Local Enforcement Agency Correspondence

Disposal Reporting System

Date: February 14, 2003

To: All Local Enforcement Agencies

This all LEA e-mail was sent on behalf of the Waste Analysis and the LEA Support Services Branches of the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB).

As you may know, the CIWMB has many programs that touch all aspects of the solid waste management system. From time to time we will update you via the all LEA email system on program updates that may relate to your work. This update provides information regarding the CIWMB’s Diversion Planning and Local Assistance Division (DPLA) activities at solid waste facilities. Attached (Word 97/2000, 21 KB or Adobe Acrobat PDF, 9 KB) is background information on the disposal reporting system for your reference.

Disposal Reporting System (DRS) Regulations Revisions

DPLA staff is currently revising The DRS regulations to improve accuracy of the system based on the Board's report to the Legislature on improving diversion rate measurement accuracy. Comments on the first informal draft revisions were due in January 2003. For more information during the regulations development process, please check the Board’s regulations web site.

DRS Survey Week Site Visits at Disposal Facilities

In the late 1990's the Board received many complaints from jurisdictions that disposal facility operators were not following regulations that require operators to ask waste origin questions during survey weeks. After a hearing on the disposal reporting system in late 1999, the Board directed DPLA staff to start field visits to determine whether disposal facility operators are asking where waste is from. Public Resources Code section 41821.5 requires all solid waste haulers, transfer station operators, disposal facility operators, and counties to gather information on the jurisdiction of origin of solid waste disposed at landfills.

Since June 2000, Board DPLA staff has conducted random unannounced site visits at landfills, transfer stations, and material recovery facilities during survey weeks. The purpose is to observe the survey practices for residential self-haul vehicles at solid waste facilities, anticipating the important question: “Where is your waste from?” During the first survey week only 58 percent of facilities asked for origin information. During the most recent survey week, 80 percent of facilities asked for origin information.

At each facility visited, a Board DPLA staff driver in a truck with a load of waste, arrives at the gatehouse representing himself or herself as a local residential self-hauler. The Board staff record what waste origin questions, if any, the gate attendant asks.

Just before the end of each site visit, the Board DPLA staff gives the gatehouse attendant a letter on the survey observations. If the waste origin questions are asked, the letter thanks them. If no waste origin questions are asked, the Board DPLA staff asks to talk with the site manager and leaves a letter saying that no questions were asked, and the Board will request an explanation of the facility’s procedures for obtaining the waste origin information.

A number of facilities that did not ask waste origin questions have been revisited later in a survey week or in a subsequent survey week. The results of revisits have indicated marked improvement (though not 100 percent) in complying with the waste origin survey requirements.

From these facility site visits we have learned that:

• Facility operators, overall, want to comply with waste origin survey requirements and are willing to make changes in their procedures to meet the requirements.
• Some gate attendants did not know of the waste origin requirement or what the waste origin survey is used for.
• Most gate attendants that asked waste origin questions generally ask where the hauler is from, rather than where the waste is from. Since a hauler may work in several jurisdictions, asking the question about the origin of the waste or load is more likely to get an accurate waste origin. After the start of the site visits, more gate attendants are asking where the waste or load is from.
• More facility operators are now conducting daily surveys for every load of waste, rather than conducting the surveys one week per quarter.

The practice of random unannounced site visits during survey week has proved to be successful in reminding disposal facility operators the importance of asking waste origin questions. The waste origin questions asked help the facilities report accurate disposal tons.

If you have any questions regarding the DRS please contact Sherrie Sala-Moore at (916) 341-6204.

Thank you,
Melissa Hoover-Hartwick
LEA Support Services
(916) 341-6813

Attachment: Word 97/2000, 21 KB or Adobe Acrobat PDF, 9 KB

Thank you,
Melissa Hoover-Hartwick
LEA Support Services
(916) 341-6813

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