HomeMy WebLinkAboutordinance.council.017-08Ordinance NO. 17
(Series 2008)
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER TWELVE OF THE MUNICIPAL CODE OF THE
CITY OF ASPEN, COLORADO TO ENCOURAGE RECYCLING BY BUSINESSES AND
RESIDENTS
WHEREAS, The City Council of the City of Aspen finds that a significant reduction of the volume of
solid waste and a corresponding increase in the volume of Recyclable Materials generated by citizens
and businesses in the City would benefit the public welfare by reducing the consumption of
important, non-renewable natural resources and by saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas
emissions; and,
WHEREAS, increasing recycling and reducing trash volumes will extend the life of the Pitkin
County landfill as long as possible, thereby protecting city residents from future large cost increases
when the landfill closes and trash must be transported to distant landfills; and,
WHEREAS, The City Council's intent in enacting this ordinance is to decrease the amount of solid
waste and increase waste reduction and recycling practices by the citizens of and businesses located
in the City; and,
WHEREAS, the Aspen City Council desires to ensure that Aspen demonstrates leadership and
excellence in environmental practices including increasing the community's recycling volumes and
decreasing volumes ofnon-recycled trash; and,
WHEREAS, the Aspen City Council recognizes the ordinance has led to increased recycling rates in
the last three years and the continuation of the ordinance will have similar effects; and
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ASPEN,
COLORADO:
Section I
That Section 12.06 of the Municipal Code of the City of Aspen, Colorado is hereby repealed and
reenacted to read as follows:
Chapter 12.06
WASTE REDUCTION
Sec. 12.06.010. DeSnitions.
For purposes of this Section, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed to them:
Audit Card shall mean a card that waste Haulers give to customers who have included
banned Yard Waste in their garbage or who have failed to properly sort their Recyclable
Materials.
Commercial Customer shall mean any premises utilizing collection service where a
commercial, industrial or institutional enterprise is carried on, including, without limitation,
retail establishments, restaurants, hospitals, schools, day care centers, offices, nursing homes,
clubs, churches and public facilities.
Hauler means any person in the business of collecting, transporting or disposing of
garbage or trash for another, for a fee, in the City.
Multi-Family Customer means the occupants, taken together, of a residential building or
set of residential buildings who use a collective, common system for the collection of gazbage
generated by the occupants.
Recyclable Materials means any materials that are designated by the City Manager in the
"Recyclable Materials List" which may include, but are not limited.to, newspaper, office paper,
cazdboazd, glass containers, plastic containers, steel cans and aluminum cans.
Residential Customer means every occupant of a residential building or set of residential
buildings who receives periodic garbage collection service, and who does not use a collective,
common system for the collection of garbage generated by the occupants.
Yard Waste shall mean materials generated from the maintenance of the vegetation on a
property that have been designated by the City Manager in the "Banned Yazd Waste List"
which may include, but are not limited to, grass clippings, leaves, weeds, holiday trees and
other plant materials. (Ord. No. 26, 2005, § 1)
Sec. 12.06.020. Exemptions.
The following persons are exempt from the provisions of this Chapter:
(A) Any person or agent thereof who transports to the landfill only the garbage that person
generates.
(B) Any person who transports only liquid wastes (such as restaurant grease), discarded or
abandoned vehicles or parts thereof, discarded home or industrial appliances, household
hazardous wastes or hazardous materials as defined in the rules and regulations adopted by the
United States Hazardous Materials Transportation Act, 49 U.S.C. §5]01 et seq.
(C) Any Commercial Customer who has received an exemption pursuant of this chapter
may continue to be exempt provided he or she proves he or she transports his or her cazdboazd
recycling to the Rio Grande Recycling Center or Pitkin County Materials Recovery Facility.
Such exemption shall be granted upon satisfactory demonstration to the Environmental Health
Department that said customer:
(i) Is taking his or her recyclable cardboard to the Rio Grande Recycling Center or
Pitkin County Materials Recovery Facility;
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(ii) Is not allowing recyclable cardboard to be placed in trash containers; and
(iii) Complying with the requirements of section 12.06.030 would be unduly
burdensome to the applicant.
Sec. 12.06.030.Hauler requirements.
(A) No person shall operate as a solid waste Hauler within the city limits without first
obtaining a business license from the City. In order to receive a City business license, a solid waste
Hauler must comply with the requirements of this Chapter.
(B) Except for customers exempt from the provision pursuant to Section 12.06.020 above,
Haulers providing trash service in the City shall include in the base rate for trash pickup service the
pickup of Recyclable Materials as designated by the City Manager in the Recyclable Materials List.
It shall be unlawful for Haulers to provide a separate line item for the cost of recycling services on
any invoice, contract, or other document that is delivered to the customer, or to deduct any amount
from a customer's rate if the recycling services are not used unless the customer has received an
exemption from the Environmental Health Department.
(C) The collection of recyclable materials for residential customers shall be provided on the
same day and upon the same frequency as trash pickup.
