Title
a. Receive an oral presentation from the Supervisor of Solid Waste Services of the Monterey County Health Department’s Environmental Health Division and the Resource Recovery Manager of Salinas Valley Recycles, that provides a status report on Monterey County’s Illegal Dumping and Litter Abatement Task Force; and
b. Provide direction to the Illegal Dumping and Litter Abatement Task Force regarding a request for financial support.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:
a. Receive an oral presentation from the Supervisor of Solid Waste Services of the Monterey County Health Department’s Environmental Health Division and the Resource Recovery Manager of Salinas Valley Recycles, that provides a status report on Monterey County’s Illegal Dumping and Litter Abatement Task Force; and
b. Provide direction to the Illegal Dumping and Litter Abatement Task Force regarding a request for financial support.
SUMMARY/DISCUSSION:
The Illegal Dumping and Litter Abatement Task Force (IDLATF) is a working group comprised of members from local city and county governments, solid waste haulers and landfill operators, law enforcement, business leaders in agriculture, members of the community, as well as private landowners and ranchers, whose only focus is to reduce illegal dumping in Monterey County. The three pillars or 3E's of the IDLATF are Eradication, Education, and Enforcement. All three pillars must be in place and work together to successfully impact and reduce illegal dumping.
Only having one of the pillars in place does not stop or prevent illegal dumping alone, as evident from the on-going blight in Monterey County. Illegal dumping is a burdensome challenge for our public services- it’s expensive to remediate, poses unnecessary risks and harm to the public and our environment, and if left uncollected, invites more illegal dumping. The Monterey County Illegal Dumping and Litter Abatement Task Force (IDLATF), formerly the Monterey County Ad Hoc Illegal Dumping Task Force, was tasked in 1996 by the County Administrative Officer to find solutions and provide recommendations to the Board of Supervisors. In the intervening 26 years, the IDLATF improved infrastructure for the public to report illegal dumping, assisted partner agencies to provide improved and expanded services, provided education in schools and to the public on recycling and disposal, hosted Earth Day Clean-Up Events, and created quarterly newsletters for the public. The IDLATF also created a Voucher Program which provides vouchers to victims of illegal dumping to dispose of waste free of charge at local permitted facilities; community members and organizations are also eligible for vouchers for beach, park, and roadside clean-ups.
Monterey County has relied heavily on eradication as a means of prevention. In the last five fiscal cycles, eradication of illegal dumping has cost Monterey County taxpayers $1.7 million dollars. County staff logged a total of 15,286 hours responding to 1,952 requests for service (RFS) from the public and other agencies. Bags of trash, tires, mattresses, refrigerators, couches, bulky furniture and appliances, are typical of recovered abandoned waste along with the occasional unlabeled containers of unknown liquids and other potentially hazardous waste.
The impact of illegal dumping to the community comes at a cost affecting public health and safety, land values, quality of life, environmental contamination, and food safety. While the Eradication pillar has been successfully funded over the years, the Enforcement and Education pillars have not. The IDLATF recommends funding the purchase of cameras to augment enforcement capabilities to deter illegal dumping and approve funding to research why illegal dumping occurs in Monterey County which will enable us to realistically and strategically reduce it.
In February 2022, Environmental Health, on behalf of the IDLATF, applied to CalRecycle for a grant to fund the purchase of cameras. While the IDLATF received letters of support from Supervisor Lopez, Elkhorn Slough Foundation, ReGen Monterey, Waste Management, and Salinas Valley Recycles, the grant was not funded. However, the need to pursue investment in enforcement capabilities remains. The IDLATF recommends the purchase of the HyperFire 2 Reconyx Surveillance Series made by Reconyx. The HyperFire 2 is a compact mobile game camera made for general surveillance with license plate capture capabilities. The IDLATF recommends the purchase of six cameras along with security enclosure kits, batteries, locks, SD cards, and the monthly cellular service to operate the cameras for two years. The camera units would include two- HyperFire 2 Cellular License Plate Covert IR Camera Mobile Camera, $1,319.99 ($659.99 per unit); four HyperFire 2 Cellular Security Covert IR Camera Mobile Camera, $2,639.96 ($659.99 per unit); 6- Security Enclosure Kit, $839.94 ($139.99 per unit). The monthly cellular service (up to $15/month) for two years would be approximately $2160. Monterey County Public Works will install the cameras on behalf of the IDLATF and Environmental Health will maintain chain of custody of the photo images and follow-up on illegal dumping events when observed by the cameras.
