BILL NUMBER: SB 524 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 31, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Senator Correa
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to amend Section 25141.5 of the Health and Safety
Code, relating to hazardous waste. add Section 42173
to the Public Resources Code, relating to solid waste.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 524, as amended, Correa. Hazardous waste:
identification and regulation. Solid waste: auto
shredder residue.
The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 requires
materials that require special handling, as defined, to be removed
from major appliances and vehicles in which they are contained prior
to crushing for transport or transferring to a baler or shredder for
recycling. The act requires the California Integrated Waste
Management Board (board), in consultation with specified entities,
including the Department of Toxic Substances Control, to evaluate the
use of recycling residue, which is defined as nonhazardous residue
or residue treated to be nonhazardous that is a direct result of a
metals recovery operation for the express purposes of recycling, for
use as solid waste landfill cover materials or for use as extenders
for currently used cover material.
Existing law, by regulation, authorizes auto shredder waste that
is treated as required by regulation to be used as alternative daily
cover if specified requirements are met.
This bill would require the Secretary for Environmental
Protection, on or before February 1, 2010, to establish an auto
shredder residue working group, comprised of representatives of the
board, the department, the State Air Resources Board, the State Water
Resources Control Board, members of the auto shredder industry, and
other interested stakeholders. The bill would require the working
group to review and evaluate the existing practice of using treated
auto shredder residue as alternative daily cover, determine the
environmental and economic effects of the department's proposed
revocation of the current regulatory classification of treated auto
shredder residue and resulting prohibitions on its use as alternative
daily cover, determine whether the current regulatory classification
of treated auto shredder residue poses a significant threat to human
health and the environment, and recommend changes to statute,
regulation, or agency practice, if any, based on the working group's
analysis.
The bill would require the secretary, on or before December 31,
2010, to report to the Legislature on the findings of the working
group, and would prohibit the department from altering the current
regulatory status quo authorizing the use of auto shredder residue
pending the secretary's issuance of the report.
Existing law requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control
to use specified criteria and procedures for the identification and
regulation of certain types of hazardous waste, unless the department
makes a determination after January 1, 1996, by regulation, that
additional criteria are necessary to protect the public health,
safety, and environment of the state.
The bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those
provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
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) State and federal law require operators of solid waste
landfills to cover disposed solid waste with six inches of earthen
material at the end of each operating day to control disease vectors,
fires, odors, blowing litter, and scavenging. Certain alternative
materials are allowed to be used to meet this daily cover
requirement.
(b) The California Integrated Waste Management Board has adopted
regulations allowing treated auto shredder residue to be used as
alternative cover material. Auto shredder residue is the nonmetallic
residue that remains after the removal of recyclable ferrous and
nonferrous metals from shredder feedstock. The primary sources of
these recyclable metals include end-of-life vehicles and common
household appliances.
(c) Treated auto shredder residue has been used as alternative
daily cover at California's solid waste landfills since the late
1980s. In 2008, over 500,000 tons of treated auto shredder residue
were used as alternative daily cover at California solid waste
landfills. Studies have been conducted that demonstrate the benefits
of using treated auto shredder residue as alternative daily cover.
Conversely, there is no evidence that use of treated auto shredder
residue as alternative daily cover poses a threat to human health or
the environment, including groundwater.
(d) The Department of Toxic Substances Control has announced its
intention to alter the current regulatory status of treated auto
shredder residue. If this action were taken, it would, among other
things, bar the continued beneficial use of treated auto shredder
residue as alternative daily cover, and jeopardize effective metal
recycling. The impact of this action has not been analyzed. However,
it is projected to result in higher landfill costs, increased use of
green waste as alternative daily cover, significant increases in
vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions, and severe
disruption of the metal recycling industry in California.
(e) There has been no meaningful intra-agency analysis of the
Department of Toxic Substances Control's planned regulatory action by
the constituent boards within the California Environmental
Protection Agency.
(f) It is in the best interest of the people of the State of
California to identify in advance the environmental and economic
effects of the Department of Toxic Substances Control's proposed
alteration of the regulatory status quo relating to treated auto
shredder residue, including, but not limited to, the consequences if
the residue no longer could be used as alternative daily cover.
SEC. 2. Section 42173 is added to the
Public Resources Code , to read:
42173. (a) (1) On or before February 1, 2010, the Secretary for
Environmental Protection shall establish an auto shredder residue
working group, comprised of representatives of the board, the
Department of Toxic Substances Control, the State Air Resources
Board, the State Water Resources Control Board, members of the auto
shredder industry, and other interested stakeholders.
(b) The auto shredder residue working group shall do all of the
following:
(1) Review and evaluate the existing practice of using treated
auto shredder residue as alternative daily cover, including
identifying the beneficial economic and environmental aspects of that
use.
(2) Determine the environmental and economic effects of the
Department of Toxic Substances Control's proposed revocation of the
current regulatory classification of treated auto shredder residue
and resulting prohibitions on its use as alternative daily cover,
including the potential adverse effects of those prohibitions or
curtailments on recycling.
(3) Determine whether the current regulatory classification of
treated auto shredder residue poses a significant threat to human
health or the environment.
(4) Recommend changes to statute, regulation, or agency practice,
if any, based on the results of the working group's analysis.
(c) On or before December 1, 2010, the Secretary for Environmental
Protection shall report to the Legislature on the findings and
recommendations of the auto shredder residue working group.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Department of
Toxic Substances Control shall not alter the current regulatory
status quo authorizing the use of auto shredder residue as
alternative daily cover pending the issuance of the report by the
Secretary for Environmental Protection pursuant to subdivision (c).
All matter omitted in this version of the bill appears in the
bill as introduced in Senate, February 27, 2009 (JR11)