BILL NUMBER: AB 904	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JANUARY 29, 2008
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 1, 2007
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 17, 2007

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Feuer
   (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Leno)
   (  Coauthor:   Assembly Member 
 Krekorian   Coauthors:   Assembly
Members   Karnette   and Krekorian  )

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2007

   An act to add Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 42390) to Part
3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, relating to recycling.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 904, as amended, Feuer. Recycling: food containers.
   The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, which is
administered by the California Integrated Waste Management Board,
requires every rigid plastic packaging container, as defined, sold or
offered for sale in this state, to generally meet one of specified
criteria.
   This bill would enact the Plastic and Marine Debris Reduction,
Recycling, and Composting Act and would define terms for the purposes
of that act. The bill would prohibit a  take-out 
 takeout  food provider, on and after July 1,  2010
  2012  , from distributing  single use
  single-use  food service packaging to a consumer,
unless the  single use   single-use  food
service packaging is either compostable packaging or recyclable
packaging.  The bill would also prohibit a take-out food
provider, after July 1, 2012, from distributing single use food
service packaging to a consumer, unless the single use food service
packaging is also recovered for composting at a rate of 25% or more
statewide or in the city or the unincorporated area of the county in
which the food provider distributes the packaging or is recovered for
recycling at a rate of 25% or more statewide or in the city or
unincorporated area of the county in which the food provider
distributes the packaging.  
   The bill would require a take-out food provider, on and after July
1, 2010, that has a specified minimum customer seating capacity and
that provides trash receptacles for customers, to also provide
appropriate receptacles for the collection of any compostable
packaging or recyclable packaging. 
   A person who produces single-use food service packaging and
distributes that single-use food service packaging in this state
would be required, on and after July 1,  2009  
2011  , to maintain and provide, upon request to any person, a
list of the single-use food service packaging distributed by that
person that is recyclable or compostable.
   This bill would provide for the imposition of a civil penalty, of
not more than $100 per day upon a person violating these
requirements. The total penalties assessed annually upon a person
violating these requirements could not exceed $10,000.
   The bill would require the board to publish annually a list
setting forth any penalties that have been levied against a violator
of this act.
   This bill would require the board to deposit all penalties paid
pursuant to the act into the Marine Debris Reduction Account, which
the bill would create in the Integrated Waste Management Fund in the
State Treasury. The bill would authorize the board to expend the
moneys deposited in the account, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, to provide public education and assist local
governmental agencies in efforts to reduce plastic waste and marine
debris, and for the board's costs of implementing the act.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Plastic and packaging waste represents a significant and fast
growing component of the state's waste stream. California disposes of
more than three million tons of plastic packaging waste annually.
Plastic is the fastest growing component of generated waste,
increasing from less than 5 percent in 1980 to more than 11 percent
in 2003.
   (b) With the sole exception of plastic beverage containers covered
by the California Beverage Containers Recycling and Litter Reduction
Act, little of generated plastic is currently recycled. Excluding
beverage containers, less than 5 percent of plastic packaging is
currently recycled.
    (c) Plastic, including, but not limited to, polystyrene, and
disposable food service packaging litter and the resulting marine
debris present more than an aesthetic problem, as this litter and
debris poses a danger to marine organisms through ingestion and
entanglement.
   (d) This litter and marine debris also presents a serious and
growing threat to water quality, the beneficial uses of the waters of
the state, and recreational human use, and they threaten the ability
of California's waters and the Pacific Ocean to sustain aquatic
life.
   (e) The United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates
that upwards of 80 percent of marine debris originates from
land-based human activities, including littering and waste disposal
practices.
   (f) Each year thousands of Californians volunteer countless hours
to cleanup plastic and disposable food service packaging litter from
public roadways, beaches, parks, and other areas of the state.
   (g) California's aquatic and marine environments are increasingly
threatened by the amount of plastic and disposable food service
packaging that is carried by stormwater runoff.
   (h) Under a consent decree, a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for
trash is required to be developed for all impaired waters within the
state within the next decade. For example, the TMDL for the Los
Angeles River and Ballona Creek Watershed requires that the amount of
trash be reduced to zero to protect beneficial uses.
   (i) The costs to state agencies and local governments to comply
with existing TMDL requirements, pending TMDL requirements, or the
TMDL requirements yet to be developed, will run into billions of
dollars.
   (j) Data collected during California's annual Coastal Cleanup and
the 1999 Pilot Litter Study by the Department of Conservation
indicate that plastic and disposable food service packaging represent
some of the most commonly littered items.
   (k) Disposable food service packaging is used "on the go" when
access to trash and recycling receptacles is most limited. Plastics
generally can become inadvertent litter even if initially properly
discarded, and are carried by wind from uncovered trash cans and
dumpsters, vehicles, and solid waste facilities, including landfills.

