Rachel Harlow-Schalk, City Manager

Ryan Leland, Public Works Director

Jamie Clark, City Engineer

The City of Helena has been utilizing composting as a waste diversion method for over 25 years. The current composting operation uses green waste that is dropped off and chipped at the transfer station as well as biosolids that are recovered from the wastewater treatment plant process. In FY2020, 1,885 tons (3,770,000 pounds) of green waste was diverted from the landfill and 3,018 tons (6,036,000 pounds) of biosolids in FY20 were beneficially reused for the program. The composting operation is located at the Lewis and Clark County Landfill and diverted compost is generally used for remediation projects at the landfill and for other city and county projects as needed. In the May 28, 2021 issue of Updates from the team to the City Commission an update on this program was shared.

On June 1, 2021, City staff was made aware that a company called Better Roots Composting, a subsidiary of Tri-County Disposal, was collecting residential waste. At the same time, 406 Recycling was identified as offering collection events and drop offs for composting. The services offered by Better Roots, as described at the time and confirmed by online documentation, is in violation of City Code which requires the City be the sole provider of residential waste collection. The opposite was true for 406 Recycling as described and reviewed at the time--the drop-off of materials for composting is not curb side collection and therefore, not in violation. Unfortunately, it has been learned that 406 is also collecting curb side in violation of City Code.

A subsidiary is a business whose parent company owns the majority stake in the business. In the case of Better Roots, Tri-County Disposal owns the majority. Tri-County disposal is only to provide curbside service for commercial customers in the City of Helena and is aware of not only the residential collection exclusion, but also the business licensing requirements in the City. 

On June 15, 2021, the team met with Tri-County/Better Roots informing them that they will receive a cease-and-desist letter in alignment with the City Code. To date, this letter has not been delivered to the company in order for the team to assess the situation and return to the Commission for discussion. 

On June 16, 2021, the City Commission received an email from a resident concerned that Better Roots had been blocked from doing business. During the Administrative meeting that same evening, the Commission:

• questioned the team's authority to issue a cease-and-desist,
• directed an immediate solve be put in place curbside, and
• shared concern that staff had not moved fast enough in the three months since the February 22, 2021 adoption of a resolution to reduce by 50% the city's waste citywide by 2040. 

The morning after the Administrative meeting, June 17, a Commissioner had additional questions which are answered below:

1. Which businesses have been targeted for cease-and-desist letters and can we get copies of the letters?

No business has received a cease-and-desist letter. Any business that is operating without a license and in efforts counter to the City Code requires response by the team. The City Manager is charged with upholding the City’s Code and part of that is responding to provisions which requires the City to issue cease and desist.

2. Does the sole provider provision exist only in ordinance ( as opposed to statute) and is there anything that legally prohibits the city from amending the ordinance to exempt curbside composting?

The provision that the City must be the exclusive provider is a function of City Code Section 6-1-17 adopted in 1988 not statute.

3. Helena Recycling was brought up last night. Helena Recycling operated curbside recycling prior to its contract with the city, including the period the city offered the competing blue bag program. Why didn't the City stop Helena Recycling from operating? Did the city just miss it? Or was there some exemption Helena Recycling operated under?

Helena Recycling did not operate residential curbside collection before the contract with the City.  They did operate outside city limits and may have had some commercial customers within the city limits.

4. When Helena approved dispensaries in city limits, it required amendment to zoning and a fix to the business licenses ordinance. The city moved quickly to create temporary exemptions so that businesses could operate while the city took care of the regulatory process. These were solutions were staff driven. Why can't a similar pragmatic model be applied here, and if there are legal or practical impediments, what are they?

At the time, dispensaries were a new business.  Solid waste curbside collection is not a new business, and the City Commission implemented the Code in the method it did particularly for the purpose of the City’s management of waste curbside.

If the Commission wishes to turn over residential curbside waste collection, in whole or part, to businesses it must do so through City Code revision. Specialized, often called boutique waste, waste disposal can be cut out of the residential waste disposal requirements.  However, conversations with the County regarding waste collection methods and outcomes needs addressed. There are several interagency agreements which need revised if the City Code is revised and the team should be able to provide details on impacts to Helena including a cost/benefit analysis. Additionally, just carving out "composting" as a defined waste may be difficult because almost all household waste can be composted.

It is important to note that none of the businesses offering the service are licensed to operate in the City. The team is aware of 25 customers who are paying for curbside collection of waste for composting of the potential 15,000 residential customers. That is 0.16% of customers in Helena. In all, the Commission has received 10 emails of concern, or 0.03% of Helena’s 30,000 population.

To date, the Commission has not requested the City stop operation of waste curbside in whole or part. The FY2022 budget recently adopted includes not only a Waste Master Plan to address the long-term waste goals for the City and actions to be implemented toward achievement, the City Commission also funded a waste reduction strategic plan. Composting residential waste is an opportunity in the current City program and implementing a service through this program is possible for the 25 customers currently.

The policy question for the Commission is: should the City of Helena stop curbside waste collection from residential customers in whole or in part? To answer this question, the FY2022 Waste Master and Strategic Plans need to be provided to the Commission. 

While the team completes the waste master and strategic plans, the temporary solves to offer composting to residential customers could include the following alternatives in whole or part:

• issue the cease-and-desist letters, and the City publishes an RFP to provide compost service through vendors by the City.  These businesses need to be properly licensed to operate in the city and cease-and-desist operation, as City Code requires, allowing drop-off until a vendor is selected.
• issue the cease-and-desist letters, and the City provides the compost service curbside.  
• issue the cease and desist and require the companies offering the service to team up with the current recycling contractor. It is understood, though, that Tri-County Disposal is the parent company of Better Roots and they may not want to merge this with Helena Recycling. 
• issue the cease-and-desist and require the businesses offer drop-off only until such time as the city can complete its planning work and implement its own curbside program. A business license is still required if drop-off locations for vendors are in City limits.
• direct the team to immediately implement a specific City Code revision allowing private collection of compost waste. It is important to note that this will result in increased traffic in neighborhoods and weight of vehicles within them. The Commission could choose to direct staff research and increase the cost of a business license to address this cost. 
• resolve as a Commission that the City staff cannot enforce provisions as outlined in Code, and instead resolve that composting be operated curbside through businesses. The Commission has set precedent that this is method is needed and used to circumvent the City Manager’s enforcement of the Code and at the same time accommodate few concerns when they arise. It is important to note that resolutions can be repealed, and City Code is law.

In which direction would the Commission like to move forward to address the immediate request of the team while the Waste Master and Strategic Plans are completed in FY2022?