Senate Bill No. 529

Introduced by Senator Leno

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bloom, Chesbro, and Williams)

February 21, 2013

An act to add Chapter 6.6 (commencing with Section 42391) to Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, relating to recycling.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 529, as introduced, Leno. Recycling: fast food facilities.

The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, requires every rigid plastic packaging container, as defined, sold or offered for sale in this state to generally meet one of specified criteria.

This bill would enact the Plastic and Marine Pollution Reduction, Recycling, and Composting Act and would define terms for the purposes of that act.

The bill would define the term “fast food facility” with reference to specified federal requirements for the posting of calories and nutrients imposed upon restaurants and other retail food establishments. The bill would prohibit a fast food facility, on and after July 1, 2014, from distributing disposable food service packaging or a single-use carryout bag to a consumer, unless the disposable food service packaging or single-use carryout bag meets the criteria for either compostable packaging or recyclable packaging specified in the bill. The bill would also prohibit such a facility, on and after July 1, 2016, from distributing disposable food service packaging or a single-use carryout bag to a consumer, unless the fast food facility demonstrates to satisfaction of the department that the disposable food service packaging or single-use carryout bag is recovered for composting or recovered for recycling at a rate of 25 percent or more, at a rate of 50 percent on and after July 1, 2018, and at a rate of 75 percent or more on or after July 1, 2020

The bill would provide for the imposition of a civil penalty upon a person in violation of the act and would require the department to publish annually a list setting forth any penalties that have been levied against a violator of this act.

This bill would require the department to deposit all penalties paid pursuant to the act into the Marine Pollution Reduction Account, which the bill would create in the Integrated Waste Management Fund in the State Treasury. The bill would authorize the department to expend the moneys deposited in the account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to provide public education and assist local governmental agencies in efforts to reduce plastic waste and marine pollution, and for the department’s costs of implementing the act.

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) Plastic and packaging waste represents a significant and
fast-growing component of the state’s waste stream. California
disposes of more than three million tons of plastic packaging waste
annually. Plastic is the fastest growing component of generated
waste, increasing from less than 5 percent in 1980 to more than
11 percent in 2003.

(b) With the sole exception of plastic beverage containers
covered by the California Beverage Containers Recycling and
Litter Reduction Act, little of generated plastic is currently
recycled. Excluding beverage containers, less than 5 percent of
plastic packaging is currently recycled.

(c) Disposable food service packaging is used “on the go” when
access to trash and recycling receptacles is most limited. Plastics
generally can become inadvertent litter even if initially properly
discarded, and are carried by wind from uncovered trash cans and
dumpsters, vehicles, and solid waste facilities, including landfills.

(d) Compounding the problem of plastic packaging waste is
that this material is nonbiodegradable.

(e) The United States Environmental Protection Agency
estimates that upwards of 80 percent of litter and marine pollution
originates from land-based human activities, including littering,
stormwater runoff, and ineffective waste disposal practices.

(f) Data collected during California’s annual Coastal Cleanup
Day indicate that plastic and other disposable food service
packaging represent some of the most commonly littered items.

(g) Each year thousands of Californians volunteer countless
hours to clean up plastic and other disposable food service
packaging litter from public roadways, beaches, parks, and other
areas of the state.

(h) Under a consent decree entered into by the Region IX of the
United States Environmental Protection Agency and several
environmental groups on March 22, 1999, (Heal the Bay et al v.
Browner (98-4825 SBA)), among other things, a Total Maximum
Daily Load (TMDL) for trash is required to be developed for all
impaired waters within the state within the next decade. Adopted
and proposed TMDLs have required that the amount of trash be
reduced to zero to protect beneficial uses. The State Water
Resources Control Board is also drafting a statewide policy on
trash.

(i) The costs to state agencies and local governments to comply
with existing TMDL requirements, pending TMDL requirements,
or the TMDL requirements yet to be developed, will run into
billions of dollars.

(j) The benefits of reducing, recycling, and composting plastic
and other disposable food service packaging will have a direct
positive impact on the California economy.

(k) In 2012, the California Ocean Protection Council determined
that ocean-dependent industries add more than forty billion dollars
($40,000,000,000) to California’s economy. A 2005 report by the
National Ocean Economics Program estimated more than 400,000
jobs are based on coastal tourism and recreation, with combined
wages of nearly ten billion dollars ($10,000,000,000).

(l) Nondegradable plastics, including, but not limited to,
polystyrene and other disposable food service packaging, and the
resulting marine pollution pose a threat to water quality and marine
wildlife through ingestion and entanglement. A 2012 study by the
Convention on Biological Diversity estimated that 663 species
were affected by plastic marine pollution through entanglement
or ingestion, a 40 percent increase from 1998 estimates.

(m) It is the intent of the Legislature, in adopting this act, to
reduce a primary source of marine pollution by increasing the
diversion of plastic and other disposable food service packaging.

SEC. 2.  

