BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2176
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 20, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Pedro Nava, Chair
AB 2176 (Blumenfield) - As Amended: April 14, 2010
SUBJECT : Hazardous waste: lighting products.
SUMMARY : Enacts the California Lighting Toxics Reduction and
Jobs in Recycling Act (Act), which establishes a producer
responsibility program for mercury-containing lamps and a fee
program for inefficient lamps. Specifically, this bill :
1)Enacts the Act and establishes legislative intent to require
the recycling of all unwanted mercury-containing lamps by
January 1, 2020.
2)Defines terms for the purposes of the Act , including:
a) "Class 1 lamp" as a lamp containing mercury; and
b) "Class 2 lamp" as a lamp that produces fewer than 45
lumens per watt.
3)Establishes a product stewardship program for class 1 lamps:
a) Requires, on or before September 30, 2011, a producer of
a class 1 lamp, either individually or jointly with other
producers, to submit a product stewardship program plan
(plan) to the Department of Toxic Substances Control
(DTSC).
b) Requires the plan to meet specified requirements, such
as the plan must include information about the participants
of the plan; include a collection system; include
educational and outreach efforts; include a processing and
disposal system (for which no federal or state prison labor
can be used); include a financing system; include plans to
minimize the environmental impacts of covered lamps;
include a list of collection sites; reasonably demonstrate
how the product stewardship program will contribute toward
achieving the goal of recycling all unwanted
mercury-containing lamps by January 1, 2020; and comply
with universal waste regulations.
c) Sets plan approval timelines and requirements.
d) Requires, on or before January 1, 2012, a producer or
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designated stewardship organization to implement the plan
approved by DTSC.
e) Requires, at least once every four years, the plan
operator to update and submit the plan.
f) Requires, on or before April 1, 2013, and annually
thereafter, the plan operator to prepare and submit to DTSC
a report for the immediately preceding reporting period
describing the effectiveness of the program.
g) Requires all reports submitted to DTSC to be made
available on DTSC's website and at DTSC's headquarters.
h) Requires the person that submits a plan to DTSC to enter
into an agreement with DTSC to pay DTSC for the costs
incurred by DTSC associated with the review, implementation
and enforcement of the plan.
4)Establishes a fee program for class 2 lamps .
a) Requires, on or before January 30, 2012, and annually
thereafter, a producer of a class 2 lamp to pay to the
California Energy Commission (CEC) the fee established by
the CEC.
b) Requires, on or before June 30, 2011, and annually
thereafter, a producer of a class 2 lamp to provide to the
CEC a written report with the number and efficiency, in
lumens per watt, of each model of class 2 lamps sold in the
state during the previous calendar year.
c) Requires, on or before December 1, 2011, the CEC to
adopt regulations for:
i) Determining the total environmental impact of a
class 2 lamp according to the relative efficiency of each
type of class 2 lamp; and
ii) Setting the amount of the fee based on the total
environmental impact of that type of class 2 lamp
according to the relative efficiency of that class 2
lamps.
d) Requires the regulations to require the CEC to set the
amount of the payment at a level necessary to provide
sufficient funds to implement the requirements of the bill,
including administrative costs.
e) Requires the CEC to assess the fee upon each producer of
a class 2 lamp based on the total sales of class 2 lamps by
that producer in the state.
f) Requires the CEC to deposit all fee revenues collected
in to the Energy Efficiency Research Fund.
g) Authorizes the funds in the Energy Efficiency Research
Fund to be expended by the CEC to provide grants for energy
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efficiency and environmental impact mitigation programs.
5)Reporting requirements .
a) Requires, on or before January 1, 2012, DTSC to issue
and post on its website a report concerning the status of
the collective product stewardship programs.
b) Requires, on or before October 1, 2013, and annually
thereafter, DTSC to invite comments from stakeholders to
ascertain their satisfaction with the program.
c) Requires DTSC, on May 1, 2012, and annually thereafter,
to provide information on its website including lists of
producers participating in an approved product stewardship
program, producers that have paid the fee, and producers
identified by DTSC as noncompliant.
