FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date:  April 20, 2022
For more information:
Contact: Diana Langley, City Manager
Phone:   530-822-4602
Email:    [email protected]

Yuba City Council Approves Recology Contract Amendment

Yuba City, CA – April 20, 2022 – During last night’s meeting, the Yuba City City Council unanimously approved an amendment to the current Recology service contract.

The amendment addresses several items requested by the City of Yuba City, including the addition of a state-mandated Residential Food Waste Collection Program; a requirement for Recology to perform ongoing comprehensive collection route audits; a requirement for Recology to prepare an Emergency Action Plan to provide collection services after a catastrophic event; and it significantly reduces the rate increase for Recology hauling and disposal of biosolids from the City’s Wastewater Treatment Facility.

The amendment also addresses several items requested by Recology, mainly focused on bringing the Yuba City contract in line with the other five Yuba-Sutter jurisdictions, including using the same Consumer Price Index (CPI) methodology to determine rate increases, aligning ancillary charges, and modifying the franchise term to match the other jurisdictions. The amendment also removes the requirement for Recology to staff an office in Yuba City, and adjusts the rates to compensate for the addition of the Residential Food Waste Collection Program.

“I’m proud of the work the Council and City Staff have done to get our Recology contract back in-line on all fronts,” said Yuba City Mayor, Dave Shaw. “We, as a council and city, have been working for over three years to resolve the issues that remained from the 2018 contract. We inherited a contract where Yuba City customers were paying higher rates than neighboring areas, ignored the transportation of the biosolids from the wastewater treatment plant, left us out of compliance with new state 1383 mandates, and was a point of contention for our community that began in 2017.  It has been a long road to get back to where we should be; in a contract that places our residents first in a manner that is both good for the city and good for business.”

Of significant note in this amendment is the City of Yuba City’s willingness to reduce their franchise fee from 13.38% to 10%, for all residential and commercial accounts. This reduction aligns the City’s franchise fee with that of Sutter County, and significantly offsets the rate increase the customer would have endured from the addition of the state-mandated Residential Food Waste Collection Program.

“It was extremely important to our Council to align our base rates and franchise fees with that of Sutter County, as our Yuba City customers will now be receiving very similar services to Sutter County customers,” said Yuba City City Manager, Diana Langley. This action aligns with the current Council’s goals to be business friendly and fiscally responsible.”

Residential Food Waste Collection is one part of Senate Bill 1383 (SB 1383), the most significant waste reduction and recycling mandate to be adopted in California in the last 30 years. It includes state-wide requirements to reduce organic waste disposal, including food and food-soiled paper products, by 75% by 2025; and increase the rescue of food for people to eat to at least 20% of currently disposed surplus food by 2025.

Organic waste accounts for 18% of all landfill material and emits 20% of the state’s methane, a climate super pollutant 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

With this amendment passage by the City of Yuba City, all Recology customers within the six Yuba-Sutter jurisdictions now have the ability to include food scraps and food-soiled paper in their green organics cart. Everything from fruits & vegetables and meat bones, to pizza boxes, paper plates and napkins, can all be composted now.

For more information on what items are now allowed in your green organics cart, visit bit.ly/RYSorganics. For questions on SB 1383 compliance, or to request a free waste audit of your commercial or multi-family residential complex, email Recology Yuba-Sutter’s Waste Zero Specialist, Brittni Kincade at [email protected].

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