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Del Norte is going to have to make a “systemic shift” in the way it approaches recycling, Crescent City Mayor Blake Inscore told his colleagues on the Solid Waste Management Authority Board on Tuesday.

Inscore and his colleague Mike Tompkins, the Solid Waste Authority’s public representative, broached the idea of Recology Del Norte establishing a charge for its curbside recycling services as part of an update on negotiations to extend the company’s collections franchise contract until 2033.

Inscore said he didn't know what restructuring Recology's rates would look like and it doesn't have to be done by the next fiscal year, but it has to be on the table during negotiations. Community engagement is also important, he said, though noted that public attendance at solid waste meetings is sporadic.

“If we’re not looking at diving down into re-thinking how we do solid waste in Del Norte County, then there’s no point in doing an extension in my book,” Inscore said. “We can’t say ‘let’s play it out for the next four years and see what happens.’ I think that potentially could be devastating for our community given the uncertainties.”

Four of Inscore’s colleagues agreed to add a possible restructuring of Recology’s rates to contract negotiations. Commissioner Jason Greenough, who serves on the Crescent City Council, was absent Tuesday.

The goal, according to DNSWMA Director Tedd Ward, is to create the correct incentives so customers will understand that recycling isn’t free. Currently, some will get the smallest trash-size cart they can, get a large recycling bin and use it to collect the overflow of garbage from the trash receptacle, he said.

This contributes to the ongoing contamination hurdles Del Norte County has been striving to overcome, Ward said.

“If we charge for all the services provided, that additional cost would not provide any type of incentive for a person to put overflow trash into recycling bins,” he said. “Any time we restructure rates, that is a significant systematic change and everybody needs to be good with those negotiated rates.”

According to the Authority’s staff report, adding a charge for Recology’s recycling services came up as a result of current, pending and future legislation and regulations from CalRecycle, the California Air Resources Board, or CARB, and the Water Quality Control Boards.

This includes CARB’s new law requiring Recology Del Norte to replace several of its trucks to meet diesel particulate emissions requirements, according to the report.

On Tuesday, Jeremy Herber told Authority commissioners that truck makes and models ranging from 2007-2012 will be affected under the new CARB regulations implemented in the last nine months. Herber said his company was notified that they have three pieces of equipment that must be replaced by the end of the year.

Recology Del Norte can typically find a replacement vehicle from another Recology facility, Herber said. However, there are no more trucks left to transfer to Del Norte County, he said.

“If they beat CARB, they’re keeping them,” Herber said. “(We’ve made) hundreds of millions of dollars in replacements this year alone corporate-wide. In Del Norte, we are affected a little bit, but not as bad as some other companies.”

Herber said other Recology companies would be less likely to transfer a vehicle to another company if its model is 2012 or newer.

Inscore said he also wanted to begin talking about restructuring Recology’s rates because of the recycling market. For the community, continuing under the mindset that “recycling is free” isn’t tenable anymore, he said.

DNSWMA board chair, District 2 Supervisor Lori Cowan said she agrees that the community needs to be educated, but previous town hall meetings and workshops haven’t been as effective as she'd hoped. She said the Solid Waste Authority appointed Tompkins as its at-large commissioner in August because they hoped he’d help them engage with the public better.

Tompkins said he also agreed that the public has to be educated.

"The public by and large generally puts recycling and what htey do with their trash really low on their priority list because life is a busy game and you pay attention to the things that squeak loudest," he said. "What you do with that piece of plastic in your hand, looking at the bottom an dmaking sure it's got the right number on it isn't high on people's list."

Solid Waste commissioners have tried to curtail the amount of garbage in the recycling stream since former processor Julindra canceled its contract with Recology in late 2016.

This left the collector scrambling to find a home for Del Norte’s recyclables only to realize that the amount of trash accounted for 25 to 30 percent of the material in the overall recycling stream. Processors industrywide typically accept material with a contamination rate of 10 percent, according to Ward. Some overseas buyers of recycled goods accept a contamination rate of less than 1 percent, he said Monday.

In addition to town hall meetings and workshops, the Solid Waste Authority removed a community recycling bin from the Del Norte County Fairgrounds to the transfer station.

A 6.12 percent rate increase for Recology’s services also went into effect in July.

On Tuesday, Herber said overall the amount of garbage in Del Norte County’s contamination rate varies from about 12 to 18 percent. Some individual loads may have a contamination rate of 7 to 8 percent, he said..

Herber said Recology Del Norte has also hired a Waste Zero Specialist who will focus on public outreach. He said this could include manning the other community recycling bins in Smith River to assist with sorting and going into local schools to teach students about recycling.

“We’ll train people who want to be trained,” Herber said. “We’re putting our money where our mouth is with the extra investment.”

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