Director's Message

CHANGE IS CONSTANT

OC Waste & Recycling provides an essential public service, while protecting public health and the environment. Depending on your perspective, 2019 could be considered either an end or a new beginning.

It’s said that the only constant in life is change. Over the past three years we’ve been preparing for and leading the way to some big legislative changes affecting Orange County.

Beginning in 2020, OCWR will no longer use Processed Green Material (PGM) as Alternative Daily Cover (ADC). This change is driven by both legislation and environmental concerns, and it’s creating a domino effect in the local waste industry for jurisdictions and haulers.

We spent much of 2019 developing plans and building relationships toward a regional solution for the imminent, industry-transforming legislation and to augment the lack of organics recycling infrastructure. Assembly Bill 1594 and Senate Bill 1383 are reshaping the waste and recycling industry. As I’ve mentioned in our previous annual reports, the shifts in our industry have never been more monumental.

WE SPENT MUCH OF 2019 DEVELOPING PLANS AND BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS TO PREPARE FOR THE CHANGES.

In order to prepare for the changes:

We completed Year-2 of our ramp-up to commercial composting facilities at each of our landfills, gaining invaluable experience and expertise. These operations will create beneficial material for reuse locally as soil amendment and mulch.
We increased outreach and held a first-of-its-kind legislative response workshop for city managers and their public works directors.
We held meetings with haulers to determine their plans for addressing the lack of recycling infrastructure and to communicate OCWR’s vision.
We sought the necessary composting permits while performing our composting pilot projects in order to expedite moving to full-scale operations.

We are actively filling critical roles to prepare for the next wave of legislative change and enforcement, expected in 2022.

We cannot do this alone and your support is needed. More education and outreach will be coming and is key to implementation.

I hope you’ll review our 2019 Annual Report to learn more about the end of traditional landfilling and the beginning of resource recovery facilities—and how OCWR is leading this change in our local waste industry.

Thank you. I hope you enjoy the 2019 Annual Report.

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Tom Koutroulis