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Claremont staff report progress on SB 1383 organics recycling and edible food recovery
Summary
City staff told the Community & Human Services Commission that Claremont has implemented California's SB 1383 requirements citywide, tracking about 60% proper organics sorting and reporting roughly 341,000 pounds of donated edible food in 2024 while noting processing capacity and rising costs as ongoing challenges.
Claremont staff on Wednesday updated the Community and Human Services Commission on the city's organics recycling and edible food recovery efforts under California's SB 1383, the Short‑Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Act.
The presentation, led by Community Services Manager Kristen and Solid Waste Supervisor Isaac Quintero, said SB 1383 requires jurisdictions to reduce organic waste to landfills and to promote edible food recovery. "This law has brought two main things," Quintero told commissioners: "The first reduces organics waste going to the landfill ... Second, it requires both organic recycling and food recovery programs." Staff said Claremont began a commercial food‑waste recycling program in 2018, expanded commercial coverage to all customers in January 2022, piloted residential organics recycling in 2021 and launched a citywide residential program in January 2022.
Why it matters: diverting food and yard waste from landfills reduces methane emissions and supports a circular economy, while edible food recovery gets safe food to people instead of to disposal.
Staff said the city performs annual contamination monitoring on a sample of containers and issues courteous container tags and sorting brochures when residents put wrong items in organics bins. Those audits show roughly 60% compliance with proper food‑waste sorting to date. "While there's room for improvement, this is actually an expected early result," staff said.
On edible food recovery, staff described the state rules that split businesses into tier 1 (supermarkets and large food service) and tier 2 (large restaurants, schools and certain institutions) and said the city uses a consultant to verify donation agreements and compile donation data. Kristen reported that in 2024 "over 341,000 pounds of food was donated" through the program, and staff said only one of the 15 businesses subject to the requirement had not yet provided data.
Commissioners pressed staff on how local donation partners are selected and whether there are targets or incentives. Staff said there are no numeric donation quotas; the regulation requires businesses to donate the maximum edible food possible rather than intentionally spoil it. There are no city financial incentives for businesses, though donations may be tax‑deductible for donors.
Staff also flagged operational challenges: a small number of regional organic processing providers and a rise in processing prices—sometimes by as much as about 80%—have increased program costs. Quintero said mixed green and food waste is hauled to a facility in Victorville and ultimately used for agricultural compost product application in the Central Valley. To improve participation, the city is expanding outreach and testing targeted marketing: staff will partner this spring with a Claremont Colleges Ph.D. student to trial different outreach materials with roughly 120 opt‑in households and measure which approaches change resident sorting behavior.
What's next: staff said they will continue audits and targeted commercial outreach, explore recognition or promotional ideas for compliant businesses, and monitor processing market developments to control costs. Commissioners suggested public recognition for businesses that participate fully as a nonfinancial incentive.
Quotes used in this story are from the presentation and the subsequent commission discussion.
