BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     AB 876


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          Date of Hearing:  April 13, 2015


                       ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES


                                 Das Williams, Chair


          AB 876  
          (McCarty) - As Amended April 6, 2015


          SUBJECT:  Compostable organics


          SUMMARY:  This bill would require local governments to include  
          organic waste recycling facilities in the existing planning  
          requirements for countywide solid waste management.  


          EXISTING LAW, pursuant to the Integrated Waste Management Act of  
          1989 (Act):

          1)Requires local agencies to divert, through source reduction,  
            recycling, and composting, 50% of solid waste disposed by  
            their jurisdictions.  

          2)Establishes a statewide diversion goal of 75% by 2020.  

          3)Requires a commercial waste generator, including multi-family  
            dwellings, to arrange for recycling services and requires  
            local governments to implement commercial solid waste  
            recycling programs designed to divert solid waste from  
            businesses.

          4)Requires generators of specified amounts of organic waste  
            (i.e., food waste and yard waste) to arrange for recycling  
            services for that material. 








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          5)Requires that each jurisdiction to submit a countywide siting  
            element (CSE) to CalRecycle that includes: 


             a)   A statement of goals for the environmentally safe  
               transformation and disposal of solid waste; 


             b)   An estimate of the total transformation or disposal  
               capacity necessary for a 15-year period; 


             c)   The remaining capacity of existing solid waste  
               facilities;  


             d)   The identification of areas for the location of new  
               solid waste facilities that are consistent with the general  
               plan, if the county determines that existing capacity will  
               be exhausted within 15 years, or as specified; and,


             e)   For CSEs submitted after 2003, a description of the  
               actions taken to solicit public participation by the  
               affected communities, including low-income populations.  


          THIS BILL:  


          1)Requires that each CSE include an estimate of the total  
            organics processing capacity that will be needed for a 15-year  
            period to safely handle organic wastes generated within the  
            county.  


          2)Requires that the identification of areas for new solid waste  








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            facilities include organic waste processing facilities.  


          3)States that if the Commission on State Mandates determines  
            that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,  
            reimbursement to local agencies shall be made by the state.  


          FISCAL EFFECT:  Unknown


          COMMENTS:  


          1)This bill.  According to the author: 

               This bill would ensure that compostable organic waste is  
               properly processed by requiring municipalities to create a  
               15-year plan to estimate the amount of compostable waste  
               and to plan for facilities to process that waste.  Without  
               proper planning, California will lose an opportunity to  
               divert millions of tons of organic waste from landfills.   
               Rather than allowing organic waste to rot and release  
               hazardous gases like methane, this bill would ensure that  
               it is turned into nutrient rich compost and environmentally  
               friendly biogas.  

          2)Meeting the state's recycling goals.  CalRecycle is tasked  
            with diverting at least 75% of solid waste statewide by 2020.   
            Organic materials make up one-third of the waste stream and  
            food continues to be the greatest single item disposed, making  
            up over 15% of materials landfilled.  CalRecycle is also  
            charged with implementing its Strategic Directive 6.1, which  
            calls for reducing organic waste disposal by 50% by 2020.   
            According to CalRecycle, significant gains in organic waste  
            diversion are necessary to meet the 75% goal and implementing  
            Strategic Directive 6.1.  Recycling technologies for organic  
            waste include composting, anaerobic digestion, and other types  
            of processing that generate renewable fuels, energy, soil  








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            amendments, and mulch.  

            Compost and other soil amendments that can be produced from  
            organic materials have been shown to improve soil health by  
            incorporating organic matter, beneficial micro-organisms, and  
            nutrients and reduce the need for chemical pesticides and  
            fertilizers.  These products also conserve water by allowing  
            water to penetrate the soil more quickly decreasing runoff.

          3)Waste reduction and GHGs.  According to ARB, a total reduction  
            of 80 million metric tons (MMT), or 16% compared to business  
            as usual, is necessary to reduce statewide GHG emissions to  
            1990 levels by 2020.  ARB intends to achieve approximately 78%  
            of the reductions through direct regulations.  ARB proposes to  
            achieve the balance of reductions necessary to meet the 2020  
            limit (approximately 18 MMT) through its cap-and-trade  
            program.

          Recycling organic waste provides significant GHG reductions over  
            landfilling.  Composting and other organics processing  
            technologies, including anaerobic digestion, reduce GHGs by  
            avoiding the emissions that would be generated by the  
            material's decomposition in a landfill.  Landfill gas is  
            generated by the decomposition of organic materials such as  
            food, paper, wood, and yard waste.  Fifty percent of landfill  
            gas is methane, a GHG that is 21 times more efficient at  
            trapping heat than carbon dioxide.  While most modern  
            landfills have systems in place to capture methane,  
            significant amounts continue to escape into the atmosphere.   
            According to ARB's GHG inventory, approximately 7 million tons  
            of CO2 equivalent are released annually by landfills.  That  
            number is expected to increase to 8.5 million tons of CO2  
            equivalent by 2020.



          REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:










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          Support


          AFSCME, AFL-CIO 


          California Compost Coalition 


          California Organics Recycling Council 


          Californians Against Waste


          Carbon Cycle Institute


          CleanWorld 


          Environmental Action Committee of West Marin


          San Francisco Department of the Environment


          StopWaste


          1 individual 




          Opposition









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          None on file 




          Analysis Prepared by:Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. / (916)  
          319-2092