Mendocino County Municipal Code Ch. 9A.04 General Provisions

This Title shall be known as the "Solid Waste Ordinance of Mendocino County."

(Ord. No. 4506, § 2, 6-7-2022)

(A) The storage, accumulation, collection and disposal of refuse, trash, rubbish, solid waste, debris, and other discarded material is a matter of great public concern, in that improper control of such matters creates a public nuisance, which may lead to air pollution, fire hazards, illegal dumping, insect breeding, infestation by vermin, and other problems affecting the health, welfare and safety of the residents of Mendocino County. The regulations contained in this Title are designed to eliminate or alleviate the above identified problems. It is the policy of the Board that the choice of whether a person hauls his/her own solid waste, or hires a franchised hauler to pick up and transport said person's solid waste, is at the sole discretion of that person.

(B) It is also the policy of the Board to provide for the efficient use of resources through waste reduction and waste diversion programs including those in the County's approved Source Reduction and Recycling Element required under AB 939.

(C) Notwithstanding that sewage sludge and septage may under certain circumstances be defined as a solid waste or recyclable, this Title is not intended to regulate the collection of sewage sludge or septage, nor to alter the County's permit requirements or procedures for said collection. Nor is this Title intended to regulate the storage, collection, transportation and disposal of hazardous waste.

(Ord. No. 4506, § 2, 6-7-2022)

The definitions stated in Title 14, California Code of Regulations, Division 7, Chapter 3.2 (Section 17896.1 et seq. "Composting Definitions"), and Chapter 12 (Section 18981.1 et seq.; "SB 1383 Definitions"), shall apply to this Title, unless amended by this section.

"Act" means the California Integrated Waste Management Act, California Public Resources Code section 40000 et seq., as amended.

"Authorized recycling entity" means that person, partnership, joint venture or corporation authorized by a franchise agreement or other agreement with the County to collect discarded and/or nondiscarded recyclable materials pursuant to this Title. An authorized recycling entity may be a municipal collection service, private refuse hauler, private recycling enterprise, or private nonprofit corporation or association.

"Bin" means a container designed for mechanical emptying with a close-fitting cover and of a design approved by the Department.

"Board" means the Board of Supervisors of Mendocino County.

"Bulky waste" means and includes, but not by way of limitation, discarded white goods (i.e., major household appliances), furniture, tires, carpets, mattresses and similar large items which cannot be placed in a covered container.

"Collection services area" means a portion of the County designated for refuse or recyclable material collection which is served by a franchised hauler.

"Commercial Business" or "Commercial" means a firm, partnership, proprietorship, joint-stock company, corporation, or association, whether for-profit or nonprofit, strip mall, industrial facility, or a multifamily residential dwelling. A Multi-Family Residential Dwelling that consists of fewer than two (2) units is not a Commercial Business for purposes of implementing this ordinance. Such definition excludes nonprofit activities such as churches, synagogues, charitable and service organizations, fraternal, and social clubs.

"Commercial premises" means any building or site in the County within one (1) of the franchise areas, other than residential premises, from which any business, service, non-profit, governmental, institutional, commercial or industrial activity is conducted, including without limitation motels, hotels, recreational vehicle parks, restaurants, professional offices, clubhouses, places of entertainment, manufacturing plants, and private schools. Commercial premises shall also include large multi-unit dwellings containing two (2) or more dwelling units.

"Container" means a plastic or metallic cart, bin, can, or other container expressly approved by the Department to store solid waste, recyclable materials, and/or organic waste.

"County" means the County of Mendocino, State of California.

"County Designee" means an entity that the County contracts with or otherwise arranges to carry out any of the County's responsibilities of this ordinance as authorized in 14 CCR Section 18981.2. A County Designee may be a government entity, a hauler, a private entity, or a combination of those entities.

"Customer" means any person receiving refuse and/or recycling service under the provisions of this Title.

"Department" means the Division of Solid Waste in the Department of Transportation.

"Designated collection location" means the place where a franchised waste hauler or an authorized recycling entity is to pick up solid waste or segregated, recyclable materials. The location is identified by a franchise agreement between the franchised waste hauler and the County, and will customarily be the curbside of a residential neighborhood or the service alley of a commercial or institutional entity.

"Direct Service Provider" means a person, company, agency, district, or other entity that provides a service or services to the County pursuant to a contract or other written agreement.

"Discarded recyclable materials" means any recyclable materials, as defined in this Title, which the owner disposes of without selling or donating the materials.

"Disposal site" has the same definition as provided in Public Resources Code Section 40122.

"Drop box" means a container designed for mechanical emptying by a vehicle used for transportation to the disposal site with a minimum capacity of ten (10) cubic yards and of a design approved by the Department.

