It is staff's recommendation that the City Council by motion adopt the attached Resolution approving the Second Amendment to the Athens Solid Waste, Recyclable and Green Waste Materials Collection, Processing and Disposal Franchise Agreement (Residential Agreement); 

Athens Services has been providing exclusive residential municipal waste collection for the City since 2008, and non-exclusive commercial collection since 1999. Athens Services Residential Agreement with the City requires that residential green waste collected by Athens Services is processed at a facility which ensures that the City receive diversion credit for the material.

Subsequent to the effective date of the First Amendment, in 2014, the State of California enacted Assembly Bill (AB) 1594.  Among other things, AB 1594 amended Public Resources Code Section 41781.3, mandating that as of January 1, 2020, the use of green waste as alternative daily cover (ADC) at landfills will no longer constitute diversion through recycling and will instead be considered disposal for purpose of measuring a jurisdiction’s annual diversion rate.

Athens Services presented to the City a proposed percentage adjustment to residential rates to cover the increased costs incurred to process the residential green waste in a manner that would ensure the City’s continued diversion credit for this material. The proposed adjustment includes the tipping fee, transportation costs, transfer costs and contamination costs for this new green waste recycling process, as required by State law.  The proposed adjustment represents a modification to current services as addressed in Section 6.5 of the Residential Agreement.   Pursuant to the requirements included in Section 6.5, the City's solid waste consultant, HF&H Consultants, reviewed the data submitted by Athens to substantiate the adjustment and completed negotiations on behalf of the City based on their final review and negotiations.  This resulted in a residential rate payer monthly adjustment of 4.62% per refuse unit, effective July 1, 2020 (Exhibit 1).

Due to the current economic conditions, the City is sensitive to the additional costs incurred by Contractor for the composting of green waste as well as any rate increases to our residents. In lieu of the rate adjustment, the City will decrease the Contractor’s Minimum Recycling Requirements in Section 3.10.6 from 50% to 35%, reflecting an anticipated reduction in transformation of refuse and less intensive processing of residential mixed waste, but with continued composting of all green waste.  Adopting this amendment will avoid any rate adjustments and keep the City in compliance. 

In order to comply with AB 1594 and avoid additional costs to the City and its residents, the City will decrease the Contractor’s Minimum Recycling Requirements in Section 3.10.6 from 50% to 35% but with continued composting of all green waste.  This will ensure the City is in compliance with the processing of green waste recycling and overall diversion.