Riverside County Department of Waste Management Gets New Name

By City News Service, image via Shutterstock

The Riverside County Department of Waste Management was renamed today as the Department of Waste Resources.

The Board of Supervisors approved re-titling the agency in a 4-0 vote -- with Supervisor John Tavaglione absent -- based on a recommendation from Department of Waste Management Director Hans Kernkamp.

“We believe the name change will more accurately reflect what we’re doing,” Kernkamp told the board. “It reflects that waste is a commodity that can be put to higher beneficial use than landfilling.”

He noted that the waste department was established close to three decades ago when there was less emphasis on recycling and “re-purposing” waste streams, such as electronics, plastics and other discarded materials.

Kernkamp said the waste industry has been “undergoing a significant transformation” as a result of state mandates, the most recent of which calls for recycling 75 percent of rubbish bound for landfills by 2020.

“We need to do a lot more to meet the (state’s) ambitious goals,” he told the board.

Along with the name change, the board approved Kernkamp’s “roadmap” for the future of the Department of Waste Resources. The policy outline calls for:

-- expanding existing programs and services that promote “recycling, composting and conversion” of waste to productive use;

-- developing new programs geared to reducing “the amount of waste generated and disposed of at landfills”: and

-- initiating publicity campaigns to inform the public about the need for “sustainable waste management.”

Board Chairman Marion Ashley lauded the action, especially the renaming of the agency, which he said will help eliminate confusion among residents who sometimes mistake the Department of Waste Management for Waste Management Inc. - - one of the private trash haulers under contract with the county.