The Western Placer Waste Management Authority (WPWMA) is responsible for all recycling and waste management activities for its member agencies, utilizing its Material Recovery Facility (MRF). The member agencies are City of Rocklin, City of Lincoln, City of Roseville, and County of Placer.
When the MRF was built it was financed with bonds, and all of the member agencies agreed to commit their waste streams to the MRF by entering agreements known as Flow Commitment Agreements. These agreements enabled the guarantee of repayment of debt associated with the bond issues. Those debts have since been repaid. The City is not currently under a Flow Commitment Agreement, but the City’s solid waste and recycling hauler, Recology, brings all of the City's materials to the MRF.
WPWMA is planning another expansion of the MRF in order to handle anticipated growth in solid waste diversion goals required by the CalRecycle Short-Lived Climate Pollutants regulations (SB 1383) and the California Green Building Standards Code (CalGreen). In order to secure funding for these expansions, WPWMA is again seeking flow commitment agreements with all member agencies to exclusively deliver solid waste to the MRF. Like previous agreements, the new agreement would require the City of Rocklin to send all solid waste to the MRF for processing, disposal, and recycling. This excludes waste that is generated in construction and maintenance of City roads and other City-owned property, which can be disposed of or recycled/reused at the City’s discretion. Under the new agreement, the City also cannot initiate a recycling program that would divert waste away from the MRF.
A flow commitment agreement between the City and WPWMA will support the City in its efforts to bring the solid waste disposal up to the standards set by state law. Per SB 1383, by 2025 the City is obligated to reduce organic waste disposal by 75% and increase edible food recovery by 20%. It is important to note that a flow commitment agreement does not supersede the City’s responsibility to comply with SB 1383. Should the City enact source reduction or alternate recycling activities, they must be consistent with the terms of the agreement with WPWMA, and not substantially reduce the amount of solid waste that is sent to the MRF.
The template flow commitment agreement WPWMA sent to the City is attached to this staff report as Exhibit "A."
WPWMA's tipping fee structure is based on the amount of tonnage committed to the facility. At this time, not all WPWMA member agencies have executed flow commitment agreements. Should any member agency not execute a flow commitment agreement or alter their collection programs, tipping fees will be affected. As such, staff recommends the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a flow commitment agreement with the WPWMA contingent on all member agencies adopting flow commitment agreements.