8.48 — SOLID WASTE HANDLING AND RECYCLING SERVICES

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Solid Waste Handling and Recycling Services Ordinance" of the City.

(Prior code § 14-1; Ord. 1450 § 1, 1996; Ord. 21-1722 § 2)

• A. The City Council finds and determines as follows:

  1. In order to meet the requirements of the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 (Public Resources Code Section 40000, et seq.), including source reduction of the solid waste stream, diversion of solid waste from landfills and conservation of natural resources, it is necessary to regulate the collection of solid waste from commercial/industrial and residential premises, and to encourage recycling of solid waste materials.

  2. The mandates of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Southern California Air Quality Management District, and other regulatory agencies, concerning air pollution and traffic congestion management, require the regulation and, where possible, reduction in the number, of waste collection vehicles and vehicle trips which cause the discharge of air contaminants and create air pollution.

  3. A reduction in the number of waste collection vehicles using the City streets daily will reduce traffic hazards and congestion and promote safety.

  4. The storage, accumulation, collection and disposal of solid waste, including without limitation garbage, trash, debris and other discarded materials is a matter of substantial public concern in that improper control of these matters may create a public nuisance, air pollution, fire hazard, rat and insect infestation and other problems adversely affecting the public health, safety and welfare.

  5. Regulation of the collection of garbage, refuse and other discarded materials from all residential, commercial and industrial properties within the City will provide the most orderly and efficient solution to these problems and will promote the public health, safety and welfare.

  6. The regulation of solid waste handling services in the City will also promote the public health, safety and welfare by requiring the use of newer and safer vehicles, the regular maintenance of those vehicles, and the reduction of spillage and litter on the public streets, by establishing responsibility for the cleaning of refuse bins and containers, and by providing for accountability to the public.

  7. The public health, safety and welfare will best be served by providing for one or more exclusive contracts for residential refuse collection services, and for commercial and industrial refuse collection services, subject to the limited rights of State facilities to

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City of Norwalk, CA § 8.48.020

NORWALK CODE

§ 8.48.020

use a collector other than the collector with an exclusive contract.

• B. This chapter is enacted by the City Council pursuant to the following statutory authorization and in order to accomplish the objectives set forth in this chapter:

1. Public Resources Code Section 40059 authorizes the City to determine: (a) all aspects of solid waste handling which are of local concern, including, but not limited to, frequency of collection, means of collection and transportation, level of services, charges and fees, and nature, location and extent of providing solid waste handling services; and (b) whether the services are to be provided by means of nonexclusive contract, contract, license, permit, or otherwise, either with or without competitive bidding, or if, in the opinion of its governing body, the public health, safety and wellbeing so require, by partially exclusive or wholly exclusive contract, contract, license, permit, or otherwise, either with or without competitive bidding.

   2. Public Resources Code Section 49300 provides that the City may, pursuant to terms and conditions as may be prescribed by its legislative body, contract for the collection or disposal, or both, of garbage, waste, refuse, offal, trimmings, or other refuse matter.

   3. Public Resources Code Section 49501 provides that the City may take action, whether by franchise, contract, license, permit, or otherwise, whereby the City itself, or one or more other local agencies or solid waste enterprises is authorized or permitted to have the exclusive right to provide solid waste handling services of any class or type within all or any part of the territory of the City.

   4. It is the intent of this chapter to set forth terms and conditions pursuant to which authorization may be granted by the City Council to provide solid waste handling services, and to promote the public health, welfare and safety of the community by establishing reasonable regulations relating to the storage, accumulation, collection and disposal of garbage, trash, rubbish, debris and other discarded matter, goods and material.

(Prior code § 14-2.1; Ord. 1450 § 1, 1996; Ord. 21-1722 § 2)

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City of Norwalk, CA

HEALTH AND SAFETY

§ 8.48.030

§ 8.48.030

Article II Definitions

• A. For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply:

"Applicant" means any person who applies to the City for the applicable permits to undertake any covered project.

"Building Official" means the chief building official of the City.

"Bulky goods" means oversized or overweight household articles placed curbside by a residential householder or owner, which oversized or overweight household articles have weights, volumes or dimensions which cannot be accommodated by solid waste containers for residential premises, such as stoves, refrigerators, water heaters, washing machines, furniture, sofas, mattresses, box springs and large rugs.

"City Manager" means the City Manager of the City of Norwalk or the City Manager's designee.

"Collection" means the operation of gathering together within the City, and transporting by means of a motor vehicle to the point of disposal or processing, any solid waste or recyclables.

"Collector" means any person: (a) who has been awarded an exclusive contract to provide residential or commercial/industrial solid waste or recyclables collection services in the City; or (b) who has been issued a permit or nonexclusive contract to provide solid waste handling services to State facilities.

"Commercial/industrial business owner" means any person, firm, corporation or other enterprise or organization holding or occupying, alone or with others, commercial/ industrial premises, whether or not it is the holder of the title or the owner of record of the commercial/industrial premises.

"Commercial/industrial collector" means a collector which collects solid waste and recyclables from commercial/industrial premises.