(D) Haulers shall provide collection of recyclable materials for multi-family and commercial
customers as often as necessary to prevent the overflow of the recycling containers and to permit the
customer to use the recycling containers without causing an overflow.
(E) Any person licensed to operate as a solid waste Hauler within the City shall charge all
Residential Customers on the basis of volume of trash collected, which shall be measured by the
volume capacity of the container used by the customer, All chazges shall be based upon units of
volume no greater than thirty-two (32) gallons. The charge for the second unit shall be no less than
the charge for the first unit of volume. The chazge for each subsequent unit of volume shall be no
less than the charge for the first unit of volume.
(F) In offering or arranging for services, a Hauler shall provide reasonable notice of the full
range of container sizes or levels of services offered by the Hauler, and shall provide to each
customer that customer's requested container size or level of service.
(G) Each Hauler shall submit a bi-annual report to the city manager of the weight in tons of
garbage, trash, Recyclable Materials (as determined by the City Manager in the Recyclable Materials
List pursuant to 12.06.040) and Yard Waste materials collected within the limits of the City. For
toads that contain garbage or Recyclable Materials originating in part from within the limits of the
City, and in part from outside the limits of the City, the reported quantity may be estimated by the
Hauler but must use the standardized formula provided by the City of Aspen which shall include the
use of both the scale tickets and customer route sheets, and reported as an estimate.
Bi-annual reports shall be submitted by January 31 and July 31 using a form or forms provided by the
Environmental Health Director. Included in this form shall be a standardized formula for volume
estimations, a description of the approved data collection methods and a section for the hauler to
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describe any assumptions used in the data collection process. All reports shall be treated as
confidential commercial documents under the provisions of the Colorado Open Records Act.
(H) Nothing in this Section shall be construed as prohibiting any Hauler from providing
separate pricing for special collection of bulky items, Yard Waste, contaminated recyclables,
unscheduled pick-up of trash, extra volumes of trash, such as bags, boxes or bundles, or more than
what was subscribed with a Hauler for trash.
(I) Except for materials that customers have not properly prepared for recycling and so are
grossly contaminated (fifteen percent [ I S%j or more of trash), Haulers may not dispose of Recyclable
Materials set out by recycling customers by any means other than at a recycling facility that sorts,
packages and otherwise prepares Recyclable Materials for sale.
(i) Haulers must notify customers of any grossly contaminated Recyclable Material with an
Audit Card with wording provided by the Environmental Health Department. The
Environmental Health Department, once notified by the customer, will determine if
recyclable material may be cleaned and picked up as recycling, or determined to be trash,
and then contact the Hauler to approve the collection, which the Hauler may choose to pick
up at the next scheduled pickup and which may incur a charge for an extra trash pickup.
(J) Haulers shall notify customers of the provisions of this Chapter by a letter reasonably
acceptable by the City of Aspen:
(i) Upon the initial provision of solid waste collection services to new customers,
(ii) Ninety days prior to any deadline such as the date for existing customers to nofify the
hauler if they wish to opt out, and
(iii) On or before December 31 of each year for existing customers
Haulers will also provide within the above reference letter information on the materials
designated for recycling collection pursuant to 12,06.040 and such rules and regulations as
established by the Hauler for the orderly collection of Recyclable Materials as authorized
pursuant to 12.06.050(b). Such notice shall further include for Residential Customers the
notification of the variable rate system employed by the Hauler, and shall be in a form
reasonably acceptable to the City to ensure that customers are fully informed of the
availability of recycling and level of service options.
For group accounts, the notices required herein maybe sent to the group representative for
said account, provided that such notice shall further notify said representative of its
obligation to notify all individual customers or users of the service within the group of the
availability of recycling services.
On or before January 31 of each year, the Hauler shall deliver to the Environmental Health
Director a true and correct copy of the notification sent to each customer type, i.e.
Residential, Multi-family or Commercial, on or before December 31 of the previous year.
(K) Haulers shall not pick up trash that contains banned Yard Waste materials. Haulers shall
notify customers of the ban with an Audit Card with wording provided by the Environmental Health
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Department. The Environmental Health Department, once notified by the customer, will determine
when the customer has removed the contaminating materials and then contact the Hauler to approve
the collection of the trash, which the Hauler may choose to pick up at the next scheduled pickup or
which may incur a charge for an extra pickup. (Ord. No. 26, 2005, § 1)
Sec. 12.06.040. Designation of Recyclable Materials and Banned Yard Waste Materials.
(A) The Recyclable Materials that haulers are required to pick up shall be set forth in the City's
"Recyclable Materials List," which shall be prepared and amended from time to time by the City
Manager. The Recyclable Materials List shall be developed after consultation with the Pitkin County
Landfill Director/Manager, the Environmental Health Director and representatives of the licensed
Haulers operating within the City, as well as the public, and shall be available for review on the City's
Environmental Health Department website.
