BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 876
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
876 (McCarty) - As Amended April 6, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
Yes
SUMMARY:
This bill requires local governments to include organic waste
recycling facilities in existing planning requirements for
countywide solid waste management. Specifically, this bill:
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1)Requires that each county siting element (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
facilities to specifically include the identification of
organic waste processing facilities.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Increased initial implementation costs of approximately
$380,000 (special fund) annually for two years for CalRecyle
to advise counties, verify and approve siting elements, and
enforce the new requirements.
2)Ongoing costs to CalRecyle of approximately $200,000 (special
fund) annually.
3)Potential reimbursable state mandated costs in the hundreds of
thousands of dollars (GF) range to counties if this bill is
determined to be a reimbursable state-mandate.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, without proper planning
California will lose an opportunity to divert millions of tons
of organic waste from landfills. This bill would ensure that
compostable organic waste is properly processed by requiring
municipalities to create a 15-year plan to estimate the amount
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of compostable waste and to plan for facilities to process
that waste.
2)Background. 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 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.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
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