6)Prohibitions .
a) Prohibits, on and after January 1, 2012, a producer,
wholesaler, or retailer from selling or offering for sale a
class 1 lamp to a person in this state unless the producer
of that class 1 lamp is participating in a product
stewardship program under a plan approved by DTSC.
b) Prohibits, on and after February 1,2010, a producer,
wholesaler, or retailer from selling or offering for sale a
class 2 lamp to a person in this state unless the producer
of that class 2 lamp has paid the fee required.
7)Enforcement requirements . Requires DTSC to send written
notices and issue compliance orders with a schedule for
achieving compliance to violators of the Act.
8)Authorizes DTSC, under Green Chemistry provisions, to further
regulate lamps.
9)Makes legislative findings and declarations.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Pursuant to California Code of Regulations, Title 22, Division
4.5, Chapter 23, prohibits the disposal of some common or
"universal" wastes in solid waste landfills. Universal wastes
are hazardous wastes that are generated by a wide variety of
sources that contain mercury, lead, cadmium, copper and other
substances hazardous to human and environmental health.
2)Pursuant to Health and Safety Code 25251 et seq., requires
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DTSC to adopt regulations by January 1, 2011, to identify and
prioritize chemicals of concern, to evaluate alternatives, and
to specify regulatory responses, including product stewardship
programs.
3)Pursuant to the California Lighting Efficiency and Toxics
Reduction Act (Health and Safety Code 25210.9 and Public
Resources Code 25402.5.4. et seq.):
a) Prohibits the manufacture, on or after January 1, 2010,
of general purpose lights, as defined, for sale that
contain levels of hazardous substances prohibited in the
European Union (EU) pursuant to the RoHS Directive
("Restriction on the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in
Electrical and Electronic Equipment" or Directive
2002/95/EC.)
b) Prohibits the sale of general purpose lights, on or
after January 1, 2010, under the following circumstances:
the lights would be prohibited in the EU pursuant to the
RoHS Directive; the manufacturer has not provided specified
information about the lights to the DTSC; and the lights
are not certified as being free of levels of hazardous
substances that would prohibit their sale in California.
c) Required DTSC to convene a task force to consider and
make recommendations, on or before September 1, 2008, on
the proper collection and recycling of end-of-life general
purpose lights.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS :
Purpose of the bill : According to the author's office,
"Lighting is a significant source of environmental mercury
contamination. Although [compact fluorescent lamps] CFLs use
75% less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs, if thrown
in the trash, CFLs can expose people and the environment to
harmful mercury vapor because they contain mercury in the bulb.
Currently, 90% of CFLs are not recycled in California. One of
the principle reasons for a low recycling rate is that the
disposal and recycling opportunities for CFLs are currently
inconvenient or non-existent for most consumers. In addition to
the health and environmental impacts from mercury, incandescent
bulbs have a variety of other environmental impacts including
contributing to global warming, heavy metal emissions,
particulate matter emissions as well as nitrogen oxide (NOx) and
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sulfur oxide (SOx) emissions. All of these impacts impose
serious health and regulatory burdens on the State. It is
therefore important to encourage the movement toward energy
efficient bulbs, or CFLs, while encouraging their proper
handling at end-of-life."
Health effects of mercury exposure : Under the Safe Drinking
Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65),
mercury and mercury compounds were listed in 1990 as
reproductive toxicants. According to the US EPA, mercury
exposure at high levels can harm the brain, heart, kidneys,
lungs, and immune system of people of all ages.
Universal waste: Universal wastes are hazardous wastes that are
ubiquitous and contain mercury, lead, cadmium, copper and other
substances hazardous to human and environmental health. In
general, universal waste may not be discarded in solid waste
landfills. Examples of these wastes are batteries, fluorescent
tubes, and most electronic devices. Under California's
Universal Waste Rule, households were allowed to dispose of
fluorescent lamps, batteries, mercury thermostats, and
electronic devices in the trash through February 8, 2006. While
these products are now prohibited in landfills, many consumers
dispose of them in the trash, creating an enormous cost and
resource burden on local jurisdictions. For example, the County
of Santa Clara spent $150,000 to collect and recycle 81,000
pounds of fluorescent lighting alone in fiscal year 2008/09.