Chapter 6.6 (commencing with Section 42391) is added
to Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, to read:

 

Chapter  6.6. Plastic and Marine Pollution Reduction,
Recycling, and Composting Act

 

Article 1.  General Provisions

 

42391.  

This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the
“Plastic and Marine Pollution Reduction, Recycling, and
Composting Act.”

42392.  

It is the intent of the Legislature, consistent with the
number one recommendation in the state-funded report
“Eliminating Land-based Discharges of Marine Debris in
California,” to designate responsibility and authority for reduction
of marine debris and its sources to a state agency.

 

Article 2.  Definitions

 

42393.  

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms
have the following meanings:

(a) “Compostable packaging” means a material that meets all
of the following criteria:

(1) The packaging distributed with food for in-store consumption
by the fast food facility is accepted back for composting by that
fast food facility.

(2) The packaging is accepted for composting in a residential
collection program available to at least 75 percent of the households
in the jurisdiction in which it is distributed, as determined by the
department.

(3) The packaging is made of a material that meets the American
Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standard Specification
for Compostable Plastics D6400, as published in September 2004.
For purposes of this paragraph, an ASTM standard specification
does not include an ASTM Standard Guide, a Standard Practice,
or a Standard Test Method.

(b) (1) “Disposable food service packaging” means single-use
disposable products used by a fast food facility for serving or
transporting prepared and ready-to-consume food or beverages.

(2) “Disposable food service packaging” includes, but is not
limited to, plates, cups, bowls, trays, and hinged or lidded
containers.

(c) “Disposable food service packaging” does not include such
single-use disposable items such as straws, cup lids, or utensils,
or single-use disposable packaging for unprepared foods.

(d) “Fast food facility” means a food facility subject to Section
343(q)(5)(H) of Title 21 of the United States Code or subject to
Section 114094 of the Health and Safety Code, as it read on
January 1, 2013.

(e) “Food facility” has the same meaning as defined in Section
113789 of the Health and Safety Code.

(f) (1) “Prepared food” means ready-to-consume food or
beverage prepared on the fast food facility’s premises, using a
cooking or food preparation technique.

(2) “Prepared food” does not include raw uncooked meat, fish,
or eggs, unless the item is provided for consumption without further
food preparation.

(g) “Recyclable packaging” means a material that meets all of
the following criteria:

(1) The packaging distributed with food for in-store consumption
by the fast food facility is accepted back for recycling by that fast
food facility.

(2) The packaging is accepted for recycling in a residential
collection program available to at least 75 percent of the households
in the jurisdiction in which it is distributed, as determined by the
department.

(h) “Single-use carryout bag” means a carryout bag provided
by a fast food facility to a customer to contain prepared food at
the point of sale.

 

Article 3.  Packaging Waste Reduction and Recycling
Responsibilities

 

42394.  

(a) On and after July 1, 2014, a fast food facility shall
not distribute disposable food service packaging or a single-use
carryout bag to a consumer, unless the disposable food service
packaging or single-use carryout bag meets the criteria for either
compostable packaging or recyclable packaging.

(b) On and after July 1, 2016, a fast food facility shall not
distribute disposable food service packaging or a single-use
carryout bag to a consumer, unless the fast food facility
demonstrates to the satisfaction of the department that the
disposable food service packaging or single-use carryout bag is
recovered for composting or recovered for recycling at a rate of
25 percent or more.

(c) On and after July 1, 2018, a fast food facility shall not
distribute disposable food service packaging or a single-use
carryout bag to a consumer, unless the fast food facility
demonstrates to the satisfaction of the department that the
disposable food service packaging or single-use carryout bag is
recovered for composting or recovered for recycling at a rate of
50 percent or more.

(d) On and after July 1, 2020, a fast food facility shall not
distribute disposable food service packaging or a single-use
carryout bag to a consumer, unless the fast food facility
demonstrates to the satisfaction of the department that the
disposable food service packaging or single-use carryout bag is
recovered for composting or recovered for recycling at a rate of
75 percent or more.

 

Article 4.  Penalties

 

42395.  

(a) A person who violates this chapter is subject to a
civil penalty of not more than one hundred dollars ($100) for each
day the person is in violation of this chapter.

(b) The total annual penalties assessed upon a violator of this
chapter shall not exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

(c) On or before July 1, 2015, and on or before July 1 annually
thereafter, the department shall publish a list setting forth any
penalties that have been levied against a violator of this chapter
in the preceding calendar year, for failure to comply with the
requirements of this chapter.

(d) The department shall deposit all penalties or fines paid
pursuant to this section into the Marine Pollution Reduction
Account, which is hereby created in the Integrated Waste
Management Fund in the State Treasury. The moneys deposited
in the Marine Pollution Reduction Account may be expended by
the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to provide
public education and assist local governmental agencies in efforts
to reduce plastic waste and marine debris, and for the department’s
costs of implementing this chapter.