HomeMy WebLinkAbout68-09 - Ord. Amending Ord. 147-08 Residential Recycling CollectionORDTNANCENO. I"øü
AMEND ORDINANCE 147-08 relating to minimum levels of service for residential
recycling collection, removing Mason County Code, Chapter 6, Section 72, subsection
.045, and creating Chapter 13, Section 30.
IVHEREAS, to better provide services for residents by offering convenient collection of
mixed materials, and
WHEREAS, the most successful model for said service is now available
WHEREAS this ordinance enacts a level of service which covers all residents in Mason
County
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS FOR MASON COUNTY as follows;
The Mason County Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
Chapter 6.72.045 is now removed
Chapter 13.30 is now created to replace the former chapter
Minimum Level of Service for Residential Recycling Collection.
The minimum levels and types of services for the collection of residential recyclable
materials in the urban and rural areas of Mason Count¡ excluding the City of Shelton,
through a residential collection program is set forth in Exhibit "4", attached and
incorporated into the latest ordinance codified in this section and on file in the office of
the clerk of the board of county commissioners.
ADOPTED: Aùfaisf Ir 2düÊt
ATTEST:BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS
Mason County, .Washington
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APPROVED AS TO FORM:
G ATTORNEY
Mqson Counly Minimum Level of Service Ordinance 2009
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MINIMUM LEVELS OF SERVICE FOR RESIDENTIAL RECYCLING
COLLECTION
Section 1. Purpose and Intent
A. The purpose of this chapter is to define minimum levels of service for curbside
recyciing collection, which shall be provided to households serviced by the solid
waste collection company operating in the urban and rural areas of Mason
County.
B. It is the intent of the Commission to:
1. Establish residential recycling progr¿Ìms as an integral component of the
collection of solid waste, incorporating the State's goals to make "source
separation of waste a fundamental strategy" and to "make recycling at least as
affordable and convenient to the ratepayer as mixed waste disposal."
2. Increase diversion of recyclables from single-family and multi-family
residences, and condominiums in Mason County.
3. Make recycling easier and more convenient for residents through use of
efficient collection systems;
4. Retain low-cost strategies to encourage participation;
5. Encourage the private sector to develop and operate the recycling facilities
that are needed to process and market recyclables collected in Mason County
and its cities and towns
Section 2. Definitions
For the purposes of this Chapter, certain terms, phrases, and words, and their derivatives,
shall have specific meanings as defined in this Section. Terms, phrases, and words used
in the singular shall also apply to the plural. Terms, phrases, and words used in the plural
shall also apply to the singular.
A. "Automated recycling container or cart," means a wheeled, plastic receptacle
designated for the collection ofrecyclables and designed to be picked up and
emptied by mechanical means into the company's collection vehicle.
B. "Automated Collection" means a route serviced by a vehicle with mechanical
means to pick up garbage and recycling at the customer's residence.
C. "Cities" means the cities and towns within Mason County that have signed
interlocal agreements with the Board of County Commissioners to adopt and
implement the Mason County Solid llaste Management Plan.
Mason County Minimum Level of Service Ordinance 2009
"Commodity credit" means the amount of recycling revenue returned to
residential customers from the sale of recyclable materials collected through
curbside residential programs, as required by the V/ashington Utilities and
Transportation Commission.
"Mobile Home Park" means atactof land designed and maintained under a
single ownership of unified control where two or more spaces or pads are
provided solely for the placement of mobile or manufactured homes for
residential purposes with or without charge. The mobile home park is billed for
solid waste collection service as a whole and not by individual dwelling units.
"Multi-family residence" means any residential structure containing two or more
dwelling units with the units joined to one another and where the structure is
billed for solid waste collection service as a whole and not by individual dwelling
units. This may include, but is not limited to, apartments and condominiums.
"Recyclable materials" or "recyclables" means those solid wastes that a¡e
separated for recycling or reuse and thus diverted from landfill disposal.
"Recycling rate" means the percentage rate achieved by dividing the total tonnage
of recyclables by the sum of the total tonnage of waste disposed added to the total
tonnage of recyclables.
"Set-out counts" means the number of single-family residential customers that
set-out their recyclables containers every collection day; or a monthly average of
the set-outs as compared to total number of single-family customers.
"Single-family residence" means any residential dwelling receiving solid waste
and recycling collection service where the owner or tenant is billed for solid waste
collection service to the dwelling as an individual unit. This may include, but is
not limited to, duplexes, mobile homes within mobile home subdivisions, or
attached single-family structures such as townhouses, row houses, or triplexes.
"Single-stream collection" means the collection of designated recyclables
commingled in one covered, wheeled container, collected with automated or
semi-automated trucks.
