Request for Proposals (RFP) for Senate Bill 1383 (SB 1383) Inspections Support for Edible Food Recovery and Outreach to Commercial and Residential Generators

Project Summary

The Sustainability Department is looking for a qualified firm or firms to support the Department with inspections of and outreach to residents and businesses to assess compliance with state and local ordinances pertaining to waste, recycling, and compost service subscription levels and edible food recovery requirements.

The Sustainability Department (previously the Office of Sustainability) strives to improve the sustainability of the County’s operations and the greater community through work in areas of renewable energy and energy efficiency; resource conservation; and greenhouse gas emission reductions. The Sustainability Department is the department responsible for overseeing SB 1383 implementation.

Senate Bill 1383 (“SB 1383”)

In September 2016, SB 1383 (Lara, Chapter 395, Statutes of 2016) established statewide methane emissions reduction targets to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants in various sectors of California’s economy. It includes statewide goals to reduce the disposal of organic waste and recover edible food for human consumption. To accomplish these statewide goals, the SB 1383 regulations, which were approved on November 3, 2020, include prescriptive requirements for jurisdictions related to recycling and organics collection, edible food recovery activities, and inspection and enforcement. More information regarding SB 1383 can be found online at www.calrecycle.ca.gov/organics/slcp/ .

SB 1383 – Edible Food Recovery

To reduce the amount of landfilled organic material, the State included edible food recovery requirements in the SB 1383 regulations requiring jurisdictions to:

1. Establish local ordinances mandating that large, food-generating businesses and organizations arrange the recovery of the maximum amount of their edible food that would otherwise go to landfills. This includes holding a contract with a food recovery organization, such as a food bank or food pantry, to pick up or receive surplus edible food; keeping records of food recovered; and report on compliance efforts.
2. Inspect regulated businesses for compliance.
3. Build edible food recovery capacity throughout the jurisdiction.

In October 2021, the County adopted Ordinance No. 04857 “Establishing an Edible Food Recovery Program” (Attachment B) to enforce the SB 1383 edible food recovery requirements locally. The 23 individual jurisdictions (20 cities, the County, West Bay Sanitary District, El Granada Community Services District, Montara Water and Sanitary District) in the county decided to coordinate on one countywide edible food recovery program administered by the County. Per an MOU between each jurisdiction in the county and the County of San Mateo Sustainability Department, the Sustainability Department oversees compliance with the ordinance requirements and conducts all inspections of commercial edible food generators.

There are approximately 650 Tier 1 and Tier 2 generators in the county. The County has committed to conducting initial inspections of 5% of Tier 1 and Tier 2 generators annually, with at least one inspection per jurisdiction annually. Noncompliance observed during an initial inspection will result in at least one follow-up inspection, and a third inspection for those generators who are still noncompliant after the second inspection. Given that each generator inspected will receive between one and three inspections, the County anticipates conducting between 32 and 96 total inspections annually. While the County will administer Notices of Violation for violations with the Edible Food Recovery Program requirements, each jurisdiction is responsible for issuing administrative penalties to noncompliant generators within their jurisdiction.

SB 1383 – Organics Collection

In October 2021, the County adopted Ordinance No. 4856 amending Chapter 4.04 “Solid Waste Collection, Transport, Storage, and Disposal” to include the jurisdiction organics collection requirements mandated in SB 1383. The updated Ordinance includes requirements to perform annual compliance reviews, route reviews, inspections, and enforcement in the unincorporated areas of county. The full text of the Ordinance is attached to this RFP as Attachment D. SB 1383 allows a jurisdiction to designate a public or private entity to perform a portion of its SB 1383 responsibilities.

The Ordinance impacts both the residential and commercial generators in the unincorporated areas throughout San Mateo County. Please refer to Attachment A for the map of unincorporated areas of the county in which the Sustainability Department is responsible for overseeing SB 1383 education, inspections, and enforcement.

The only areas that are franchised are within South Bay Waste Management Authority (SBWMA)’s Joint Powers Authority areas, North Fair Oaks (County Service Area 8 or CSA-8) and County Franchise Area (CFA), which includes: Baywood Park (Crystal Springs area), Burlingame Hills, Devonshire Canyon, Emerald Lake Hills, Harbor Industrial, Kensington Square, Oak Knoll, Palomar Park, San Mateo Highlands, Sequoia Tract, and Trailer Rancho. The SBWMA will conduct compliance audits for North Fair Oaks and County Franchise Area. The County will be responsible for enforcement and Notice of Violations as well as administrative penalties for non-compliance with SB 1383 while conducting enforcement of the Ordinance utilizing a complaint-based system.

The remaining unincorporated areas of the county are either unfranchised or managed by another agency. Broadmoor and unincorporated Colma are managed by the City of Daly City’s contract with Republic Services. The portion of Stanford Lands in San Mateo County is undeveloped and requires no refuse service. San Francisco International Airport (San Francisco Airport Commission) has a contract with South San Francisco Scavenger to provide services and received an exemption to comply with SB 1383 due to receiving a large amount of international waste. The County has Non-Exclusive Franchise Agreements (NEFAs) with the haulers servicing the county’s unfranchised unincorporated areas and Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with the agencies that hold franchise agreements in the unincorporated pockets. The NEFAs include provisions for desktop audits and contamination monitoring inspections to determine compliance with the SB 1383 Organics Collection Ordinance. The services requested in this RFP are for all of the unincorporated areas with the exception of the areas covered by an MOU.