The Mendocino County (California) Board of Supervisors is considering a recycling plan that would force construction and demolition companies doing business in the unincorporated parts of the county to recycle a at least half of all recyclable materials.
The Construction and Demolition Recycling and Reuse Ordinance, first brought before the Board in December 2005 and subsequently sent out for review by interested parties, seeks, in part, to help Mendocino County reach a state mandated 50 percent diversion rate for solid waste.
The Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 required that all city and county jurisdictions in the state reach that level by the year 2000, however the law was amended to allow more time for jurisdictions to meet the requirement, and Mendocino County received extensions based on a good-faith effort, Department of Transportation's Deputy Director Paul Cayler said.
Currently, Mendocino County has a 48 percent rate, which has risen substantially since being measured at 36 percent in 2003 due to expansion of recycling programs. California Integrated Waste Management Board staff, however, recommended that a construction and demolition ordinance be prepared to finally meet the goal.
"The 50 percent has been the promise land and we're really close to getting there," Cayler said.
While he could not estimate exactly how great a difference the ordinance would make, Cayler said he believed the program would be successful at bringing the unincorporated area to a recycling rate of 50 percent or more. The ordinance, would also act as a safeguard to protect the current rate from decreasing.
"All the work citizens have done with curbside recycling and composition, in one year, could be wasted because of one large demolition project not properly handled or recycled," Cayler said, setting up a scenario in which the Masonite Property is demolished without any recycling.
The ordinance will apply only to demolition projects greater than or equal to 1,000 square feet in size, and construction projects at or above 5,000 square feet -- numbers, Cayler said, that were based on a survey of actual projects done in the county over a six month time period.
It mandates that for demolition projects, 50 percent of tonnage including concrete and asphalt, and 15 percent not including concrete and asphalt be recycled. In reroofing projects, 50 percent of wood, slate and stone, and 50 percent of asphalt shingles -- if a recycling option is available -- be recycled. For construction and remolding, 50 percent of all recyclable materials must be properly handled.
Construction and demolition companies will be required to submit a Recycling and Reuse Plan -- a one-page document detailing the method to be used for recycling and for disposal of non-recyclable materials -- before a demolition or construction permit is issued. Also, a 35-cent deposit per square foot will be collected by the county. It will be returned in full if, within 60 days following completion of the project, the permitee submits evidence such as weight tags or receipts from recycling companies, contractors and disposal sites showing the minimum recycling requirement was met. If it was not, only a portion of the deposit will be returned.
Those not in compliance might also be subject to fees and public nuisance charges.
Cayler said implementing the ordinance would not be easy because of the new regulations the construction and demolition communities would have to comply with, but hoped that the one-page form would be simple enough.
"If you make the process too difficult, people won't comply, and that's not what we want," Cayler said. "We want people to do this because its the right thing to do."
He added, "There are a lot of contractors that are already very much into recycling and reuse." Ukiah Daily Journal