) would, as a result of or upon acceptance, transfer, processing, or disposal, be a violation of local, state, or federal law, regulation, or ordinance, including: land use restrictions or conditions, waste that cannot be disposed of in Class III landfills or accepted at the facility by permit conditions, waste that in the city"s, or its designee"s, reasonable opinion would present a significant risk to human health or the environment, cause a nuisance or otherwise create or expose the city, or its designee, to potential liability.

(dd) "Gray container" has the same meaning as in 14 CCR Section 18982.2(a)(28) and shall be used for the purpose of storage and collection of gray container waste.

(ee) "Gray container waste" means solid waste that is collected in a gray container that is part of a three-container organic waste collection service that prohibits the placement of organic waste in the gray container as specified in 14 CCR Sections 18984.1(a) and (b), or as otherwise defined in 14 CCR Section 17402(a)(6.5).

(ff) "Green container" has the same meaning as in 14 CCR Section 18982.2(a)(29) and shall be used for the purpose of storage and collection of source separated green container organic waste.

(gg) "Metal" means recoverable aluminum, tin, and bi-metal materials such as used beverage containers, siding and other recyclable manufactured metal items.

(hh) "Multi-family residential dwelling" means a building or portion thereof used exclusively for residential purposes with five or more dwelling units. Multi-family residential dwelling does not include hotels, boardinghouses or other transient occupancy facilities that are considered commercial businesses.

(ii) "Non-organic recyclables" means non-putrescible and non-hazardous recyclable wastes including, but not limited to, bottles, cans, metals, plastics and glass, or as otherwise defined in 14 CCR Section 18982(a)(43).

(jj) "Organic waste" means solid wastes containing material originated from living organisms and their metabolic waste products, including, but not limited to, food, green material, landscape and pruning waste, organic textiles and carpets, lumber, wood, paper products, printing and writing paper, manure, biosolids, digestate, and sludges or as otherwise defined in 14 CCR Section 18982(a)(46). Biosolids and digestate are as defined by 14 CCR Section 18982(a).

(kk) "Paper products" include, but are not limited to, paper janitorial supplies, cartons, wrapping, packaging, file folders, hanging files, corrugated boxes, tissue, and toweling, or as otherwise defined in 14 CCR Section 18982(a)(51).

(ll) "Printing and writing papers" include, but are not limited to, copy, xerographic, watermark, cotton fiber, offset, forms, computer printout paper, white wove envelopes, manila envelopes, book paper, note pads, writing tablets, newsprint, and other uncoated writing papers, posters, index cards, calendars, brochures, reports, magazines, and publications, or as otherwise defined in 14 CCR Section 18982(a)(54).

(mm) "Recycling" has the same meaning as set forth in Public Resources Code Section 40180, as it may be amended from time to time.

(nn) "Single-family residential dwelling" means a building or portion thereof used exclusively for residential purposes with fewer than five units. Single-family residential dwelling does not include hotels, boardinghouses, or other transient occupancy facilities that are considered commercial businesses.

(oo) "Source separated" means materials, including commingled recyclable materials, that have been separated or kept separate from the solid waste stream, at the point of generation, for the purpose of additional sorting or processing those materials for recycling or reuse in order to return them to the economic mainstream in the form of raw material for new, reused, or reconstituted products, which meet the quality standards necessary to be used in the marketplace, or as otherwise defined in 14 CCR Section 17402.5(b)(4). For the purposes of the chapter, source separated shall include separation of materials by the generator, property owner, property owner"s employee, property manager, or property manager"s employee into different containers for the purpose of collection such that source separated materials are separated from gray container waste/mixed waste or other solid waste for the purposes of collection and processing.

(pp) "Source separated blue container organic waste" means source separated organic wastes that can be placed in a blue container that is limited to the collection of those organic wastes and non-organic recyclables as defined in Section 18982(a)(43), or as otherwise defined by Section 17402(a)(18.7).

(qq) "Source separated green container organic waste" means source separated organic waste that can be placed in a green container that is specifically intended for the separate collection of organic waste by the generator, excluding source separated blue container organic waste, carpets, non-compostable paper, and textiles.

(Ord. 2608 § 1 (part); August 25, 1992; Ord. 2022-2895, § 13, March 22, 2022)

The city council, by resolution, shall designate materials to be recycled in accordance with this chapter.

(Ord. 2608 § 1 (part); August 25, 1992)

It shall be mandatory on the dates specified by council resolution designating materials to be recycled that such recyclable materials be segregated from rubbish or garbage for separate collection or removal.

(Ord. 2608 § 1 (part); August 25, 1992; Ord. 2022-2895, § 14, March 22, 2022)

The city manager or designee shall have responsibility for the enforcement of all provisions of this chapter. Violations of this chapter and regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter will be addressed in the same manner as other violations of the municipal code; however, nothing in the regulations shall prevent the authorized agents or deputies from efforts to obtain voluntary compliance by way of warning, notice of violation, or educational means and proceeding by either infraction or misdemeanor for each violation.

(Ord. 2608 § 1 (part); August 25, 1992)