BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 254
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator Jerry Hill, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 254
AUTHOR: Hancock and Correa
AMENDED: April 15, 2013
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: April 17, 2013
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Joanne Roy
SUBJECT : SOLID WASTE: RECYCLING: USED MATTRESSES
SUMMARY :
Existing law :
1) Under the California Integrated Waste Management Act of
1989, requires each city or county source reduction and
recycling element to include an implementation schedule that
shows a city or county must divert 25% of solid waste from
landfill disposal or transformation by January 1, 1995,
through source reduction, recycling, and composting
activities, and must divert 50% of solid waste on and after
January 1, 2000. (Public Resources Code �41780). It is a
policy goal of the state that not less than 75% of solid
waste be source reduced, recycled, or composted by 2020, and
annually thereafter. (Public Resources Code �41780.01).
2) Pursuant to the Dry Cell Battery Management Act, establishes
requirements for the production and labeling of consumer
products with dry cell batteries and sets limits for the
amount of mercury in those batteries. (�15000 et seq.).
3) Pursuant to the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Act,
establishes a mandatory take-back program for rechargeable
batteries at retail locations. (�42451 et seq.).
4) Pursuant to the Product Stewardship for Carpets Program,
requires manufacturers of carpet sold in California to
submit a carpet product stewardship plan to the Department
of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) that
demonstrates how it will manage its waste carpet. (�42970
et seq.).
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5) Pursuant to the Architectural Paint Recovery Program,
requires architectural paint manufacturers to develop and
implement a program to manage waste latex paint. (�48700 et
seq.).
6) Pursuant to the Mercury Thermostat Collection Act of 2008,
requires manufacturers of mercury-added thermostats sold in
this state before January 1, 2006, to establish and maintain
a collection, transportation, recycling, and disposal
program for out-of-service mercury-added thermostats.
(Health and Safety Code �25214.8.10 et seq.).
This bill establishes the Used Mattress Recovery and Recycling
Act (Act), and does the following:
1) Requires a mattress recycling organization to develop and
submit to CalRecycle for approval a plan for recycling used
mattresses in the state by April 1, 2015.
2) Requires CalRecycle to review and approve, disapprove, or
conditionally approve the plan within 90 days of receipt of
the plan.
3) Requires the mattress recycling organization to begin
implementing the used mattress recycling plan within 30 days
of CalRecycle's approval or conditional approval of the
plan.
4) By January 1, 2017, requires CalRecycle to establish a state
mattress recycling baseline amount and state mattress
recycling goal, which are based on the methodology contained
in the organization's plan and the data contained in the
organization's first annual report.
5) Requires CalRecycle to review, and update as necessary, the
baseline amount and goals to ensure that the program
advances the statewide recycling goal beginning July 1,
2020, and every four years thereafter.
6) Requires the mattress recycling organization to prepare a
proposed used mattress recycling program budget by July 1,
2015, and annually thereafter. Requires CalRecycle to
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approve, disapprove, or conditionally approve a final budget
by September 1, 2015, and annually thereafter.
7) Authorizes a mattress recycling organization to establish a
recycling charge imposed on the sale of a mattress at the
point of sale.
8) Requires the mattress recycling organization to use the
revenue generated by the recycling charge to fund a program
for the purpose of recycling used mattresses in the state.
9) Requires the mattress recycling organization to maintain
minutes, books, and records reflecting the activities and
transactions of the organization.
10)Authorizes the mattress recycling organization to conduct
audits on parties required to remit the recycling charge to
the organization.
11)Requires the organization, mattress recyclers and renovators
to submit an annual report, which includes specified
information, to CalRecycle beginning April 1, 2016.
12)Requires retailers to offer a consumer the option of having
a used mattress picked up for recovery at the time of
delivery of a new mattress to the consumer beginning July 1,
2014.
13)Requires CalRecycle to post on its website a list of
manufacturers and retailers who are in compliance with the
Act.