"Solid waste collection company" means a privately owned solid waste and
recycling transportation company or "hauler", which provides collection services
in rural and urban designated areas of Mason County and is regulated by the
Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) under the
provisions of Chapter 81.77 RCW. The companies may be collectively referred to
as "certificated haulers" and means every person or his lessees, receivers, or
trustees, owning, controlling, operating or managing vehicles used in the business
of transporting solid waste for collection and/or disposal for compensation over
any public highway whether as a "common carrier" or as a "contract carrier."
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Møson County Minimum Level of Service Ordinance 2009
"Source separation" means the separation of different kinds of solid waste at the
place where the waste originates.
"Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission" or "'WIJTC" means the
State agency, which regulates privately owned solid waste collection companies
who provide collection service to the unincorporated areas under a G certificate.
Section 3.Minimum Levels of Curbside Recyclables Service for Single-Family
Residences
The minimum levels of service for single-family residential curbside collection in Mason
County shall include the following:
Single-stream collection service.
1. Collection companies shall offer every-other-week (EOW), single-stream
curbside collection of recyclables to all single-family residences that subscribe
to automated curbside solid waste service.
2. The collection companies shall provide the curbside recycling collection with
all combinations of automated solid waste cart service approved by the
Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) for their
respective certificated areas. Residents in automated service areas may request
curbside recycling service without having solid waste service at arute set by
the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission.
3. The collection services to the customers shall be on the same day as garbage
collection, unless the collection company can demonstrate to the County that
an alternative collection schedule is necessary because of geographic or
development limitations, such as road width or density, that require an
alternative truck system or collection schedule.
a. The hauler shall identify the location of the area affected; the alternative
collection schedule; and the reasons supporting the altemative.
b. The County shall consider whether the number of customers affected is
minimized; that program participation is not adversely affected; whether
there is substantial cost savings due to the alternative schedule; whether an
alternative collection schedule can result in higher levels of participation
and.recycling; and other information presented by the hauler.
Recycling collection containers.
1. Collection companies shall provide one (1) wheeled container of
approximately 96-gallons to each of their single-family customers signed up
for curbside collection. The containers shall be made of durable plastic
materials and manufactured using a maximum percentage of recycled
materials that meet specifications.
2. Collection companies shall provide a process for customers to request and
receive an alternative 64-gallon wheeled container for those customers who
feel they do not generate enough recyclables to filI the standard size container
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Mason County Minimum Level of Service Ordinance 2009
or who feel its size is too unwieldy for them to move or store. There will be
no change in monthly service fees for the differerrce sizes of recycling
containers.
3. All containers shall contain, or have attached, information about the proper
preparation of materials and the name of the certified hauler. The information
may be stamped into the container, on a waterproof sticker, a combination of
both, or some other alternative, which provides the customer with sufficient
permanent information to be able to contact the hauler. If stickers are chosen,
hauler shall provide replacements to all customers in Mason County when
normal aging and weather exposure has made them unreadable.
4. Replacement of the containers necessitated by normal use or by container
damage due to the haulers negligence shall be the responsibility of the hauler.
Replacement necessitated by container damage or loss due to the customer's
negligence shall be at the customer's expense.
C. Exceptions: Collection Alternatives for Restricted Access or Storage Situations,
or for Residents with Limited Mobility.
1. Criteria: Collection companies shall have a process in place to work
cooperatively with residents to tailor the single-stream recycling collection
service to meet the needs of residents in situations where:
a. Private driveways are inaccessible or incapable of withstanding the weight
of collection trucks and collection of recyclables or garbage cannot be
provided under the approved drive-in rate tariff for such situations;
b. Because of long, steep andlor winding driveways, a resident would have
difficulty in moving alarge recycling container, manually or by vehicle,
from their house to the public access road for collection;
c. A resident could not provide a storage place to keep recycling or garbage
containers at the end of the driveway close to the public access road;
d. Truck access or container size is in any way otherwise restricted due to
density and road width or where outside container storage is limited by
home ov/ner association covenants, or
e. Residents with special needs, such as physical infirmity or physical
limitations, with no able-bodied person living in the residence to set out
the container, and need reasonable accommodation.
2. Altematives: Collection companies shall offer alternatives that suit their
collection system or the particular customer's limitation. The alternatives may
include:
a. A drive-in tariff rate and/or a walk-in tariff rate for those situations where
a recycling truck can negotiate the long-driveway and where the driveway
can support the weight of the truck.
b. Any other solution mutually agreed to by the customer and the solid waste
collection company per WAC 480.7 0.366.
3. Monitoring+ Alternative Service Options: The Solid'Waste Collection
Company shall:
Mason County Mínimum Level of Set'vice Ordinance 2009
Maintain an updated list of customers who have requested an alternative
collection system, a description of the problem and of the chosen solution, or how
the problem was otherwise resolved, and will provide an annual list to Mason
County.
