BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 876 Page 1 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. AB 876 Page 2 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 AB 876 Page 3 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 AB 876 Page 4 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: AB 876 Page 5 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 AB 876 Page 6 None on file Analysis Prepared by:Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092