14)Authorizes CalRecycle to impose administrative civil
penalties on any entity that is not in compliance with the
Act.
15)Authorizes the organization to enter into joint ventures,
agreements, and contracts with third parties for purposes of
implementing the program.
16)Contains definitions for various terms.
COMMENTS :
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1)Purpose of bill . More communities are experiencing increased
numbers of illegally dumped mattresses. The accumulation of
these used mattresses in public spaces, especially if left for
long periods of time, can pose a serious public health
problem. Used mattresses can be a breeding ground for mold
and pests. This bill is intended to reduce illegal dumping,
increase recycling, and reduce public agency costs for
end-of-life management of used mattresses.
2)Background . According to a recent article in the Los Angeles
Times, "Californians buy about 4 million new mattresses and
box springs a year. About half the time, the used mattresses
that they replace end up in a guest room or go to friends or
relatives. Many of the other 2 million discarded units get
dumped on streets or sent to landfills. Fewer than 1 in 10
is recycled for wood, plastic, fiber batting and springs to
be used in other products, such as steel and carpet padding.
Discarded mattresses cause blight on urban streets and are
magnets for mold, rats, insects and other vermin." (Marc
Lifsher, "California weighs mattress recycling fee," Los
Angeles Times, March 28, 2013.)
3)Illegal dumping and used mattress management . According to
CalRecycle, illegal dumping is the act of disposing of solid
waste at a location that is not a permitted solid waste
disposal facility and is usually done for economic gain -
posing significant social, environmental, and economic
impacts throughout the state.
The California State Association of Counties, League of
California Cities, and California Integrated Waste Management
Board requested county administrative officers and city
managers to participate in a June 2006 survey on illegal
dumping and litter abatement. An annual local government
abatement and enforcement cost of $44 million is based on
responses from 35 counties and 37 cities, so the cost is
likely to be considerably higher. The California Department
of Transportation incurs a $55 million annual cost for
highway cleanups.
According to CalRecycle, local governments tend to "view
illegal dumping as a litter/nuisance abatement issue, rather
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than a solid waste issue. Local responses vary greatly
statewide, both in terms of approach and level of activity.
Local code enforcement plays a lead role in some communities,
while public works departments have primary responsibility in
others."
CalRecycle notes that it is "responsible for investigation,
cleanup, and enforcement of illegal solid waste disposal
sites and shares this responsibility with local enforcement
agencies (LEAs)." CalRecycle also established a state and
local Illegal Dumping Technical Advisory Committee to assess
the extent of the illegal dumping problem and make
recommendations to CalRecycle to "enhance the effectiveness
of local and regional responses to the problem."
When used mattresses are properly disposed of in a solid waste
facility, the mattresses are difficult to manage. Their bulk
clogs up equipment and they are difficult to compact. In
addition, after disposal, the mattresses have a tendency to
"float" to the surface of the waste.
4)Recycling and remanufacturing mattresses . According to
information by St. Vincent De Paul, the organization is the
"world leader in mattress recycling. Our Oakland, California
facility was the first commercially viable mattress recycling
business in the world. Today, between our operations in
Oakland and Eugene, Oregon we recycle over 120,000 mattresses
and box springs every year."
The organization notes that mattresses and box springs are cut
open and separated into various components, including cotton,
foam, wood and steel. Through this method, 85% to 90% of a
typical mattress can be recycled. Steel is melted and recast
as new items, foam is chipped for use in carpet pad, cotton
is used in insulation, and wood can be composted or used as
fuel.
Remanufacturing mattresses and box springs generally involves
removing old coverings and materials inside the mattresses
and box springs, and leaving the metal or wooden framework
and springs which are repaired as needed. New padding is
placed over the springs, foam is placed over the padding for
comfort, and a new cover is sewn on in the same way as done
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at new mattress manufacturing facilities.
