5.52 — 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.

(Ord. 977 § 1, 1992)

• (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, 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 premises, as well as 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, with respect to 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 heavy 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 in, without limitation, garbage, trash, debris and other discarded materials is a matter of substantial public concern in that improper control of such matters may create a public nuisance, air pollution, fire hazard, rat and insect infestation and other problems 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 such 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 such vehicles, and the reduction of spillage and litter in the public streets, by establishing accountability 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 an exclusive franchise for residential refuse collection services, and for commercial and industrial refuse collection services, subject to the limited continuation rights of certain existing commercial/industrial collectors which are providing solid waste handling services

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City of Palmdale, CA § 5.52.020

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§ 5.52.030

pursuant to permits previously authorized by the City and which are qualified, under Public Resources Code Sections 49520 and 49521, to continue such services for five years following notice given pursuant to said Section 49520. Such five-year period expires on March 31, 1997.

• (8) The City will best be able to achieve the state mandated goals of increased collection of organic waste if the City mandates compliance with state organic waste requirements.

• (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 section:

  • (1) Public Resources Code Section 40059 authorizes the City to determine (i) 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 (ii) whether the services are to be provided by means of nonexclusive franchise, 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 franchise, contract, license, permit, or otherwise, either with or without competitive bidding.

  • (2) Public Resources Code Section 49300 provides that the City may, pursuant to such 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.

• (5) This chapter shall be construed in a manner consistent with all applicable federal and state laws. If any federal or state agency shall hereafter exercise any paramount jurisdiction over any specific provisions of this chapter, such paramount jurisdiction shall preempt or preclude the exercise of like jurisdiction by the City. Modification of a federal or state law or regulation shall, to the extent applicable to the City, be deemed a part of this chapter as of the effective date of such modification.

• (Ord. 977 § 1, 1992; Ord. 1554 § 1, 2020)

• (A) For the purposes of this chapter, the words, terms and phrases as defined in this section shall be construed as hereinafter set forth, unless it is apparent from the context that a

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City of Palmdale, CA

BUSINESS LICENSES, TAXES AND REGULATIONS

§ 5.52.030

§ 5.52.030

different meaning is intended:

"City Manager" means the City Manager of the City of Palmdale ("City") 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 recyclable materials.

"Collector" means any person who has been awarded an exclusive franchise to provide residential or commercial/industrial solid waste or recyclable materials collection services in the City, or who, prior to the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter, has been issued a permit or nonexclusive franchise to operate as a commercial/industrial solid waste collector until the rights thereunder are terminated or revoked, or until such rights expire pursuant to the provisions of Section 49520 of the Public Resources Code.

"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 providing solid waste collection services to commercial/industrial premises, including construction or demolition sites.

"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, and any other commercial or industrial business facilities, structures, sites, or establishments in the City.

"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 (two-, three-, four-, six- or eight-yard containers) or 10-, 15-, 25-, 30- or 40-yard roll-off boxes.

ion 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 (two-, three-, four-, six- or eight-yard containers) or 10-, 15-, 25-, 30- or 40-yard roll-off boxes.

"Construction or demolition waste" means any solid waste or debris generated as the result of construction or demolition, 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.

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

"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.

"Hazardous waste" means and includes waste defined as hazardous by Public Resources Code Section 40141, namely, a waste or combination of wastes, which because of its

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City of Palmdale, CA § 5.52.030

PALMDALE CODE

§ 5.52.030

quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics, may do either of the following: (i) cause or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible, illness; (ii) 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 such other waste as may hereafter from time to time be designated as such 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; 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 said collector's employees, provided such 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 the ordinance codified in this chapter or may thereafter exist by virtue of the annexation of territory to or detachment of territory from the limits of the City as they exist on the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter.

"Manure" means the waste droppings from any animal not disposed of through sewers.

"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, untreated lumber, untreated wood, paper products, printing and writing paper, manure, biosolids, digestate, and sludges.

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

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

"Public agency" means any governmental agency or department thereof, whether federal, state, or local.

"Recyclable material" means materials source-separated by the generator for the purpose of sorting, processing and being returned to the economic mainstream for the altered form for manufacture of new, reused or reconstituted products through available processes and markets. A listing of materials considered as recyclable material shall be provided by the collector and may be revised from time to time by agreement of the City and the collector.

"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 recyclable materials to curbside for collection by the collector, of a container which is provided to commercial/industrial premises for use by the collector in collecting and moving recyclable materials.

"Residential collector" means the collector which collects solid waste and recyclable

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City of Palmdale, CA

BUSINESS LICENSES, TAXES AND REGULATIONS

§ 5.52.030

§ 5.52.030

materials from residential premises under an exclusive contract or franchise.

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

"Resource recovery" means any use of refuse or 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.

"Solid waste" means and includes all discarded putrescible and nonputrescible solid, semisolid, and liquid wastes, including garbage, trash, refuse, rubbish, construction and demolition debris, and any other discarded solid, semisolid, and liquid waste permitted to be disposed of at a Class III landfill and which are included within the definition of "Nonhazardous Solid Waste" set forth in 27 California Code of Regulations Section 20220(a).

In addition, for purposes of Article IX of this chapter, solid waste does not include source separated recyclable material, source separated organic waste, construction and demolition debris, manure and/or salvageable materials if such materials have been source separated by the generator for the purpose of recycling, composting, processing or reuse.

"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, commercial, institutional, or industrial users or customers.

"Special collection services" means the removal by a collector of 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.

"Standard commercial/industrial solid waste container" means a state-of-the-art bin or solid waste container used in connection with commercial/industrial premises with a two-, three, four-, 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 shall include 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 roll-away container with

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City of Palmdale, CA

PALMDALE CODE

§ 5.52.030

§ 5.52.030

a locking lid, made of metal, hard rubber or plastic and having an approximate capacity of 90 gallons, and of a design, color and durability as approved by the City Manager.

• (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 herein.

• (Ord. 977 § 1, 1992; Ord. 1554 § 2, 2020; Ord. 1587 §§ 2, 3, 2022)

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City of Palmdale, CA

BUSINESS LICENSES, TAXES AND REGULATIONS

§ 5.52.040

§ 5.52.090