BURBANK, Calif. (August 22, 2011)– On January 29, 2010, the State of California denied the City’s Application for Renewal of its Curbside Registration (Application), which allows the City to receive revenue from the State’s beverage containers recycling fund (CRV Fund). The State denied the City’s Application because it accused the operator of the City’s Recycle Center, Burbank Recycling, Inc. (BRI) and Geoff Folsom, of failing to comply with State law and regulations dealing with the recycling of beverage containers at another recycling facility. A hearing on the accusation against Mr. Folsom is still pending.
The City appealed the State’s denial of its Application because we believed that the City had acted fairly by waiting for the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) to provide a hearing on the allegations to BRI. It needs to be emphasized that the City has not been accused of any wrongdoing by the State. The reason the City’s curbside certification was denied was simply because it uses BRI to operate the Recycle Center and to process the curbside materials.
The appeal hearing was held on March 29 and 30, 2011 and on May 13, 2011 the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) affirmed the denial of the City’s Application on the basis that Mr. Folsom had failed to comply with the State law and regulations. The ALJ did not find any wrongdoing on the part of the City of Burbank and found that the City had acted reasonably in waiting for CalRecycle to provide a hearing to Mr. Folsom. CalRecycle adopted the ALJ’s decision as its final decision on May 24, 2011. On June 7, the City Council decided not to appeal the decision. The decision took effect on June 25, 2011.
While the denial of the curbside registration affects the City’s ability to collect CRV revenues, which totaled $20,432.23 in fiscal year 2010/11, it does not affect the City’s ability to continue operating its highly effective curbside recycling program that diverts about 40 tons per day of material from landfill disposal. This program is part of the City’s comprehensive source reduction and recycling efforts to reduce land filling by at least 50 percent as required by Assembly Bill 939 (AB 939), which became law in 1989, and the City’s sustainability efforts to reach zero waste by 2040. BRI is continuing to operate the Recycle Center on an interim basis while the City pursues its options. The City of Burbank is committed to delivering excellent, uninterrupted curbside recycling services while an operational transition is completed at the Burbank Recycle Center. Residents and businesses should continue to place their recyclables in the proper carts and bins for collection and processing.