BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 341 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 341 (Chesbro) As Amended September 2, 2011 Majority vote ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |48-28|(May 31, 2011) |SENATE: |22-13|(September 8, | | | | | | |2011) | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: NAT. RES. SUMMARY : Establishes a state policy goal that 75% of solid waste generated be diverted from landfill disposal by 2020; requires a commercial waste generator to arrange for recycling services; and, requires local governments to implement commercial solid waste recycling programs designed to divert solid waste from businesses. The Senate amendments : 1)Change the 75% diversion requirement to a 75% "goal" and require the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (DRRR) to report to the Legislature on strategies to achieve the goal. 2)Clarify that DRRR cannot impose a diversion requirement above the existing 50% requirement on a local jurisdiction. 3)Move the effective date of the commercial recycling program back six months to July 1, 2012. 4)Clarify that owners of multifamily dwellings may require tenants to separate recyclables. 5)Require that local jurisdictions report on their commercial recycling program as part of the existing annual report requirement. 6)Clarify what constitutes a 'good faith effort' for purposes of implementing its commercial recycling program. 7)Make other related, technical and clarifying changes at the request of CalRecycle. AB 341 Page 2 EXISTING LAW : 1)Requires local governments to divert 50% of solid waste disposed by their jurisdictions through source reduction, recycling, and composting. 2)Requires a local government to have a source reduction and recycling plan that places primary emphasis on implementation of all feasible source reduction, recycling, and composting programs while identifying the amount of landfill and transformation capacity that will be needed for solid waste that cannot be reduced at the source, recycled, or composted. 3)Requires a local government to have a nondisposal facility plan that includes all solid waste facilities and solid waste facility expansions that will help the local government reach its waste diversion mandate. 4)Requires, as of 1994, a local government to have ordinances relating to adequate areas for collection and loading of recyclable materials at commercial, industrial, and multifamily development projects. Prohibits, as of 2005, a local government from issuing a building permit to a development project unless the development project provides adequate space for collecting and loading recyclable materials. AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill: 1)Required, on or before January 1, 2020, and annually thereafter, DRRR to ensure that 75% of solid waste generated is source reduced, recycled, or composted. 2)Required a commercial waste generator to arrange for recycling services to the extent that the services are offered and reasonably available from a local service provider. Defines "commercial waste recycler" as the owner or operator of a business that contracts for solid waste services and generates more than four cubic yards of solid waste per week or is a multifamily residential dwelling of five units or more. 3)Required a local government to implement a commercial solid waste recycling program designed to divert solid waste from businesses. AB 341 Page 3 FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, increasing the diversion rate to 75% will reduce tipping fee revenues by about $20 million per year by 2020. Appropriations notes that the Integrated Waste Management Account has a structural deficit of about $8 million in the budget year and a projected year end fund balance of only $6.2 million. The committee cites unknown costs to achieve the 75% diversion rate; however, Senate Appropriations amended the bill to change the requirement to a goal. COMMENTS : California is a national leader in diverting waste from landfills by currently diverting 58% of all waste, which is well above the state's 50% mandate. The state has achieved this goal in part by increasing recycling opportunities through the Integrated Waste Management Act. Despite the state's high diversion rate, Californians still dispose more waste than the national average. There are measures that can be taken, such as mandatory commercial and multifamily residential recycling, that will decrease the state's solid waste disposal and increase its diversion rate. Additionally, a new waste diversion goal of 75% will help facilitate more source reduction, recycling, and composting in the state. According to DRRR, the commercial sector generates over 60% of waste disposed. As for multifamily dwellings, they generate more than 8% of the disposed waste stream in California. According to the sponsor, there are approximately 7.1 million Californians living in approximately 2.4 million multifamily dwellings. Most of these residents are renters, but fewer than 40% of them have access to recycling services where they live. While a homeowner can choose to recycle at home, a renter who wants to recycle at his/her residence is not able to when the landlord does not provide the opportunity to do so. Additionally, a 2001 report prepared by the California Integrated Waste Management Board, "Recycling in Multifamily Dwellings," concluded that much of the cost associated with providing recycling services at multifamily dwellings is offset by reduced disposal fees. Overall, recycling provides tremendous benefits to the state. Not only does it conserve natural resources, energy, and water, it also creates jobs and builds California's economy and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. According to Californians Against Waste, the recycling industry accounts for more than 85,000 jobs and generates nearly $4 billion annually in wages and produces AB 341 Page 4 $10 billion worth of goods and services annually. A June 2010 cost study on commercial recycling published by DRRR concluded that a mandatory commercial recycling program in the state could generate between 938 and 1,396 new full-time equivalent jobs in recycling collection, support, supervisory, and management. According to DRRR, additional recovery of recyclable materials will directly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Recycled materials can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from multiple phases of product production including extraction of raw materials, preprocessing, and manufacturing. Increased recycling also reduces methane emissions at landfills resulting from the decomposition of organic materials. Analysis Prepared by : Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092 FN: 0002767