Woodland and Waste Management mutually agreed to pick up in a few months a plan that would introduce “smart truck” technology that would monitor — and charge — residential customers for overfilling their trash bins or trying to recycle the wrong things.
The Woodland City Council had been scheduled to receive a presentation on the program during a Tuesday night teleconference. However, Mayor Rich Lansburgh apparently interceded and was able to bring about a delay.
On Tuesday night Lansburgh said the presenter for Waste Management had become ill.
Paul Rosynsky, communications specialist for Northern California/Nevada of Waste Management, would only say there was a postponement.
“Waste Management is withdrawing its ‘Smart Truck’ presentation to the City Council tonight,” Rosynsky reported to The Democrat late Tuesday. “We will use this brief postponement to continue to work with the mayor and city staff to ensure customers are aware of how to recycle right and the importance of not overfilling their containers.”
“Smart Trucks” are equipped with cameras that photograph the contents of trash, recycling and organics bins as they are being emptied. Computers are able to monitor the information and determine if a violation has been made, or the bins — commonly called “toters” — are overfilled.
Whatever the exact reason, the result is that a proposed trial program that would have gone into effect on Nov. 1, has been delayed, although Lansburgh, the council and Waste Management, all seemingly agree the program will move forward at some point.
On Tuesday, Councilman Tom Stallard — who will serve as mayor in 2021 — wanted to know about deadlines and Lansburgh said he and City Manager Ken Hiatt met with Waste Management representatives and agreed to meet again before coming back to the council with a presentation and “action item.”
The program has already been undergoing a trial in Winters, where there are only several thousand customers. Woodland would be a much larger operation and has actually been under discussion since 2018.
Under the plan, Waste Management would use cameras on its collection trucks for both trash and recycling containers that record whether or not trash bins are overfilled or if the right materials are being recycled.
Those households found violating the restrictions would first be warned twice before being fined $15 per violation. Customers would receive a warning — and a photograph documenting the violation — via email as well as recommendations on how to avoid the problem in the future.
The reason for the change is that overfilled toters cumulatively create more trash, which costs Waste Management more to dispose of at the Yolo County landfill. And attempting to recycle containers, or plastics, which can’t be recycled also adds to disposal costs.
However, there would be a 60-day trial before the program was actually implemented. Because the Nov. 1 date has now been canceled, it’s possible nothing will happen until early in 2021.
Lansburgh became proactive in his efforts to find out what people were thinking about the proposal, sending out a notice via social media asking for public comment on the plan. He received more than 30 responses, not including emails.
As a result, Lansburgh later said he would be seeking a “stay” of the program, presumably before Waste Management had even made its presentation.
Waste Management operates under a contract with the city, to pick up trash, recyclables and green waste, along with street sweeping.
According to a report to the council by Rosie Ledesma, the city’s environmental resource analyst, the amount of trash and contamination collected in recycling containers has increased due to changes in the types of materials collected, cleanliness of the materials, and in some cases, “a lax mentality” on separating recyclables.
“This, paired with stricter guidelines in the recycling market due to market restrictions caused by China’s National Sword policy, has caused recycling sorting facilities to slow down sorting lines, re-run materials for re-sorting, or reject loads altogether in order to capture clean, marketable materials.”
By using the Smart Truck program the city and Waste Management could reduce contamination in curbside recycling and organic waste containers to help meet statewide landfill diversion targets and provide cleaner, marketable materials to be recycled.
Waste Management earlier reported that initial tests in Woodland show that roughly 16% of the recycling and organics carts serviced in Woodland each week contain contamination such as plastic bags, trash or other items that are not recyclable or compostable. In addition, 11% of all carts are routinely overfilled.
“Woodland residents are doing a good job recycling right, but it is critical that we all continue to keep our recycling and organic material streams clean to foster a sustainable future for the next generation,” said Kayla Rodriguez, public sector services manager, who was scheduled to make the council presentation. “We hope our educational campaign will result in not only continued clean streams and no surcharges, but also a litter-free city in the future.”
California’s Integrated Waste Management Act requires the state divert at least 50% of its waste from local landfills. Woodland has seen a decline in its waste diversion from 62% in 2012 to 53% in 2018.
“One contributing factor to the decline in our waste diversion is an increase in overall waste generation and residual waste (or contamination) in our recycling stream,” Ledesma stated. “Failing to meet the state-mandated 50% diversion goal could result in fines to the City of $10,000 per day.”
Additionally, California’s latest bill, SB 1383, requires jurisdictions to reduce organic waste disposal 50% by 2020 and 75% by 2025. The bill requires jurisdictions to adhere to strict contamination monitoring requirements and initiate enforcement for noncompliance.
Yolo County’s composting facility, which processes Woodland’s organic waste, allows less than 1% contamination or may reject a truckload.
The Smart Truck program reduces that risk, allows Woodland to fulfill some of SB 1383 requirements, and provides proper education for contamination prevention, Ledesma reported.