Haulers FAQs

 

Waste haulers are required to provide information to their customers about the ordinance and to help them comply.

Haulers were given the option to manage customer outreach, education and initial inspections themselves or to have Alameda County Waste Management Authority manage these activities on their behalf.

If haulers chose to manage outreach themselves, they are required to share information about the recycling ordinance with their customers using outreach materials provided by Alameda County Waste Management Authority. After these materials are shared with customers, haulers must provide the Authority with a record of what materials were sent, the date they were sent, and the number of commercial or multi-family residential accounts to which they were sent. These haulers are required to monitor compliance with the ordinance and begin providing the Authority with information for those accounts that may be out of conformance. Haulers must also provide the Authority with customer information for any accounts suspected of violating the recycling law.

Haulers electing to have the Authority manage outreach and education on their behalf must initiate and update service data for covered accounts and provide the data to the Authority.

Landfills and transfer stations throughout Alameda County must require self-haulers to separate “Covered Materials” from their trash or pay at least a 10% surcharge to dispose of their mixed loads. Disposal facilities must submit Compliance Plans to Alameda County Waste Management Authority describing how they will implement the ordinance.

Self-hauler” means a person who delivers solid waste to a landfill or a transfer station but is not a Regulated Hauler or a transfer station operator.

Self-haulers are covered by the Mandatory Recycling Ordinance and must deliver any recyclable and/or organic material originating in Alameda County to landfills or transfer stations that are in compliance with the ordinance.

Self-haulers who generate significant amounts of plant debris are also covered by the Plant Debris Landfill Ban Ordinance. These self-haulers must ensure that the plant debris they take to their local disposal facility is free of garbage and unloaded in the designated “clean green” areas.

If a business or multi-family building is found to be out of compliance with the law:

  • A warning letter will be sent to the property owner; and
  • Free assistance will be offered to ensure that the property owner knows what recyclable materials are covered by the law and any other actions they must take in order to comply.

If the business or property continues not to comply, even after assistance has been offered, the business or property owner may be fined. Additional information on how the law will be enforced can be found in Section 11 of the ordinance.

Yes. Administrative Citation and fines may be issued if a business or property owner is not in compliance (see prior question).

The fine for the first violation will not exceed $500. Fines increase for subsequent violations. For more information, see the Enforcement Overview page.

No fines were issued prior to January 1, 2013, in order to allow all businesses and property owners ample time to bring their buildings into compliance.

Alameda County Waste Management Authority is responsible for enforcing this ordinance and has the active support of all participating cities and the County of Alameda.

Enforcement began on January 1, 2013 for all “opt-in” jurisdictions other than Pleasanton. Enforcement for Pleasanton began on September 1, 2013. Enforcement action related to the requirements of Phase 2 of the ordinance (including expanding covered accounts to all businesses and institutions and adding discarded food and compostable paper to the list of covered materials) will begin on January 1, 2015 in participating jurisdictions.

 

For FAQs that pertain to all sectors, see the General FAQs page.