   (l) The benefits of reducing, recycling, and composting plastics
and disposable food service packaging will have a direct positive
impact on the California economy.
   (m) A 1993 study by the California Research Bureau concluded that
ocean-dependent industries add $17,000,300,000 and 370,000 jobs to
California's economy, almost $10 billion of which is nonresident
coastal-based tourism.
   (n) Compounding the problem of plastic packaging waste is that
this material is nonbiodegradable, and litter prone (even when
properly disposed, lightweight plastic packaging can be blown from
trash cans, garbage trucks, and landfills).
   (o) Nonbiodegradable plastic litter poses a real and growing
threat to water quality and the marine environment.
   (p) It is the intent of the Legislature, in adopting this act, to
increase the diversion of single use  take-out  
takeout  food packaging while reducing a primary source of
permanent litter and marine debris.
  SEC. 2.  Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 42390) is added to
Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, to read:
      CHAPTER 6.5.  PLASTIC AND MARINE DEBRIS REDUCTION, RECYCLING,
AND COMPOSTING ACT



      Article 1.  General Provisions


   42390.  This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the
Plastic and Marine Debris Reduction, Recycling, and Composting Act.
   42391.  It is the intent of the Legislature, consistent with the
number one recommendation in the state funded report "Eliminating
Land-based Discharges of Marine Debris in California," to designate
responsibility and authority for reduction of marine debris and its
sources to a state agency.

      Article 2.  Definitions


   42392.  For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms have
the following meanings:
   (a) (1)  "Single use   "Single-use  food
service packaging" means single-use disposable products used in the
restaurant and food service industry for serving or transporting
prepared, ready-to-consume food or beverages, including, but not
limited to, plates, cups, bowls, trays, and hinged or lidded
containers.
   (2)  "Single use   "Single-use  
 food service packaging" does not include any of the following:
   (A) Single-use disposable items, including straws, cup lids, or
utensils.
   (B) Single-use disposable packaging for unprepared foods.
   (b) "Compostable Packaging" means a material that meets the
compostability standard in ASTM (American Society for Testing
Materials)  6400   D6400  and either of the
following criteria:
   (1) The packaging is accepted for composting in residential
curbside collection programs available to at least 60 percent of the
households in the state.
   (2) The packaging is accepted for composting in a residential
curbside collection program available to at least 60 percent of the
households in the city or the unincorporated area of the county in
which the food provider distributes the packaging.
   (c)  "Take-out   "Takeout  food provider"
means any establishment that provides prepared food for public
consumption on or off its premises, including, but not limited to, a
fast food restaurant.  "Take-out   "Takeout
 food provider" includes any establishment that has a drive-up
window for providing prepared food for the public. 
   "Take-out 
    "Takeout  food provider" does not include a grocery
store or other store whose primary business is not the sale of
prepared foods and that engages in the sale of unprepared foods.
   (d) "Prepared food" means any ready-to-consume food or beverage
prepared on the food provider's premises, using any cooking or food
preparation technique. "Prepared food" does not include any raw
uncooked meat, fish, or eggs unless the food is provided for
consumption without further food preparation.
   (e) "Recyclable Packaging" means a material that meets either of
the following criteria:
   (1) The packaging is accepted back for recycling in residential
curbside collection programs available to at least 60 percent of the
households in the state.
   (2) The packaging is accepted for recycling in a residential
curbside collection program available to at least 60 percent of the
households in the city or the unincorporated area of the county in
which the food provider distributes the packaging.

      Article 3.  Packaging Waste Reduction and Recycling
Responsibilities


   42393.   (a)    On and after
July 1,  2010, a take-out   2012, a takeout
 food provider shall not distribute  single use
  single-use  food service packaging to a consumer,
unless the  single use   single-use  food
service packaging is either compostable packaging or recyclable
packaging. 
   (b) On and after July 1, 2012, in addition to the requirement of
subdivision (a), a take-out food provider shall not distribute single
use food service packaging to a consumer, unless the single use food
service packaging meets one of the following criteria: 

   (1) The packaging is recovered for composting at a rate of 25
percent or more statewide or in the city or in the unincorporated
area of the county in which the food provider distributes the
packaging.  
   (2) The packaging is recovered for recycling at a rate of 25
percent or more statewide or in the city or in the unincorporated
area of the county in which the food provider distributes the
packaging.  
   (c) On and after July 1, 2010, a take-out food provider that has a
minimum customer seating capacity of 20 persons and that provides
trash receptacles for customers shall also provide appropriate
receptacles for the collection of any compostable packaging or
recyclable packaging distributed to customers with food for
consumption on the take-out food provider's premises. 
   42394.  On and after July 1,  2009,   2011,
 a person who produces single-use food service packaging and who
distributes that packaging in this state shall maintain and provide,
upon the request of a person, a list of the single-use food service
packaging distributed by that producer that is recyclable or
compostable, as specified in Section 42392.

      Article 4.  Penalties


   42395.  (a) Any person violating this chapter is subject to a
civil penalty of not more than one hundred dollars ($100) for each
day the person is in violation of this chapter.
   (b) The total annual penalties assessed upon a violator of this
chapter shall not exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
   (c) On or before July 1, 2011, and on or before July 1 annually
thereafter, the board shall annually publish a list setting forth any
penalties that have been levied against a violator of this chapter
in the preceding calendar year, for failure to comply with the
requirements of this chapter.
   (d) The board shall deposit all penalties or fines paid pursuant
to this section into the Marine Debris Reduction Account, which is
hereby created in the Integrated Waste Management Fund in the State
Treasury. The moneys deposited in the Marine Debris Reduction Account
may be expended by the board, upon appropriation by the Legislature,
to provide public education and assist local governmental agencies
in efforts to reduce plastic waste and marine debris, and for the
board's costs of implementing this chapter.