BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2398
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 5, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2398 (John A. Perez) - As Amended: April 14, 2010
Policy Committee: Natural
ResourcesVote:6-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill establishes an extended producer responsibility
program for carpets. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires, by September 30, 2011, a carpet producer or carpet
stewardship organization to submit a plan, and a report on the
plan annually thereafter, to the Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery (Calrecycle). The plan is to explain
how carpet will be collected at the end of its useful life to
prevent it from going into landfill, and establishes minimum
collection requirements of 50% for 2014 and 70% for 2017, with
a target collection rate of 95%.
2)Directs producers to contact local governments either to agree
to reimburse them for the cost of collecting carpets or to
provide information on convenient carpet collection points.
3)Requires Calrecycle to review plans and deem them "complete"
or "incomplete."
4)Prohibits, effective January 1, 2012, a producer, wholesaler
or retailer from selling carpet unless it has a stewardship
plan deemed complete by Calrecycle.
5)Establishes a fee on carpet producers of an unknown amount but
sufficient to cover Calrecycle's administration of the
stewardship program. The fee is waived for a producer who
achieves a collection rate of 95%.
6)Authorizes Calrecycle to issue an order and schedule for
compliance to carpet producers and to levy a penalty of $5,000
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per day of noncompliance, as well as a separate penalty
against those who sell carpet for which there is no complete
plan.
7)Specifies that revenues from fees and penalties may be used
for incentives to enhance reuse, recyclability, and redesign
efforts and to reduce environmental and safety impacts of
carpet.
FISCAL EFFECT
1) Annual, ongoing costs to Calrecycle of approximately
$275,000, the equivalent of 3.5 PY, to review plans and
reports and monitor and enforce compliance (Carpet
Stewardship Account (CSA), created by this bill within the
Integrated Waste Management Account (IWMA)).
2) Annual, ongoing revenue to Calrecycle of an unknown
amount, but likely approximately $275,000 (CSA within
IWMA). (The bill states that fees collected from carpet
producers will fully cover administrative costs.)
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . This bill creates a producer responsibility
program for carpet, which contributes 1.3 million tons to
California landfills and is rarely recycled. The author
intends the program to reduce costs to local government
related to carpet collection and disposal, to harmonize the
state's producer responsibility obligations with other
national and international programs, and to enhance the
protection of public health and the environment through safer
product design, use, and end-of-life management.
2)Background .
a) Variety of Programs Seek to Manage California's Waste
After the Fact . California has numerous programs to
minimize and manage the waste that results from the many
products we consume. For example, state law requires local
governments to divert 50% of solid waste generated from
landfill disposal through source reduction, reuse, and
recycling. In addition, legislatively established state
programs levy fees on waste motor oil and electronic goods
to facilitate their collection and recycling; require
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retailers of cell phones and rechargeable batteries to
accept them from consumers for reuse, recycling or
disposal; and compels producers of home-generated medical
sharps to develop a plan for the safe collection and proper
disposal of them.
b) Extended Producer Responsibility Tries to Address Waste
Before It Happens . Rather than seeking to manage waste
after it has been produced, this bill seeks to implement
extended producer responsibility (EPR), which addresses
waste generation at the point of product design.
Typically, producers do not consider recycling
possibilities, disposal costs, and environmental impacts
when designing products because public agencies and other
entities, not the producers, bear those costs, which each
year amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. By placing
responsibility for product disposal on the producer, EPR
provides the producer, rather than state or local
government, a financial incentive to reduce the generation
of waste.
EPR was the adopted policy of the now-defunct Integrated
Waste Management Board. The board's EPR Framework, which
was developed and adopted after two years of public
workshops and meetings with local governments, legislative
members, retailers, and producers, was supported by the
League of California Cities, California State Association
of Counties, and the Regional Council of Rural Counties.
c) Carpet a Significant Source of Waste . According to
Calrecycle's 2008 Statewide Waste Characterization Study,
1.3 million tons of carpet is disposed in California
landfills annually, comprising 3.2 percent of all solid
waste. The carpet industry has attempted to address these
issues through a voluntary product stewardship program with
a goal of diverting 40% of carpet from landfills by 2012,
as established with a memorandum of understanding with
Calrecycle's predecessor. However, carpet producers are
failing to meet this goal. In 2007, carpet was recycled at
a rate of 4.7% and diverted from landfill at a rate of
5.3%. In 2008, those rates had fallen slightly to 4.3% and
5.2%, respectively.
3)Related Legislation.
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a) AB 283 (Chesbro, 2009) creates the California Product
Stewardship Act of 2009, which requires the Integrated
Waste Management Board to administer an Extended Producer
Responsibility program of product stewardship. The bill
was held by this committee.
b) AB 1343 (Huffman, 2009) requires manufacturers of
architectural paint to develop and implement stewardship
programs to manage post-consumer paint. The bill passed
the Assembly 48-29 and was held in the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
c) AB 2176 (Blumenfield, 2010) enacts the California
Lighting Toxics Reduction and Jobs in Recycling Act, which
establishes a producer responsibility program for
mercury-containing lamps and a fee program for inefficient
lamps. The bill is currently before this committee.
d) AB 2139 (Chesbro, 2010) establishes the California
Product Stewardship Act, which creates a Product
Stewardship Program of extended producer responsibility and
identifies three products subject to the act--
home-generated sharps, pesticides and nonrefillable propane
cylinders. AB 2139 is pending before this committee.
e) SB 1100 (Corbett, 2010) creates a product stewardship
program for household batteries. The bill is awaiting
consideration by Senate Appropriations.
4)Support . This bill is supported by a diverse coalition, which
includes the California Retailers Association and the League
of California Cities.
5)Opposition . This bill is opposed by several carpet and
flooring producers, who contend this bill will add cost to
business at a time when California business, and those
employed by them, is particularly hurting. These opponents
would prefer continuing to work at carpet collection goals
through the memorandum of understanding process.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081