4. Nothing in this section shall either prevent or require collection companies
from developing a centralized drop-off site in neighborhoods, to be
maintained by the hauler, where such access problems are clustered or where
covenants prevent outside storage of containers.
D. Materials collected. The following recyclable materials, at a minimum, shall be
collected from single-family residences when properly prepared and meeting the
material description as specified.
1. Cardboard - comrgated cardboard and Kraft paper, including unbleached,
unwaxed paper with a ruffled ("corrugated") inner liner.
2. Metal cans - tin-coated steel cans and aluminum cans, excluding aerosol spray
cans.
3. Mixed-waste paper - clean and dry paper, including: glossy papers;' magazines; catalogues; phone books; cards; laser-printed white ledger paper;
windowed envelopes; paper with adhesive labels; paper bags; non-metallic
wrapping paper; packing paper; glossy advertising paper; chipboard, such as
cereal and shoeboxes; juice boxes; and milk-style cartons of the refrigerated
variety (non-refrigerated products contain aluminum linings).
4. Newspaper - printed groundwood newsprint, including glossy advertisements
and supplementalmagazines that are delivered with the newspaper.
5. Plastics: Bottles and jars #l-2: pnmanly polyethylene terephthalate (PET -
#1), such as soft drink, water, and salad dressing bottles; and high-density
polyethylene (HDPE - #2) such as milk, shampoo, or laundry detergent
bottles; including any bottle with a neck narrower than its base.
E. Optional materials. Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit a hauler from exceeding
the minimum requirements set forth above by collecting additional materials
including, but not limited to, food waste, yard waste, scrap metal, glass, or other
types of plastic, or other materials in the future.
F. Amending the list of required materials. Prior to proposing any amendments to
the list of materials to be collected, the County will negotiate and mutually agree
upon any proposed changes to the collected materials list with the haulers.
G. Recycling collection rates. Collection companies shall request the Washington
Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) to approve arute structure,
which includes the costs to implement the modified single-stream residential
curbside recycling program for all solid waste customers contained in Section 3 of
these minimum levels of service. The collection companies shall include the
following elements in the tarifß proposed to the WUTC:
Mason County Minimum Level of Service Ordinance 2009
1. A rate structure designed to provide customers with adequate options and
incentives to reduce their level of solid waste collection service as a result of
their participation in waste reduction and recycling programs.
2. The rates shall include the costs of the containers, stickers, collection
equipment and staffing.
3. Collection rates should include a separate delivery service fee equal to or less
than the replacement cost of the bins. This service replacement cost shall not
apply to the first-time delivery of the standard-sized container, or for the first-
time delivery of a smaller sized container when the smaller size is requested
by the customer.
4 Rates should include but are not limited to the haulers' costs for the mutually
agreed upon coordinated public outreach program, monitoring set-out
participation, and any other costs for the data reporting system required by the
County.
5. The haulers shall capitalize and amofüze the equipment costs as determined by
the WUTC.
Section 4 Customer Service Responsibility and Coordinated Public Outreach
Programs
Collection companies shall work with the County to develop and implement a
coordinated public outreach program.
A. Haulers' customer service responsibilities shall include, but not be limited to:
1. Notifications of new service availability, program sign-up, container delivery,
bin stickers, explanation of rate structure, schedule of collection days and
container replacement information.
2. Delivery of containers within ten days of a request for service with collection
service beginning within thirty-five days of a request.
3. A telephone hotline within their certificated area, which shall be:
a. Accessible to residents for the purpose of providing program information
and accepting service complaints, including after hours
b. Capable of responding to alarge volume of phone calls.
c. Clearly shown on the collection equipment, included in all mailings, and
on other publicity materials.
4. A process to resolve participation problems if access to the program is
restricted due to impassable road conditions, other than those occasionally
caused by severe weather situations. If the hauler deems the road conditions
are regularly impassable by collection vehicles, the hauler will work with
customers to determine a mutually agreed upon location for the collection of
recyclables, preferably from the nearest roadway which is accessible by the
hauler's collection vehicle.
Mqson Counly Minimum Level of Service Ordinance 2009
5. Notification to both new and ongoing solid waste customers of: different
solid waste collection service options including cart sizes, frequency, and
costs; recycling container provided to all solid waste customers. Hauler shall
notify solid waste customers of the above during phone calls, in billing inserts
and special mailings, on their website and during new service sign up
procedures. Hauler will ensure that website is updated and links to Mason
County specific information are working. The website shall also provide a
link to Mason CountyUtilities and Waste Management to provide residents
with additional waste disposal and reduction information.
B. At the initiation of a new collection program to allow for coordination of
promotional and educational efforts, haulers shall provide the County with
container delivery schedules and collection schedules showing where
implementation will begin by geographic areas. Implementation may be staged.