Product stewardship: According to the USEPA, product
stewardship is a product-centered approach to environmental
protection. Also known as extended product responsibility
(EPR), product stewardship calls on those in the product life
cycle-manufacturers, retailers, users, and disposers-to share
responsibility for reducing the environmental impacts of
products. Product stewardship recognizes that product
manufacturers must take on new responsibilities to reduce the
environmental footprint of their products. AB 2176 attempts to
take a product stewardship approach to managing an ubiquitous
waste that is prohibited in landfills.
Support (of the April 5 version of the bill): Supporters of the
bill argue, "This bill minimizes the mercury impacts from
lighting, promotes efficient lighting, provides critical
assistance to overburdened local governments tasked with
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disposing of mercury-containing bulbs, and creates jobs in
recycling programs. Lighting is a significant source of
environmental mercury contamination for two reasons: (1)
electricity consumption from inefficient bulbs leads to
unnecessary power generation at coal fired power plants-the most
significant source of mercury contamination; and (2) some
efficient bulbs, like fluorescent lamps, causes less power-plant
related emissions but contain small amounts of mercury in the
bulb. AB 2176 addresses both sources of mercury pollution from
lighting to minimize the harmful impacts of toxins in our
environment. By requiring producers to set up and manage
recycling programs for mercury-containing bulbs, AB 2176 will
create new jobs in recycling all over California. AB 2176
requires CFL producers, rather than local governments, to
develop, fund, and manage recycling programs. This will ensure
that waste lighting products are kept out of landfills and
recycled responsibly by the private sector - and will protect
taxpayers from paying the price."
Opposition (to the April 5 version of the bill): Opponents of
the bill argue, "AB 2176 would require an expensive and
unnecessary new program for the collection and recycling of
waste fluorescent lamps, which will both discourage the use of
energy efficient lighting and derail the progress made to date
in establishing a practical network of collection locations for
lamps. [Assemblymember Blumenfield's] proposal does not build
on prior work in this area, but rather represents a step
backward. Specifically, [this] bill would place exclusive
responsibility on lighting manufacturers, without any role for
utilities, retailers, recyclers, or government to facilitate or
fund a recycling infrastructure or to generate responsible
consumer behavior. The premise of [this] bill ignores the
consensus recommendations issued in 2008 by the Department of
Toxic Substances Control's Lamp Recycling Task Force that was
convened pursuant to AB 1109." Those with a "support if
amended" position argue for clarification of specific
definitions, including "distributor" and "producer."
Related legislation: Several bills purport to use a product
stewardship approach for various consumer products. These
include:
AB 283 (Chesbro). Creates the California Product Stewardship
Act of 2009, and requires regulations to be developed by July 1,
2011, to implement a program for environmentally sound product
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stewardship protocols that encourage producers to research
alternatives during the product design and packaging phases, in
order to foster cradle-to-cradle producer responsibility and
reduce the end-of-life environmental impacts of the product.
(Held in the Assembly Appropriation Committee)
AB 1343 (Huffman). Creates an architectural paint recovery
program to require manufacturers or designated stewardship
organizations to develop and submit an architectural paint
stewardship plan to reduce the generation of post consumer
paint, promote the reuse of post consumer architectural paint,
and manage the end-of-life of post consumer architectural paint,
in an environmentally sound fashion. (Held in the Senate
Appropriations Committee)
AB 2139 (Chesbro). Creates the California Product Stewardship
Act. Develops a product stewardship program to address medical
sharps, containers used to contain pesticides, personal-use
propane tanks, personal butane lighters, and single-use food
packaging. (Set for hearing in the Assembly Natural Resources
Committee on April 19, 2010)
AB 2398 (J. Perez). Requires, by September 30, 2011, a producer
or the product stewardship organization created by one or more
producers of carpet to submit a carpet stewardship plan which
would be required to include specified elements, including
performance goals. (Set for hearing in the Assembly Natural
Resources Committee on April 19, 2010)
SB 1100 (Corbett). Creates a product stewardship program for
household batteries. (In the Senate Appropriations Committee).