"Commercial/industrial premises" means all occupied real property in the City, except property occupied by Federal, State or local governmental agencies which do not consent to their inclusion, and except residential premises as defined in this section, and shall include, without limitation, wholesale and retail establishments, restaurants and other food establishments, bars, stores, shops, offices, industrial establishments, manufacturing establishments, service stations, repair, research and development establishments, professional, services, sports or recreational facilities, construction and demolition sites, a multiple dwelling containing five or more dwelling units, and any other commercial or industrial business facilities, structures, sites or establishments in the City.

"Construction" means the building of any facility or structure or any portion thereof including any tenant improvements to an existing facility or structure.

"Construction or demolition waste" ("C&D") means any solid waste, materials or debris used, discarded or generated as the result of construction, renovation, remodeling, repair or demolition operations, including without limitation, discarded packaging or containers and waste construction materials, whether brought on site for fabrication or used in construction or resulting from demolition, excluding liquid waste and hazardous waste.

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City of Norwalk, CA § 8.48.030

NORWALK CODE

§ 8.48.030

"Construction site or demolition site" means any real property in the City in, on or from which a building or structure is being fabricated, assembled, erected or demolished, and which produces construction or demolition solid waste which must be removed from the property, and requires the use of commercial refuse containers.

"Conversion rate" means the rate set forth in the standardized conversion rate table approved by the City pursuant to this article for use in estimating the volume or weight of materials identified in a waste management plan.

"Covered project" is any new construction, or addition, alteration, demolition, or renovation project within the City, including where the addition or alteration increases the building's conditioned area, volume, or size, and all projects subject to California Green Building Standards Code Sections 4.408.1 and 5.408.1. Covered project also includes all City-sponsored construction, demolition and renovation projects whose total costs are equal to or greater than $25,000. Covered projects are also defined as any stand-alone roofing project for which tear-off of the existing roof is required.

"Deconstruction" means to disassemble any facility, structure, or building, whether in whole or in part, whether interior or exterior, piece by piece in order to salvage the parts.

"Demolition" means the decimating, razing, ruining, tearing down or wrecking of any facility, structure, pavement or building, whether in whole or in part, whether interior or exterior.

"Disposal" means the complete operation of treating and disposing of solid waste after collection.

"Diversion requirement" means the diversion of at least 50% of the total construction and demolition debris generated by a project via reuse or recycling, unless the applicant has been granted an exemption pursuant to Section 8.48.640, in which case the diversion requirement shall be the maximum feasible diversion rate established by the WMP Compliance Official for the project.

"Divert" means to use material for any purpose other than disposal in a landfill or transformation facility.

"Exclusive solid waste handling services" means any action by the City Council, whether by franchise, contract, license, permit, or otherwise, whereby the City itself, or one or more other local agencies or solid waste enterprises, has the exclusive right to provide solid waste handling services of any class or type within all or any part of the territory of the City.

"Green waste" or "yard waste" means leaves, grass clippings, brush, branches and other forms of organic materials generated from landscapes or gardens, separated from other solid waste. "Green waste" or "yard waste" does not include stumps or branches exceeding four inches in diameter or four feet in length.

"Hazardous waste" means and includes waste defined as hazardous by Public Resources Code Section 40141 as it now exists or may subsequently be amended; namely, a waste or combination of wastes, which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics, may do either of the following: (a) cause or significantly contribute to, an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible, illness; (b) pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or environment when improperly treated, stored, transported or disposed of or otherwise managed. "Hazardous waste" includes extremely hazardous waste and acutely hazardous waste, and any other waste as may from time to time be designated as

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City of Norwalk, CA

HEALTH AND SAFETY

§ 8.48.030

§ 8.48.030

hazardous by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or other agency of the United States Government, or by the California Legislature or any agency of the State of California empowered by law to classify or designate waste as hazardous, extremely hazardous or acutely hazardous.

"Holiday" means: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

"Holiday" also means any other day designated as such in a contract between a collector and the labor union serving as the exclusive representative of that collector's employees; provided, the holiday is established or recognized by resolution of the City Council.

"In the City" or "within the City" means within the limits of the City as such limits exist on the effective date of this chapter or may thereafter exist by virtue of the annexation of territory to or detachment of territory from the limits of the City.

"Manure" means the waste droppings from any animal.

"Noncovered project" means any construction, demolition, or renovation project within the City that is not a covered project.

"Person" means any individual, association, firm, partnership, corporation, or any other group or combination acting as a unit.

"Processing" means the reduction, separation, recovery and conversion of solid waste.

"Public agency" means any governmental agency or department, whether Federal, State or local.

"Recyclables" means the following materials generated on or emanating from residential or commercial/industrial premises and no longer useful or wanted thereon: glass bottles and jars—any food or beverage container (excluding ceramics and chemical containers); aluminum—cans, foil, pie tins and similar items (excluding dirt or organic material); steel or bimetal cans not to exceed one gallon size; PET—plastic soda bottles or other bottles with the designated "PET" symbol; HDPE—plastic milk and water bottles with the designated "HDPE" symbol (excluding detergent or bleach bottles and other plastic products); newspaper; cardboard—separated and not having waxed surfaces; computer printout (excluding carbon); white ledger— white bondpaper, office paper, white envelopes (excluding coated paper); and such additional materials as the City Council may designate from time to time.

