DB3 Government Agency Thread

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Liberty University *

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561-B08

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Information Systems

Date

Jun 21, 2024

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docx

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4

Uploaded by JudgeSnow9828

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As it is known that at the national viewpoint, there are several Federal government agencies that may impact businesses in the United States, this discussion, however, will cover government agencies at State level. Specifically speaking, businesses that operate within the state of California that must abide by senate bills (SB) approved by the Governor as proposed by the State Senate and Assembly. As an Internal Auditor, I’ve sought to add value to many organizations, including one brand operating in the restaurant industry that will be of focus for this discussion. From this, the administrative agency that has an impact on the day-to-day operations of this brand’s California restaurants is the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), a department of California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA). CalRecycle has adopted regulations as approved by the Governor of California the present many requirements for various businesses (and individual residents) through SB 1383. SB 1383 is a state law that requires every California business (and resident) to recycle organic waste in an effort to reduce methane emissions. Specifically, SB 1383 establishes a target to reduce organic waste in landfills statewide by 75% by 2025; and requires that programs be established to rescue at least 20% of surplus food currently thrown away (2023). It is in this latter piece of SB 1383 that impacts the daily operations of restaurants, as it requires certain food businesses to donate the maximum amount of edible food they would otherwise dispose of to food recovery organizations. Under SB 1383, CalRecycle phased food donors into two tiers. The first tier was required to donate starting in January 2022. As for the second tier of businesses’ requirement, those under this tier were to start donating at the start of this year, and this is the tier that restaurants have been categorized under. Per CalRecycle, tier two businesses typically have
more prepared foods to donate, which often require more careful handling to meet food safety requirements (e.g., time and temperature controls) (CalRecycle, 2024). In providing an example of how this regulation impacts restaurants, I’ll first point out why it is a quality initiative presented by CalRecycle based on the premise that it forces restaurants into operating better for the environment. Most restaurants dispose of their end-of- the-night leftovers through landfills or incineration. Food is wasted by restaurants, caterers, cafeterias and, especially, by households such that food waste is the single-largest component of landfills (Baig et al. 2019). In noting this, food waste in landfills becomes an environmental problem. The disposal of food waste in landfills is known to lead to the production of large quantities of fugitive methane emissions due to the anaerobic digestion of the food waste by bacteria in the landfill site ( Sanciolo et al. 2022). Due to the amount of landfill food waste from many restaurants disposing of their end-of-the-night leftovers through landfills or incineration, SB 1383 present an avenue of improved processes. Acknowledging food waste’s impact on the environment presents reasonableness in stating SB 1383 requirements are well within the scope of CalRecycle/CalEPA’s authority and it is not applied in a Good Faith Effort for compliance. An aspect of restaurants being compliant lies in the additional tasks restaurants must implement and the tracking of tasks via appropriate recordkeeping. CalRecycle requires mandated food donors (e.g., restaurants) to maintain records of their food donation activities. Within these records, restaurants are to be able to provide a contract/written agreement information for food recovery organizations and services, schedules for food donation deliveries or collections, quantity of food donated in pounds per month, and the types of food each food recovery organization and service will receive or collect. These records support a mandatory shift away from unsafe landfill waste through obligation of food
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