California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 488

Introduced by Assembly Member Williams

February 19, 2013

An act to add Article 3 (commencing with Section 42450.1) to Chapter 8 of Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, relating to recycling.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 488, as introduced, Williams. Recycling: household batteries.

The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, requires retailers of rechargeable batteries to have in place a system for the acceptance and collection of rechargeable batteries.

The bill would require a producer of single-use primary household batteries or a single-use primary household battery stewardship organization created by one or more producers to submit a single-use primary household battery stewardship plan to the department.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: 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) In early 2006, all household batteries were classified by the
state as universal waste and prohibited from being disposed of in
solid waste landfills.

(b) Effective July 1, 2006, state law prohibits most retailers
from selling rechargeable batteries in the state unless they have a
system in place for collecting used rechargeable batteries from
consumers.

(c) Rechargeable battery producers are subject to a mandatory
take-back system pursuant to Section 42453 of the Public
Resources Code, and the Department of Resources Recycling and
Recovery is required to annually report on the estimated amount
of rechargeable batteries recycled in the state the previous calendar
year.

(d) Approximately 80 percent of batteries sold in this state are
alkaline batteries and are not covered under the retail take-back
requirements specified in subdivision (c).

(e) Local governments throughout the state are responsible for
the collection and management of household batteries, and to
manage this hazardous waste, these local governments and
taxpayers pay a range of between eight hundred dollars ($800) per
ton to two thousand seven hundred dollars ($2,700) per ton, or
tens of millions of dollars each year.

(f) Because other types of recycling programs have proven to
have limited success, state and regional governments in Europe
and Canada have adopted producer responsibility programs to
redirect the responsibility for the end-of-life management of
discarded hazardous and hard-to-manage products from local
governments and retailers primarily to producers.

(g) After many public hearings and discussions, the former
California Integrated Waste Management Board adopted an overall
Framework for an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
guidance document as a policy priority in January 2008.

(h) The program established by Article 3 (commencing with
Section 42450.1) of Chapter 8 of Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public
Resources Code, by Section 2 of this act, is intended to reduce
costs to local government, to harmonize the state’s producer
responsibility obligations with other national and international
programs, and to enhance the protection of public health and
environment through safer product design, use, reuse, and
end-of-life management.

SEC. 2.  

Article 3 (commencing with Section 42450.1) is added
to Chapter 8 of Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code,
to read:

 

Article 3.  Product Stewardship for Single-Use Household
Batteries

 

42450.1.  

For purposes of this article, and unless the context
otherwise requires, the definitions in this section govern the
construction of this article.

(a) “Single-use primary household battery” means a household
battery, as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 42450, that is a
primary battery.

(b) “Primary battery” means an electric cell that generates an
electromotive force by the direct and usually irreversible
conversion of chemical energy into electrical energy and that
cannot be recharged efficiently by an electric current.

(c) “Single-use primary household battery stewardship
organization” means a nonprofit organization created by the one
or more producers to implement the single-use primary household
battery stewardship program.

42450.2.  

On or before January 1, 2015, a producer of single-use
primary household batteries or a single-use primary household
battery stewardship organization shall submit a household battery
stewardship plan to the department.