CECC-4.4-SA1Increase enforcement presence to ensure compliance with recently modified City Recycling Ordinance and increase waste diversion

In FY25, the Environmental Services Department (ESD) restarted its enforcement-based approach for businesses and residents who have not complied with the City Recycling Ordinance. CCOs are actively performing site visits at businesses whose hauler has reported are not recycling and/or diverting organic waste and responding to complaint submitted reports for properties without recycling and organic services. CCOs provide instructions to the responsible person on how to bring their business into compliance, and issue notices and citations when the business fails to meet established comply by dates.

ESD has also been completing a comprehensive enforcement strategy for its residential customers and in CY2025 will begin container lid flips for Route Review compliance under SB 1383. During route review checks CCOs will check for correct separation of materials inside containers, leaving informational “Oops” tags when contamination is found, and issue a Notice of Violation when major contamination or hazardous materials are observed in a resident’s container. ESD will continue to provide education and technical assistance as the first step in bringing any site into compliance.