Over the years, the IDLATF has developed multiple educational flyers, presentations and on-line campaigns. IDLATF continues to conduct annual litter and cleanup events throughout the county to encourage proper disposal and free recycling of bulky items that usually end up on the side of the road (e.g. TV’s, mattresses, etc.). Despite all this, the dumping continues to occur. The Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority, on behalf of the IDLATF, recently submitted a grant application to the Mattress Recycling Council to fund a Community Based Social Marketing (CBSM) research project on illegal dumping in Monterey County. Unfortunately, the grant application was not selected for funding. As such, the IDLATF also recommends funding a countywide CBSM research project which will focus on behavior change to understand why illegal dumping continues to happen in Monterey County and provide strategies to develop targeted educational campaigns to help reduce it. The estimated cost of this CBSM project is between $95,000 - $120,000. This would include literature & data review, in-depth stakeholder interviews, a mail survey to 1,600 residents, and recommendations on messaging & strategies for behavior change. This cost range is based on an estimate provide by Action Research, a consultant that specializes in this type of research. The Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority conducted a similar project with Action Research and has agreed to manage and administer the project if funded, including releasing an RFP to select a consultant.
The following is a summary of efforts of the Illegal Dumping and Litter Abatement Task Force (IDLATF):
• Incorporated three working committees, modeled from the State’s Illegal Dumping Task Force, to focus on the three E’s: Eradication, Education, Enforcement. The Enforcement subcommittee is focused on streamlining process for enforcement and identifying best surveillance technologies for our immediate use. Education and Eradication subcommittee focuses on understanding reasons for illegal dumping and design solutions.
• The Eradication and Education Subcommittees started a mid-day clean-up event scheduled every quarter.
• The Enforcement Subcommittee applied to CalRecycle in 2022 for grant funding to purchase cameras.
• Active member of state’s illegal dumping task force and attended annual conferences on illegal dumping in April 2021 and 2022.
• Issued 168 disposal vouchers to the public to assist with disposal costs of illegal dumping. Vouchers were provided to community volunteer clean-up groups, private property owners, and public agencies who were either victims of illegal dumping or who organized volunteers to clean-up public spaces. Since FY 2019, disposal vouchers assisted with disposal of more than 36 tons of waste.
• Hosted Annual Earth Day events for 2022 at Carr Lake in Salinas. 20 + volunteers collected 340 pounds of trash.
• The first quarterly IDLATF newsletter was issued October 2020.
The IDLATF is an unfunded working group In FY 2017-18, the CAO proposed a pilot program that would allocate up to $200,000 contributed equally by Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority and Monterey Regional Waste Management District to assist Public Works for litter clean-up on county roadways. The voucher disposal program is funded at $10,000 by Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority and the Monterey Regional Waste Management District at $5,000 each. The IDLATF seeks direction from the Board for submitting a request for financial support in the amount of $8,000 for the purchase of surveillance cameras, security housing for the cameras and two years cellular service and up to $120,000 to conduct a countywide CBSM research project on illegal dumping in Monterey County. On behalf of the IDLATF, the Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority will manage the CBSM project and Environmental Health will manage the cameras and operations during the two-year period.
This work supports the Monterey County Health Department 2018-2022 Strategic Plan Goal(s) 2., to enhance community health and safety through prevention. It also supports the following of the ten essential public health services, specifically, 2., diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards in the community; 3., inform, educate, and empower people about health issues; 4., mobilize community partnerships and action to identify and solve health problems; 5. develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts and 6., enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The IDLATF is a multi-agency cooperative partnership that includes Monterey County Health, Sheriff’s and Public Works departments, Monterey County Water Resources Agency, California Transportation Agency District 5, Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority, Monterey Regional Waste Management District, the twelve cities, Transportation Agency of Monterey County, Fort Ord Reuse Authority, Waste Management, Inc., Republic Services of Salinas, Tri Cities/Monterey Disposal, Grower-Shipper Association of Central California, Monterey County Farm Bureau, Elkhorn Slough Foundation, Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve.
FINANCING:
If the Board approves funding to purchase the surveillance camera ($8,000), and for funding to conduct a research project (up to $120,000), a funding source would have to be identified which could potentially impact the General Fund.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS STRATEGIC INITIATIVES:
Check the related Board of Supervisors Strategic Initiatives:
☐Economic Development:
• Through collaboration, strengthen economic development to ensure a diversified and healthy economy.
☐Administration:
• Promote an organization that practices efficient and effective resource management and is recognized for responsiveness, strong customer orientation, accountability and transparency.
☒Health & Human Services:
• Improve health and quality of life through County supported policies, programs, and services; promoting access to equitable opportunities for healthy choices and healthy environments in collaboration with communities.
☒Infrastructure:
• Plan and develop a sustainable, physical infrastructure that improves the quality of life for County residents and supports economic development results.
☐Public Safety:
• Create a safe environment for people to achieve their potential, leading businesses and communities to thrive and grow by reducing violent crimes as well as crimes in general.
Prepared by: Robin Kimball, Management Analyst II, 796-1297
Approved by:
______________________________Date:_________
Elsa Mendoza Jimenez, Director of Health, 755-4526
Attachment:
Board Report