Fresno County, Calif., must come up with a plan for residents in unincorporated areas -- including county islands -- to recycle more and send less garbage to landfills.
And that will likely mean higher garbage rates.
"We're way overdue in doing recycling, we really are," Supervisor Judy Case said. "But it is going to come at a cost."
The county failed to receive an extension last month on a state mandate to divert half its garbage from landfills. Now the county must develop a plan with the state to reach that goal.
In 2000, the county buried 177,157 tons of garbage from its unincorporated areas.
"We're going to have to look at a number of things that historically have not been accepted in Fresno County," said Richard Brogan, county public works director.
Those include mandatory garbage pickup for all residents in unincorporated areas and mandatory recycling. Another step would involve establishing franchise areas for garbage haulers.
All these ideas have been kicked around, but the county has been reluctant to implement them, said Rob Emerson, general manager of BFI, one of a half-dozen garbage haulers in the county.
"Fresno County is in a tough position because they have to do something," Emerson said. "If the state is mandating it, their only other choice is to pay fines."
Under a law passed in 1989, 455 cities, counties and other government jurisdictions in California were to divert half of their garbage from landfills by 2000. The law also allowed those jurisdictions to apply with the California Integrated Waste Management Act Board for extensions to meet that goal.
During the past several months, the board has been reviewing reports from 1999 and 2000 on how those jurisdictions fared in meeting the goal. The county's diversion rate was 38% in 1999 and 31% for 2000.
At its August meeting, the board found that the county "had not made a good-faith effort" to reach the goal. The board ordered the county to meet with the state Oct. 8 to begin to develop a compliance plan.
Only Fresno County and the city of Fortuna have been ordered to come up with a compliance plan.
If the county does not follow the plan, the state can issue a fine of up to $10,000 a day.
"The state is going to take a hand in developing a compliance plan, and they're going to be watching over our shoulder very closely," Brogan said.
The state would likely need to approve the plan by December, and Brogan said he hopes the state will give the county two years to implement it.
Brogan said his staff has already been working on developing programs to encourage recycling. A recycling center will be built at the American Avenue landfill for people who haul their garbage to the landfill. And the staff is going to ask supervisors to reduce fees for disposing green waste at the landfill.
But more will have to be done, Brogan said. In a report to the supervisors, Brogan outlined options such as mandatory collection of solid waste; some people haul their garbage instead of having it picked up.
Another idea is to require waste haulers to provide recycling, although factors that would need to be considered include the low population density in unincorporated areas and the costs of bins and trucks to transport recyclables.
Another idea is to establish franchises for areas of the county and set requirements for solid-waste diversion. In the unincorporated areas, residents can choose from five or six garbage haulers.
If the county institutes franchises, it will have the "haulers at one another," said Vince Caglia, manager for IWS and Orange Avenue Disposal.
"It's always been every man for his own as far as I remember, if we think we can do it cheaper," Caglia said.
But Emerson of BFI said franchises will likely get customers better deals because the companies will compete to get those franchises.
However, any gains are likely to be gobbled up by added recycling costs, Emerson said.
Haulers said they were surprised to hear the county failed to receive an extension from the state.