BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 55|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 55
Author: Corbett (D)
Amended: 5/20/09
Vote: 21
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 5-2, 4/20/09
AYES: Simitian, Corbett, Hancock, Lowenthal, Pavley
NOES: Runner, Ashburn
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Recycling: California redemption value
containers
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill deletes the provisions of existing law
that require the Department of Conservation (DOC) to
establish reporting periods for redemption rates that
require DOC to determine redemption rates for specified
types of beverage containers. This bill also deletes the
definition of redemption rate.
Senate Floor Amendments of 5/20/09 delete the contents of
the bill and replace it with the provisions related to the
deletion of the obsolete requirement to calculate a
redemption rate for beverage containers subject to the
California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter
Reduction Act. The DOC must still calculate a recycling
rate. These provisions were heard by the Senate
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Environmental Committee on 4/20/09.
ANALYSIS : Under existing law, DOC is required to
establish reporting periods of six months each for
redemption rates and recycling rates for specified types of
beverage containers. Existing law also requires the DOC to
determine the redemption and recycling rates for those
beverage containers for each reporting period and to issue
a report on those determinations. Existing law also
contains various definitions for those purposes, including
redemption rate.
Comments
According to the Senate Environmental Quality Committee
analysis, DOC is required to calculate a recycling rate the
commonly used ratio of materials recycled divided by
materials sold, which is a true indicator of program
activities. The redemption rate calculation considers
postfilled food or drink containers (not included in the
Act) returned for recycling, in addition to empty beverage
containers (included in the Act) returned for recycling.
The recycling rate calculation only considers empty
beverage containers returned for recycling. In this
respect, the redemption rate does not actually depict the
success of the Act because it includes material that is
outside of its scope.
The author's office notes that when the law was first
enacted, glass and PET beverage container manufacturers
operated monopoly programs for the processing of their
containers. The law contained an automatic trigger that
would result in an increase in refund value if a specified
return rate was not achieved. In order to ensure that the
beverage containers continued to promote the recycling of
all glass and PET (crv and non-crv), the redemption rate
formula was developed in order to provide a modest
incentive to support all containers recycling. The initial
trigger used a 65 percent redemption rate.
Today, the triggers have been eliminated and the beverage
container manufacturers no longer have an exclusive
monopoly on processing. There is no longer any legal or
practical justification for DOC to calculate a redemption
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rate. The continued existence of the calculation only
causes confusion among the public and other program
observers as to what the correct return rate is.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/12/09)
Allan Company
Californians Against Waste
Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries
Tomra Pacific, Inc.
TSM:cm 5/22/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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