"Enforcement Officer" means any officer or employee authorized by ordinance or by resolution of the Board of Supervisors to enforce the Mendocino County Code, or such officer's or employee's designee.

"Excluded waste" means hazardous substance, hazardous waste, infectious waste, designated waste, volatile, corrosive, biomedical, infectious, biohazardous, and toxic substances or material. It also includes waste that a franchisee or other authorized collection enterprise reasonably believes would, as a result of or upon 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, waste that in the opinion of the franchisee or other authorized collection enterprise would present a significant risk to human health or the environment, cause a nuisance or otherwise create or expose such enterprise or County to potential liability. It does not, however, include de minimis volumes or concentrations of waste of a type and amount normally found in residential solid waste after implementation of programs for the safe collection, recycling, treatment and disposal of batteries and paint in compliance with Sections 41500 and 41802 of the California Public Resources Code.

"Food Scraps" means all food such as, but not limited to, fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, seafood, shellfish, bones, rice, beans, pasta, bread, cheese, and eggshells. Food Scraps excludes fats, oils, and grease when such materials are Source Separated from other Food Scraps.

"Food-Soiled Paper" is compostable paper material that has come in contact with food or liquid, such as, but not limited to, compostable paper plates, paper coffee cups, napkins, pizza boxes, and milk cartons.

"Food Waste" means Food Scraps and Food-Soiled Paper.

"Franchise area" means that territory designated by the County for refuse collection, by a franchised solid waste collector, and shown on a certain map entitled "Mendocino County Solid Waste Refuse Collection Areas" including all amendments and changes thereto, which map is incorporated in this Title as Appendix "A" attached to the ordinance amending this Title in its entirety and on file in the Office of the Clerk of the Board.

"Garbage" means and includes kitchen and table refuse, offal, swill and also every accumulation of animal and vegetable refuse, and other matter that attends the preparation, consumption, decay, or dealing in or storage of meats, fish, fowl, birds, fruits or vegetables. It also includes crockery, ashes and all refuse, save and excepting as defined as rubbish.

"Generator" means any "person" as defined by the Public Resources Code, whose act or process produces solid waste, recyclable materials, yard trimmings, construction and demolition ("C&D") debris, or bulky waste as defined herein, or whose act first causes any such material to become subject to regulation.

"Generators subject to SB 1383" means any person not in an area of the County granted a waiver from compliance with SB 1383 requirements from CalRecycle. The Department shall keep a map showing areas of the County that have received waivers from SB 1383 requirements.

"Gray Container Waste" has the same definition as provided in 14 CCR Section 17402(a)(6.5). This term is only applicable to generators subject to SB 1383.

"Group container" means a bin placed in a location, agreeable to the County, and assigned for the use of specified land owners or tenants.

"Hard-to-handle waste" includes the following wastes that will not fit in a refuse container: household furniture, appliances, tree stumps and large limbs, telephone poles and timbers, Styrofoam, transit pipe, large metal objects, cable, wire, concrete over one thousand pound (1,000 lb.) piece weight, and reinforced concrete.

"Hazardous waste or materials" means any waste materials or mixture of wastes defined as such pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, 42 U.S.C. Section 6901 et seq., or the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act ("CERCLA"), 42 U.S.C. Section 9601 et seq., and all future amendments to either of them, or as defined by the California Environmental Protection Agency or the California Integrated Waste Management Board, or either of them. Where there is a conflict in the definitions employed by two (2) or more agencies having jurisdiction over hazardous or solid waste, the term "hazardous waste" shall be construed to have the broader, more encompassing definition.

"Industrial refuse" means refuse in an amount exceeding an average of five hundred pounds (500 lbs.) per operating day produced by any person principally engaged in the business of processing or manufacturing agricultural, animal or other products or materials whose principal outlet for such products is wholesale rather than retail, and by any person engaged in the business of building construction or demolition.

"Inert wastes" means waste which includes, but is not limited to, rock, earth, construction rubble and asphalt chunks, and which contains insignificant amounts of decomposable wastes and no soluble pollutants, as approved by the Department.

"Institutional entity" means any facility operated by a governmental entity, including City, County, State and/or Federal buildings, public schools, colleges, and public recreational sites.

"Institutional location" means the premises or site of an institutional entity.

"Mulch" means organic material that must meet or exceed the physical contamination, maximum metal concentration, and pathogen density standards for land application specified in 14 CCR Section 17852(a)(24.5)(A)(1) through (3) and must be produced at one (1) of the following facilities:

(A) A permitted or authorized compostable material handling operation or facility as defined in 14 CCR Section 17852(a)(12), that is permitted or authorized under 14 CCR Division 7, other than a chipping and grinding operation or facility as defined in 14 CCR Section 17852(a)(10); or

(B) A permitted or authorized transfer/processing facility or transfer/processing operation as defined in 14 CCR Section 17402(a)(30) and (31) or that is permitted and authorized under 14 CCR Division 7; or

(C) A permitted solid waste landfill as defined in Public Resources Code Section 40195.1 that is permitted under 27 CCR Division 2.

