BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 567
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Date of Hearing: June 27, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Wesley Chesbro, Chair
SB 567 (DeSaulnier) - As Amended: April 11, 2011
SENATE VOTE : 21-13
SUBJECT : Recycling: plastic products
SUMMARY : Requires plastic products sold in the state and
labeled as "compostable" or "marine degradable" to meet
specified standards. Prohibits the sale of plastic products
labeled as "biodegradable," "degradable," or "decomposable."
EXISTING LAW :
1)Prohibits the sale of plastic bags labeled "compostable" or
"marine biodegradable" unless the plastic bag meets the
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard
specification for those definitions. Prohibits sale of plastic
bag that is labeled with the term "biodegradable,"
"degradable," or decomposable," or any form of those terms, or
in any way imply that the bag will break down, fragment,
biodegrade, or decompose in a landfill or other environment.
Related provisions, including definitions and penalties, are
specified. (Public Resources Code § 42355 et seq.)
2)Prohibits the sale of plastic food and beverage containers
labeled "compostable" or "marine degradable" unless the
container meets the applicable ASTM standard specification.
Prohibits the sale of plastic food and beverage containers
that are labeled "biodegradable," "degradable," or
"decomposable," or any form of those terms, or in any way
imply that the food or beverage container will break down,
fragment, biodegrade, or decompose in a landfill or other
environment. Related provisions, including definitions and
penalties, are specified. (Public Resources Code § 42359 et
seq.)
THIS BILL :
1)Repeals the above provisions.
2)Prohibits a plastic product from being sold that is labeled
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"compostable" or "marine biodegradable" unless the plastic
product meets certain ASTM standards. Prohibits a plastic
product from being sold that is labeled with the term
"biodegradable," "degradable," or "decomposable," or any form
of those terms, or in any way imply that the plastic product
will break down, fragment, biodegrade, or decompose in a
landfill or other environment. Related provisions including
definitions and penalties are specified. Provisions relating
to the adoption of a different standard from the ASTM standard
are specified and are more general than those in current law.
3)Contains related legislative intent.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, staff estimates that the Department may incur minor
costs to review updated standards. There may also be minor costs
to enforce provisions of the bill. Those costs are likely to be
recoverable by the Department.
COMMENTS :
1)Background. According to the author, under current law,
manufacture of plastic bags and food and beverage containers
cannot claim that their products are "biodegradable" and can
only claim their products are "compostable" if they meet the
ASTM scientific technical standard for "compostability,"
D6400. Currently there are no restrictions on end-of-life
claims for other plastic products besides bags and food and
beverage containers. Many plastic product currently sold in
the state claim to be "biodegradable," though there is no
technical standard for this term. Numerous studies have shown
that even "compostable" plastic does not quickly bread down in
the environment as one would expect5 a "biodegradable" product
to. Some plastic products claim to be "compostable" even
though they do not meet the technical standard for
compostability, making the material unacceptable in composting
facilities.
The author notes that claiming that plastic is "biodegradable"
is inherently misleading because the environmental conditions
and timeframe required for the supposed biodegradation are not
communicated to consumers. Most consumers will assume that
"biodegradable" means a product will quickly break down if
littered, which is not true even for "compostable" plastics
designed to break down in composting facilities. While
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scientific technical standards exist to verify that a product
is "compostable," there are no such standards to verify if a
product is "biodegradable" because the conditions and
timeframe inherent in the claim of "biodegradability" are too
vague.
2)Purpose of the Bill . This bill will expand the scope of the
current labeling restrictions for plastic bags and food
packaging in Public Resources Code §§ 42357-42359 to all
plastic products.
3)Benefit of the Bill . False labeling of products damages
composting facilities' ability to ensure that their feedstock
material will break down properly and be available for resale
to end users. This bill would help to ensure that composting
facilities receive useable material. Furthermore, many
California consumers contentiously purchase products that have
a minimal impact on the environment. This bill protects such
consumers by deterring fraud in the marketplace.
4)Federal Law . Unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or
affecting commerce are declared unlawful under federal law. 15
U.S.C. § 45 (a)(1). The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
published guides that help to explain the effect the law has
on environmental labeling, advertising, and marketing. These
effects include the labeling of products or packages as
"degradable," "biodegradable," or "compostable."
5)Related Legislation .
SB 1749 (Karnette) Chapter 619, Statutes of 2004, prohibited the
sale of a plastic bag labeled as "biodegradable,"
"compostable," "degradable," or any other form of those terms,
or in any way imply that the container will break down in a
landfill unless the bag meets the current ASTM standard
specification for the term used on the label.
AB 2147 (Harman) Chapter 349, Statutes of 2006, prohibited the
sale of a plastic food or beverage container labeled as
"biodegradable," "compostable," "degradable," or any other
form of those terms, or in any way imply that the container
will break down in a landfill unless the bag meets the current
ASTM standard specification for the term used on the label.
AB 1972(DeSaulnier) Chapter 436, Statutes of 2008, prohibited
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the sale of a plastic bag labeled as "compostable" or "marine
degradable" unless the bag meets the ASTM standard
specification or a standard adopted by the California
Integrated Waste Management Board. Prohibited the sale of a
plastic bag labeled "biodegradable," "degradable," or
"decomposable," or as otherwise specified. The bill prohibited
the sale of a plastic food or beverage container labeled as
"compostable" or "marine degradable" unless the container
meets the ASTM standard specification or a standard adopted by
the California Integrated Waste Management Board. Prohibited
the sale of a plastic food or beverage container labeled
"biodegradable," "degradable," or "decomposable," or as
otherwise specified.
AB 2071(Karnette) Chapter 570, Statutes of 2008, authorizes a
city, county, or the state to impose civil liability in the
amount of five hundred dollars ($500) for the first violation,
one thousand dollars ($1,000) for the second violation, and
two thousand dollars ($2,000) for the third and any subsequent
violation of the of the above provisions.
SB 228 (DeSaulnier) Chapter 406, Statutes of 2010, requires a
manufacturer of a compostable plastic bag meeting the
specified standards to ensure that the compostable plastic bag
is "readily and easily identifiable" from other plastic bags
in a manner consistent the FTC Guides for the Use of
Environmental Marketing Claims.
SB 1454 (DeSaulnier of 2010) is nearly identical to SB 567.
The only difference between the two bills is that SB 567
clarifies a cross-reference under § 42358(c). SB 1454 was
passed by both houses and vetoed by the governor. In his veto
message, Governor Schwarzenegger wrote "I have signed into law
the author's SB 228, which requires manufacturers of
compostable plastic bags meeting specific American Society for
Testing Materials (ASTM)? I think that bill represents a
reasonable next step in providing information to the consumer
and recyclers about the differences in biodegradable products.
I am concerned about the much more expansive universe or
plastic products that this bill would regulate and the
unforeseen consequences that could result from such a vast
expansion."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
SB 567
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Support
American Chemistry Council
California Resource Recovery Association
Californians Against Waste
City of Oakland
City and County of San Francisco
Marin County Hazardous and Solid Waste Management Joint Powers
Authority
Solid Waste Association of North America
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Lynn A. Kirshbaum / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092