(B) The Yard Waste material that is required to be separated from trash shall be set forth in the
City's "Banned Yazd Waste List," which shall be prepared and amended from time to time by the City
Manager. The Banned Yazd Waste List shall be developed after consultation with the Pitkin County
Landfill Manager, the Environmental Health Director and licensed Haulers operating within the City,
as well as the public, and shall be auailable for review on the City's Environmental Health
Department website. (Ord. No. 26, 2005, § 1)
Sec. 12.06.050. Placement of Recyclable Materials and Yard Waste for pickup.
(A) All recyclables and Yard Waste accumulated on any premises shall be placed in a
container separate from garbage, or in a suitable manner such as cazdboard broken down and placed
on a shelf.
(B) Recycling containers for storing and setting out Recyclable Materials may be of any color
or design as long as they do not interfere with industry-accepted requirements for the preparation of
materials for recycling that are necessary to provide for the orderly collection of Recyclable
Materials. (Ord. No. 26, 2005, §1)
Sec. 12.06.060.Educational materials.
(A) The Environmental Health Department shall provide an annual summary of waste and
recycled material totals collected in the City, and shall report on other measures of success and
aspects of this Chapter. This annual summary shall be provided to the City Council and the
Commercial Core and Lodging Commission.
(B) The City will provide wording for Audit Cazds that the Haulers must use to notify their
customers of contamination of Yard Waste in trash and contamination of trash in recyclables. In
addition, the City will produce an educational flyer, not to exceed one (1) sheet of paper in length.
Haulers shall distribute this educational flyer at least once a yeaz to all their customers, that maybe at
the same time as materials sent out under Subsection 12.06.030(j) above. The City will consult with
the Haulers about the educational flyer prior to distributing it to the Haulers. (Ord. No. 26, 2005, § 1)
Sec. 12.06.070. Audits and violations.
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(A) Each Hauler licensed pursuant to this Chapter shall maintain accurate and complete records
of the services provided to all customers, the charges to such customers and payments received, the
form and recipients of any notice required pursuant to this Chapter, and any underlying records,
including any books, accounts, contracts for services, written records of individual level of service
requests, invoices, route sheets or other records necessary to verify the accuracy and completeness of
such records. It shall be the duty of each Hauler to keep and preserve all such documents and
records, including any electronic information, for a period of three (3) years from the end of the
calendar year of such records, except for paper records of route sheets, which may be discarded one
(1) year after the end of the calendar year of such route sheets.
(B) If requested, each Hauler shall make its records available for audit by the City Manager
during regular business hours in order for the City to verify Hauler compliance with the provisions of
this Chapter. All such information shall be treated as confidential commercial documents under the
provisions of the Colorado Open Records Act.
(C) Violation of any provision of this Chapter by any person, firm or corporation, whether as
Hauler, owner or occupant, shall be unlawful and subject to the penalty provisions in Section
1.04.080 of this Code. Each violation shall constitute a separate offense. (Ord. No. 26, 2005, § 1)
Sec. 12.06.080. Sunset provision
This Chapter shall remain in effect until five (5) years from the date of adoption of the
ordinance codified herein, at which time the City Council shall amend, expand or
repeal this Chapter.
Section 2
That section 14.08.130 of the Municipal Code of the City of Aspen, Colorado is hereby reenacted to
read as follows:
14.08.130 Solid Waste Collection Business License--Required
In order to obtain a business license, a solid waste Hauler must comply with the requirements of
Chapter 12.06, entitled "Waste Reduction."
Section 3
It is not the intention of the City Council in the reenactment of this ordinance to interfere with any
valid contractual arrangement between Haulers and their Residential, Multi-family, or Commercial
Customers. Accordingly, sub-sections 12.06.030 B, C, D, and E shall not apply in those instances in
which Haulers have contracts with customers, the provisions of which are inconsistent with said
subsections of this Chapter until the terms of said contracts authorize the customer or Hauler to renew
or amend said contract. Evidence of a contract maybe provided upon request to the City Attorney by
a written contract or other evidence satisfactory to the City Attorney.
Section 4
This ordinance, when effective, shall not have any effect on existing litigation and shall not operate
as an abatement of any action or proceeding then pending under or by virtue of the ordinances
repealed or amended as herein prohibited, and the same shall be construed and concluded under such
prior ordinances.
Section 5
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion of this ordinance is for any reason held
invalid or unconstitutional in a court of competent jurisdiction, such portion shall be deemed a
separate, distinct and independent provision and shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions
thereof.
Section 6
A public hearing on the ordinance shall be held on the 28`h day of July 2008, in the City Council
Chambers, Aspen City Hall, 130 South Galena, Aspen, Colorado.
INTRODUCED, READ, AND ORDERED PUBLISHED as provided by law by the City Council of
the City of Aspen on the 14`h day of July 2008.
Michael C. Ireland, Mayor
Kathryn S. Ko ,City Clerk
FINALLY adopted, passed and approved this 28`h day of July 2008.
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Michael C. Ireland, Mayor
ATTEST: /~9~
Kathryn S. K h, City Clerk