5)Waste-Management Theories : SB 254 creates a producer-managed
used mattress recovery and recycling program. The bill
requires a mattress recycling organization to develop and
implement a manufacturer and retailer stewardship program to
recover and recycle mattresses at the end of their useful
life in an environmentally sound manner. The bill includes
an advance recovery fee (ARF) to be paid by the consumer of a
new mattress at the point of sale. The fee revenue funds the
proposed program, which is managed by the organization and
overseen and enforced by CalRecycle.
Extended producer responsibility (EPR), and take-back laws in
particular, provides that manufacturers should be forced to
internalize disposal costs and environmental externalities
associated with their products. EPR involves: 1) the
shifting of responsibility (physically and/or economically;
fully or partially) upstream toward the producer and away
from the municipalities; and, 2) to provide incentives to
producers to incorporate environmental considerations in the
design of their products. This bill retains the core concept
of EPR in that producers' environmental responsibility (EPR)
for products extends beyond the factory door to the
post-consumer stage, but is more of a hybrid of two other
waste management theories: product stewardship and advance
recovery fee (ARF).
Product Stewardship is closely related to EPR. Product
stewardship programs usually involve voluntary approaches and
multi-stakeholder dialogues between state governments,
industry, and consumer and environmental groups to arrive at
better management practices for particular products. Product
stewardship differs from EPR in that responsibility is shared
across the chain of custody.
A consumer-financed ARF is an alternative to producer-financed
systems. Typically, retailers forward the proceeds to a
governmental authority that would fund municipal collection
centers and subsidize private recycling operations to make
recycling economical. Tax incidence theory holds that some
of the ARF would actually be absorbed by manufacturers or
retailers, so the burden of funding the new recycling
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infrastructure would be shared. In California, e-waste is an
example of an ARF program.
From the perspective of state and local governments, ARFs may
be considered beneficial because they provide a steady source
of revenue to fund the recycling infrastructure needed to
manage waste, including "historic waste, " which are used
products already on the market when an ARF is enacted. In
California, local governments are generally responsible for
dealing with the illegal dumping of mattresses, which can be
costly to the local governments. For example, the author
notes that the City of Oakland currently picks up and
disposes of approximately 18 to 35 illegally dumped
mattresses per day, which annually costs the city $501,355.
Many manufacturers favor an ARF as well, because it leaves
producers out of the collection and recycling process and may
lead to a steady supply of subsidized secondary materials.
An ARF helps consumers understand that there is a real
environmental consequence and disposal cost for products that
they purchase. Such a fee also helps provide consumer
awareness that pollution is not solely caused by industrial
firms, but by individual consumption decisions as well.
However, some environmental groups may disagree with the ARF
waste-management theory and prefer EPR policies that directly
assign take-back responsibility to producers, on the grounds
that only EPR provides incentives for ecological design of
products. A coalition of United States environmental groups
has asserted, "[a] system that merely collects money at point
of sale and hands it over to a government agency to 'solve
the problem' does little to encourage clean production -
since there are no built-in incentives in the approach to
encourage better design?" (Noah Sachs, "Planning the Funeral
at the Birth: Extended Producer Responsibility in the
European Union and the United States," Harvard Environmental
Law Review, 2006.)
Rather than require CalRecycle to create and implement a used
mattress recovery and recycling program, this bill requires
mattress manufacturers and retailers to do so, which requires
the producers to be part of the waste solution. This bill
also helps ensure proper checks and balances by providing
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oversight and enforcement authority to CalRecycle.
6) Previous Legislation . Last year, SB 1118 (Hancock) would
have established mattress recycling goals for the state with
the final recycling goal of 75% of mattresses in the state
by 2020. SB 1118 required mattress manufacturers to submit
a mattresss recycling plan to CalRecycle for approval and
failure to do so would have prohibited mattress
manufacturers from selling their products in the state. SB
1118 died on the Senate Floor (17-19).
SOURCE : Authors
SUPPORT : None on file
OPPOSITION : None on file