C. County responsibilities shall include the development of a countywide public
outreach program. The program should include:
1. Newsletters mailed to all households and handouts for self-haulers.
2. News releases and an advertising campaign.
3. Coordination of design of brochures and other materials with information on
the new program to be mailed to customers via hauler billings or to be
distributed with new bins by the hauler. Ongoing design ofbrochures and
other materials, to be included with hauler billings, that educates residents on
the curbside recycling program as well as various waste reduction methods
above and beyond curbside recycling.
4. An Internet website describing the haulers' services, how to sign-up for the
new program, how to resolve a service complaint, and information about
drop-off alternatives and other County programs.
5. An email address to allow residents with opportunity to request brochures or
other materials and to ask for additional information or help.
6. Traveling exhibits.
7. Incorporation of information about programs into youth and adult
environmental education programs.
8. Presentations to civic groups.
9. Staffing sufficient to provide information to customers with inquiries.
10. Automated telephone information line.
Section 5. Reporting Requirements for Residential Recyclables Collection
Collection companies shall provide the County with regular and accurate reports of data
on all residential recycling collection services as determined necessary by Mason County
for evaluating the effectiveness of recycling programs.
A. Single-family curbside recyclables collection pro gram.
Mason County Minimum Level of Service Ordinance 2009
1. At a minimum, annual reports will be provided by March 1 the next calendar year
and shall contain the flowing data, broken down by each month and by
certificated area.
o The number of single-family solid waste collection customers subscribing to each
level of garbage collection service.
. Aggregate tonnage of recyclable materials collected from single-family customers
per year.
o Recyclables collected per single-family custorner expressed as average pounds of
recyclables generated per customer.
. Aggregate tonnage of solid waste disposed of from single-family customers.
o Subscribing customer recycling rate participation.
o Log of unresolved customer complaints with summary of measures taken to
resolve any problems.
o Any percentage residue amounts or contamination problems reported by
processing facilities.
. Summaries of tons and value of single stream materials sold.
2. Annual reports shall include an analysis of the effects of changes in services and
areas served or problems that were encountered and any suggested changes to
increase efficiency and participation in the curbside program.
Section 6. Disposal limitations and Materials Marketing Preferences
A. Solid waste collection companies shall use processing facilities that have obtained
all applicable local, state, and federal permits. Whenever possible, local
businesses shall be given priority and should be used to receive recyclables for
purposes of processing, handling, or remanufacturing the materials into new
. products.
B. The haulers shall not under any circumstances dispose of marketable recyclables
by landfilling or incineration. Contaminated single stream materials may be
disposed with permission from County staff.
C. Recyclable materials shall be marketed for highest possible use, as noted in the'W.ashington State Beyond'Waste Plan, current solid waste issues, Chapter 2.
Section 7. County Notification of WUTC Tariff Filings
Whenever a collection company files a proposed tariff revision for solid waste and
recyclables collection rates with the'WUTC, the collection company shall simultaneously
provide the County with copies of the proposed tariff submitted to the WUTC and all
supporting materials. Any propriety information provided to the County shall be handled
as confidential to the extent allowed by law.
Mason County Minimum Level of Service Ordinctnce 2009
A. The County shall review the rates for compliance in relation to the Mason County
Solíd Waste Management Plan, and minimum service level ordinances.
B. After tariffs are approved by the'WTJTC, the collection company shall notify the
County of the approved rates and the effective dates.
Section S. Full Program lmplementation
If it is determined that the programs specified in this chapter are not fully implemented
after a reasonable interval of time to promulgate, implement and expand the program
countylvide, the Mason County Board of County Commissioners, or the Utilities and
Waste Management Director may notify the WUTC that the County will exercise its
authority under RCV/ 36.58.040 to contract for the collection of recyclables from
residences in Mason County.
A. Full implementation. The programs shall be considered fully implemented when
the following conditions are met:
1. The certificated hauler has received approval by the \iVUTC for its tariff
filings for recyclables; and,
2. The services will be available to all subscribing customers who desire service.
Section 9. Commodity Credit
Under RCW 8I.77.I85, the Utilities and Transportation Commission shall allow solid
waste collection companies collecting recyclable materials to retain up to thirty percent
(30%) of the revenue paid to the solid waste collection companies for the material. To
receive this benefit, the company must submit a plan to the commission that is certified
by the appropriate local govemment authority as being consistent with the local
government solid waste plan and that demonstrates how the revenues will be used to
increase recycling. Remaining revenue shall be passed to residential customers. The
County requires an annual work plan proposal from the hauler to justify the revenue share
to be reviewed and approved by the County staff. Review and acceptance of the proposal
will include City and County staff and the Solid Waste Advisory Committee.
Section 10. Severability
Ifany section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase ofthis chapter is, for any reason,
found to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction,
such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of the Chapter.
Mason County Minimum Level of Service Ordinance 2009 10