It was a very busy year at the IWMA.  We started the year working on welcoming the County back: after a brief hiatus, the County rejoined the IWMA making the JPA whole again. We got to work with our member jurisdictions getting compliant with state mandates like SB 1383, California’s Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy. In response to SB 1383, our team works with our member jurisdictions’ business and residential communities to help them recover and divert organic waste from the landfills. We also help recover edible food for food insecure members of our community.  Did you know that in 2024 we were able to place over 11,750 tons of compost back to agriculture and recover over 1.5 million pounds of edible food for redistribution to those in need?  These efforts contribute to the long range goals of California to keep organic waste out of our landfills and ultimately reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Speaking of compost, the Kompogas Anerobic Digestion Facility out at the airport in San Luis Obispo celebrated its 5th anniversary in April.  Seems like yesterday when it first opened, but this facility has been open and creating renewable power and compost from our organic waste for 5 years now.  The very first of its kind in the US, this site is poised to continue to provide for this community’s organics processing needs far into the future.

We hosted our 2nd Annual Countywide Solid Waste Summit at the ROCK. We hosted about 85 professionals from both local government and the solid waste inustry covering topics from SB 54 to Zero Emission Vehicle requirements. These conversations help bring the challenges of the solid waste industry to the forefront so that we can plan accordingly for our member jurisdictions.

At our budget meeting in June, the IWMA Board once again voted to temporarily lower the rates that we charge the residents and businesses in San Luis Obispo County from 4.4% to 3.0%. This is the second year in a row that the Board has been able to lower rates that we charge our member jurisdictions for our services. The IWMA has been able to consolidate programs and find additional efficiencies to help our member jurisdictions meet the ever-evolving state mandates for solid waste and recycling.

Your IWMA continues to provide many of its regular programs such as Household Hazardous Waste and Electronic Waste disposal for the business and residents of this community, School Education and Outreach for students K-12, and Education and Outreach to our business community to help compliance with the challenging solid waste and recycling laws of the State of California.

Next year we look forward to managing how to navigate the most aggressive Extended Producer Responsibility law in the nation, SB 54, the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packing Producer Responsibility Act. This landmark packaging law requires that by 2032 we reduce single use plastics by 25%, recycle 65% of single use plastics, and ensure that single use plastics are 100% recyclable.  Sounds simple, doesn’t it.

Thanks,
Peter Cron