Issues:
1)California's Lighting Task Force: The Lighting Efficiency and
Toxics Reduction Act, established by AB 1109 (Huffman, 2007),
directed DTSC to convene the Lighting Task Force to consider
and make recommendations on methods of collection, recycling,
education, outreach, labeling, and designations for end of use
residential fluorescent lamps. The Task Force released its
findings in September, 2008, which included a list of 13
recommendations. While some recommendations seem to be
touched upon by this bill, such as the education and outreach
program should include a wide range of methods and media,
other recommendations seem absent, such as program
implementation should be a shared responsibility among all
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parties benefiting from the sale or use of fluorescent lights.
Should the requirements of this bill better align with the
recommendations of the Task Force?
2)California's Green Chemistry Initiative: As part of the Green
Chemistry Initiative, in 2009 the Governor signed AB 1879
(Feuer) into law. AB 1879 requires DTSC to adopt regulations
by January 1, 2011, to identify and prioritize chemicals of
concern, to evaluate alternatives, and to specify regulatory
responses where chemicals of concern are found in consumer
products. One of the regulatory responses that DTSC is
authorized to take is imposing requirements for the
manufacturer to manage the product at the end of its useful
life, including recycling or responsible disposal of the
consumer product. Are the requirements of this bill
duplicative to those already granted to DTSC and should light
bulbs be managed through the existing regulatory process
instead of through a separate, newly created program?
3)Fee structure : This bill requires the CEC to adopt
regulations for determining the total environmental impact of
a class 2 lamp according to the relative efficiency of each
type of class 2 lamp; and setting the amount of the fee based
on the total environmental impact of that type of class 2 lamp
according to the relative efficiency of that class 2 lamp. It
also requires the CEC to set the amount of the fee at a level
necessary to provide sufficient funds to implement the
requirements of the bill, including administrative costs. The
goal of the fee is to encourage producer and consumer movement
toward less environmentally harmful lamps, but the bill does
not clearly delineate what is meant by "total environmental
impact."
4)100 percent recycling goal : The bill requires, as part of the
plan operators' report for the immediately preceding reporting
period, a description of the progress toward achieving the
goal of recycling all unwanted class 1 lamps sold by the
producer or group of producers. The bill also proclaims, "The
Legislature hereby finds and declares that it is the intent of
this article to require the recycling of all unwanted class 1
lamps, including orphan lamps, by January 1, 2020."
Therefore, the bill seems to set a goal of recycling all class
1 lamps, however, a requirement to do so is not delineated in
the bill.
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5)Technical corrections : While this bill attempts to create
product stewardship and fee based programs to encourage more
energy efficient light bulbs and reduce hazardous waste
generated by light bulbs throughout their lifecyle, it remains
a work in progress. The Committee may wish to consider making
the following amendments:
a) Require, on page 11, line 11, that mercury collected
through the product stewardship program should be reclaimed
and recycled, rather than disposed of;
b) Clarify, on page 17 line 23, that the requirement for
DTSC to invite comments from stakeholders applies to the
program created by this bill, not all product stewardship
programs; and
c) Clarify, on line 7 and line 13 of page 18, that the fee
being referred to is that in Section 25210.20, not Section
25250.20 or 25201.20.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Natural Resources Defense Council (Sponsor)
Breast Cancer Fund
California Association of Environmental Health Administrators
California League of Conservation Voters
Californians Against Waste
California Product Stewardship Council
California Resource Recovery Association
Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority
City and County of San Francisco
County of Santa Clara- Board of Supervisors
Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Working Group
Environment California
Napa County
Planning and Conservation League
Stop Waste
Support if amended
Pacific Gas and Electric
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San Diego Gas and Electric
Southern California Edison
Opposition
General Electric Lighting
OSRAM Sylvania, Inc.
Phillips
Analysis Prepared by : Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965