Business Recycling
BUSINESS RECYCLING
It has been twenty years since California enacted the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, also known as AB 939. Since that time, local agencies, the solid waste and recycling industries, along with local residents and businesses throughout California, have jointly embraced efforts to “reduce, re-use and recycle,” thus diverting recyclable materials from landfill. According to information from the California Department of Resource Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), California’s statewide mid-decade recycling rate was nearly sixty percent.
Business recycling is an important component in reducing the waste stream and meeting
California’s goals for waste reduction, according to 2008 “Statewide Waste Characterization” data report, the commercial sector generates more than half of the solid waste in California (approximately 68 percent of waste disposed). While significant commercial recycling already occurs, much of the commercial sector waste disposed in landfills is clean enough to be recycled. However, the commercial sector, is not directly subjected to the requirements of the Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 (AB 939, Sher, Chapter 1095, Statutes of 1989) to divert waste from landfills. Therefore commercial recycling programs will become mandatory.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) Scoping Plan for the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32, Núñez, Chapter 488, Statutes of 2006) was adopted with a Mandatory Commercial Recycling Measure designed to achieve a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents.
As a result, the mandatory commercial recycling measure focuses on increased commercial waste diversion as a method to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To achieve the measure’s objective, an additional 2 to 3 million tons of materials will need to be recycled from the commercial sector by the year 2020 and beyond.
While nearly all local agencies, in collaboration with their local waste haulers, have robust programs to collect and recycle materials generated by residential customers, programs to collect and process recyclable materials generated by businesses are not as numerous. The challenge now is to increase recycling by commercial and multi-family generators, who produce over seventy percent of solid waste generated in California.
Starting your own program is easy.- Seven Steps to Implementing Business Recycling Program
- Conducting a Waste Audit
- Marketing Your Program
Program and waste audit basics are also available in the WRCOG Riverside County Business Recycling Brochure and Riverside County's Recycling Guide for Residents and Businesses.