"Multi-Family Residential Dwelling" means any residential building, boardinghouse, apartment building, condominium complex, stock cooperative complex consisting of two (2) or more independent dwelling units. "Multi-Family Residential Dwelling " does not include motel, hotel or automobile court.

"MWELO" refers to the Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (MWELO), Title 23 California Code of Regulations, Division 2, Chapter 2.7.

"Nondiscarded recyclable materials" means any recyclable materials, as defined in this Title, the owner sells or donates.

"Occupant" means the person in possession or control of the premises, including but not limited to persons such as tenant, lessee, licensee, manager, custodian or caretaker.

"Owner" means the person having dominion of or title to premises.

"Person" has the same definition provided in Public Resources Code section 40170.

"Premises" means a parcel of real property to the center of any alley adjacent thereto, located in the unincorporated area of the County, upon which is situated any dwelling house or other place of human habitation, including each unit of a multiple dwelling building, or of a mobile home park; or upon which is conducted any business, occupation, or activity which results in the production or accumulation of refuse.

"Prohibited Container Contaminants" means any of the following:

(A) Non-organic waste placed in a green container that is part of an organic waste collection service provided pursuant to Section 18984.1 or 18984.2;

(B) Organic wastes that are carpet, hazardous wood waste, or non-compostable paper placed in the green container that is part of an organic waste collection service provided pursuant to Section 18984.1 or 18984.2;

(C) Organic wastes placed in a gray container that pursuant to Section 18984.1 or 18984.2 were intended to be collected separately in the green container or blue container;

(D) Organic wastes placed in the blue container shall be considered prohibited container contaminants when those wastes were specifically identified in Title 14, California Code of Regulations, Division 7, Chapter 12 or this ordinance for collection in the green container for recovery. Paper products, printing and writing paper, wood and dry lumber may be considered acceptable and not considered prohibited container contaminants if they are placed in the blue container.

"Recyclable materials" includes materials which are reused or processed or are in the future reused or processed into a form suitable for reuse through reprocessing or remanufacture, consistent with the requirements of the California Integrated Waste Management Act. The term "recyclables or recyclable material" includes but is not limited to paper, newsprint, printed matter, pasteboard, paper containers, cardboard, glass, aluminum, tin cans, PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate), HDPE (High Density Polyethylene), and other plastics, beverage containers, compostable materials, used motor oil, automotive batteries, antifreeze, latex paint, brick and stone in reusable size and condition, and such other materials designated by County's AB 939 Coordinator, or designated as recyclables by the California Integrated Waste Management Board, or other agency with jurisdiction.

"Recycling" means the process of collecting, sorting, cleansing, treating and reconstituting materials that would otherwise become solid waste, and returning 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 market place. "Recycling" does not include transformation, as defined in Public Resources Code Section 40201.

"Recycling industry" means a properly zoned and licensed business that receives recyclable material for the purpose of converting or reprocessing said material into a new product.

"Refuse" means and includes all bulky waste, solid waste and recyclable materials that have not been segregated as defined in this Chapter.

"Residential unit" means any single-family dwelling, duplex, triplex, apartment house or condominium complex. For the purpose of this Title, each apartment, flat, or dwelling unit of a duplex, triplex, apartment house or condominium complex shall be considered as a separate residential unit.

"Rubbish" means nonputrescible waste, discarded or abandoned material, including but not limited to, tires, paper, cardboard, rugs, plastic and construction debris.

"SB 1383" means Senate Bill 1383 of 2016 (Chapter 395), which added Sections 39730.5, 39730.6, 39730.7, and 39730.8 to the Health and Safety Code, and added Chapter 13.1 (commencing with Section 42652) to Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, establishing methane emissions reduction targets in a Statewide effort to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants as amended, supplemented, superseded, and replaced from time to time.

"Segregated recyclable materials" means those recyclable materials which:

(A) Have been source separated by the person from whom they are being collected; or

(B) Are physically separated from other waste material following collection.

"Single-Family Dwelling" or "Single-Family Residential Dwelling" means , notwithstanding any contrary definition in the County code and for the purposes of this Title only, any detached or attached house or residence designed or used for occupancy by one (1) family, provided that collection service feasibly can be provided to such premises as an independent unit, and the owner or occupant of such independent unit is billed directly for the collection service.

"Solid waste" means Solid Waste as defined in California Public Resources Code Section 40191.

"Solid waste collector" means a person who collects or transports refuse under authority granted by the County including his/her agents and employees.

"State" means the state of California.

(Ord. No. 4506, § 2, 6-7-2022)