BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 341
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 341 (Chesbro)
As Amended September 2, 2011
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |48-28|(May 31, 2011) |SENATE: |22-13|(September 8, |
| | | | | |2011) |
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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
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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.
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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
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$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