California Senate Bill 1383, which aims to reduce food waste and greenhouse gas emissions, took effect on January 1, 2022. The bill requires all residents and businesses in the state separate their organic and compostable waste, as well as grocery stores and other foods. Vendors donate all edible food waste to a food bank or food rescue organization. California jurisdictions were required to have, at a minimum, a plan to divert residential food waste from landfills by the start of the new year.
However, in San Diego, such plans have been suspended due to supply chain shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a labor strike by sanitation workers. ABC10 News reported there are delays in shipping 240,000 green recycling bins, 285,000 kitchen collection caddies, and 43 new trucks. These delays have delayed the start of the City’s recycling services for residential customers and city officials have revealed that the City of San Diego’s composting facilities are not yet ready to handle mixed yard waste and yard waste. food according to the original plan.
The second part of the bill addresses both food waste and food insecurity. In California, 11.2 billion pounds of food are sent to landfills each year. The new legislation requires grocery stores, supermarkets, and wholesalers to donate their surplus edible food waste to food banks like Feeding San Diego. In 2024, this requirement will expand to businesses including restaurants, hotels, and healthcare facilities.
Rachel Wagoner, director of CalRecycle, the agency charged with ensuring local jurisdictions comply with the new regulations, spoke about the bill with the San Francisco Chronicle.
“This is the biggest change in trash since we started recycling in the 1980s,” Wagoner said. “Reducing organic products in landfills by 75% would be equivalent to taking 1.7 million gasoline-powered cars off the road for a year.”
For UC San Diego, the new bill will have few direct implications. The University of California Office of the President has already committed all of its campuses to achieving zero waste, which they have defined as a 90 percent diversion of waste from landfills.
As part of this zero waste commitment, the University of California campuses are currently working to phase out single-use plastics. UCSD is also moving away from plastic bags in stores and restaurants. The plan is to eliminate all single-use plastic cutlery by summer 2021 and in 2023, single-use beverage bottles will be phased out on all UC campuses.
To reduce food waste, UCSD is currently working to implement an organic recycling program for the fall quarter of 2021. The new anaerobic digestion will collect food scraps, paper towels and napkins, and eventually bedding from laboratory animals. research and use bacteria to break them down. organic materials in the absence of oxygen. Through this program, UCSD will divert more than 960 pounds of food waste per week, which is equivalent to 25 tons per year.
In response to UCSD Guardian inquiry regarding changes to campus policy regarding Senate Bill 1383, Leslie Sepuka, Associate Director of University Communications, provided the following statement.
“UC San Diego has incorporated elements of Senate Bill 1383 and other legislation related to food and organic waste into our operations,” said Sepuka. “As a specific example, North Torrey Pines Living and Learning Neighborhood has large waste collection rooms that can accommodate new food waste containers. Additionally, retail restaurants on the east side of the neighborhood are working with the university to minimize garbage and food waste. “
Sepuka also shared that new food waste containers will be added to the Price Center as part of a pilot study on food waste.
The official deadline for California cities to have fully operational composting facilities is 2024, when fines will begin to apply for cities that do not comply with the regulations. For more information on Senate Bill 1383 and composting, visit CalRecycle. You can find a guide to separating your garbage here.
Art by Tony Anguiano for UCSD Guardian