"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 marketplace. "Recycling" does not include transformation as defined in Public Resources Code Section 40201.

"Recycling container" means a container which is provided to residential premises for use in collecting and moving recyclables to curbside for collection by the collector, or a container which is provided to commercial/industrial premises for use by the collector in collecting and moving recyclables.

"Renovation" means any change, addition, or modification to an existing structure.

"Residential collector" means a collector which collects solid waste and recyclables from residential premises.

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City of Norwalk, CA § 8.48.030

NORWALK CODE

§ 8.48.030

"Residential householder" means any person or persons holding or occupying residential premises in the City, whether or not the owner of the residential premises.

"Residential owner" means the owner of any residential premises within the City.

"Residential premises" means any residential dwelling unit within the City, including, without limitation, multiple unit residential complexes, such as rental housing projects, condominiums, apartment houses, mixed condominiums and rental housing, and mobilehome parks, except any multiple dwelling containing five or more dwelling units.

"Resource recovery" means any use of solid waste collected pursuant to this chapter, except for landfill disposal or transfer for landfill disposal. "Resource recovery" includes, but is not limited to, transformation, composting and multimaterial recycling.

"Reuse" means further or repeated use of construction or demolition debris.

"Salvage" means the controlled removal of construction or demolition debris from a permitted building or demolition site for the purpose of recycling, reuse, or storage for later recycling or reuse.

"Self-hauler" means a person, single-family resident, or company who hauls their own organics, recyclables and waste to a facility operation, activity, or property that processes or recovers the waste, rather than using a collection service provided by another hauler. Self-hauler also includes a person who back-hauls waste, or as otherwise defined in 14 CCR Section 18982(a)(66). Back-haul means generating and transporting organic waste to a destination owned and operated by the generator using the generator's own employees and equipment, or as otherwise defined in 14 CCR Section 18982(a)(66)(A).

To qualify, the person, single-family resident or company must haul only waste they generated themselves. They must also separate generated organic waste from non-organic waste on site and haul the organic waste to a solid waste facility operation, activity, or property that processes or recovers the waste. Businesses that self-haul their organic waste must keep a record of the amount of organic waste delivered to each solid waste facility or activity that recovers it.

"Solid waste" means all putrescible and nonputrescible solid and semisolid wastes, generated in or upon, related to the occupancy of, remaining in or emanating from residential premises or commercial/industrial premises, including garbage, trash, refuse, paper, rubbish, ashes, industrial wastes, demolition and construction wastes, discarded home and industrial appliances, manure, vegetable or animal solid or semisolid wastes, and other solid and semisolid wastes, as defined in Public Resources Code Section 49503, excluding liquid wastes and abandoned vehicles; provided, however, that "solid waste" shall not include hazardous waste.

"Solid waste container" means any vessel, tank, receptacle, box or bin permitted to be used for the purpose of holding solid waste for collection.

"Solid waste enterprise" means any individual, partnership, joint venture, unincorporated private organization or private corporation regularly engaged in the business of providing solid waste handling services.

"Solid waste handling services" means the collection, transportation, storage, transfer, or processing of solid wastes for residential or commercial/industrial users or customers.

"Standard commercial/industrial solid waste container" means a bin or solid waste container used in connection with commercial/industrial premises with a two, three, four,

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City of Norwalk, CA

HEALTH AND SAFETY

§ 8.48.030

§ 8.48.030

six or eight cubic yard capacity, designed for mechanical pick-up by collection vehicles and equipped with a lid, or where appropriate for the commercial/industrial premises being served, a 15, 25, 30, 40 or 50 cubic yard roll-off box or compactor, and includes other types of containers suitable for the storage and collection of commercial/industrial solid waste if approved in writing by the City Manager.

"Standard residential solid waste container" means a standardized container, made of metal, hard rubber or plastic of a design, color and durability as approved by the City Manager.

"Waste management plan" means a completed WMP form, approved by the City for the purpose of compliance with this chapter, submitted by the applicant for any covered project.

"WMP Compliance Official" means the Recycling Coordinator or staff person(s) authorized and responsible for implementing this chapter.

• B. Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to preclude the City and any solid waste enterprise from incorporating into any agreement for exclusive solid waste handling, services definitions relating to their respective contractual rights and obligations which may differ from or augment those set forth in this section.

(Prior code § 14-3.1; Ord. 1450 § 1, 1996; Ord. 1483 § 1, 1998; Ord. 1544 § 1, 2004; Ord. 05-1556 § 1; Ord. 16-1687 § 1; Ord. 21-1722 § 2; Ord. 25-1759, 9/16/2025)

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City of Norwalk, CA

HEALTH AND SAFETY

§ 8.48.040

§ 8.48.050