West Valley Recycles outlines SB 1383 changes, new services for Monte Sereno

Wesley McConkie, outreach manager with West Valley Recycles, told the Monte Sereno City Council that the contractor’s new 10‑year agreement (with an option to extend) and statewide rules under SB 1383 require expanded organics collection, new cart color standards and increased reporting and enforcement.

“Our new contract, which started in 2024…we went through a rebranding,” McConkie said, explaining the program now brands collection, recycling and organics as a unified West Valley Recycles service. He summarized key SB 1383 requirements, including diverting edible food and organics from landfills and a statewide timeline for container color changes (organics = green, recycling = blue, landfill = gray/black).

McConkie walked the council through household and commercial operational changes: curbside cooking‑oil jug pickups (residents can request and receive up to three jugs), a yellow battery collection bag (to be placed with recyclables), a three‑times‑per‑year bulky‑item curbside cleanup program, and contamination monitoring that will visit a small percentage of accounts. He noted that enforcement under the state rules can include fines for failure to subscribe to required services but that contamination notices are primarily educational.

“Keep as much as you can out of the landfill cart,” McConkie told the council, and he highlighted that Monte Sereno’s local diversion rate is roughly 69% — well above the regional average. McConkie offered residents pictorial guides and outreach materials to reduce confusion about compostable plastics, caps on bottles, rinsing rules and what belongs in each stream.