BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator Wieckowski, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 876
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|Author: |McCarty |
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|Version: |6/1/2015 |Hearing | 7/1/2015 |
| | |Date: | |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Joanne Roy |
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SUBJECT: Compostable organics.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law, pursuant to the Integrated Waste Management Act of
1989 (Public Resources Code (PRC) §40000 et seq.):
1) Establishes a statewide diversion goal of 75% by 2020.
2) Requires local agencies to divert, through source reduction,
recycling, and composting, 50% of solid waste disposed by
their jurisdictions.
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 to
arrange for recycling services for that material.
5) Requires each jurisdiction to submit a countywide siting
element (CSE) to the Department of Resources Recycling and
Recovery (CalRecycle) that includes:
a) A statement of goals for the environmentally safe
transformation and disposal of solid waste;
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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) Commencing August 1, 2017, requires a county or regional
agency to include in its annual report to CalRecycle the
following information:
a) An estimate of the amount of organic waste that will be
generated by the county over a 15-year period;
b) An estimate of the additional organic waste recycling
facility capacity that will be needed to process the
organic waste generated; and,
c) Areas identified by the county or regional agency as
locations for new or expanded organic waste recycling
facilities capable of safely handling the material.
2) States that if the Commission on State Mandates determines
that this bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement to local agencies shall be made by the state.
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Background
1) Statewide waste diversion goals. CalRecycle is tasked with
diverting at least 75% of solid waste statewide by 2020.
Currently, an estimated 35 million tons of waste are disposed
of in California's landfills annually, of which 32% is
compostable organic materials, 29% is construction and
demolition debris, and 17% is paper.
In addition, CalRecycle is charged with implementing Strategic
Directive 6.1, which calls for reducing organic waste
disposal by 50% by 2020. According to CalRecycle,
significant gains in organic waste diversion (through
recycling technologies or organic waste, including composting
and anaerobic digestion) are necessary to meet the 75% goal
and to implement Strategic Directive 6.1.
2) Recycling organic waste. For purposes of recycling, "organic
waste" is defined as food waste, green waste, landscape and
pruning waste, nonhazardous wood waste, and food-soiled paper
waste that is mixed in with food waste. Organic material
represents about one-third of the solid waste sent to
landfills even though a large percentage can be recycled or
composted.
Recycling technologies for organic waste include composting,
anaerobic digestion, and other types of processing that
generate renewable fuels, energy, soil amendments, and mulch.
Anaerobic digestion, which produces biogas that can be
processed into biomethane fuel, is particularly suited to
handle food waste. Green waste is more efficiently processed
through composting. In addition to improving the quality of
soil, compost prevents soil erosion, reduces the need for
chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, and enables
better soil water retention.
3) Waste reduction and GHGs. According to the California Air
Resources Board (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
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limit (approximately 18 MMT) through its cap-and-trade
program.
Landfill gas is generated by the anaerobic decomposition of
organic materials such as food, paper, wood, and green
material. 50% of landfill gas is methane, a GHG with a much
shorter life, but much higher global warming potential than
carbon dioxide (methane is approximately 25 times more
efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide over a
100-year time span). Depending on the types of solid waste,
the chemical makeup of landfill biogas can vary greatly from
the biogas produced from dairy farms, municipal solid waste,
and wastewater treatment facilities. 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 carbon dioxide equivalent are released annually by
landfills. That number is expected to increase to 8.5
million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2020.
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. For example, in the case of anaerobic digestion,
the process produces methane from the organic waste in a
controlled environment for use as a renewable fuel, and
results in climate benefits by both reducing GHGs from
landfills, and displacing fossil fuels. Recycling organic
waste provides significant GHG reductions over landfilling.
Comments
Purpose of Bill. According to the author, "AB 876 builds off of
last year's landmark AB 1826, which will divert millions of tons
of organic waste out of our landfills. Processes like
composting and anaerobic digestion take garbage and turn it into
clean biofuels and healthy soil. However, without proper
planning, California could miss out on the significant
environmental and health benefits."
Related/Prior Legislation
AB 1045 (Irwin) would require the California Environmental
Protection Agency to establish policies to encourage recycling
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of organic waste and coordinate the oversight and regulation of
organic waste recycling facilities. AB 1045 is scheduled to be
heard in Senate Environmental Quality Committee on July 1, 2015.
AB 1826 (Chesbro, Chapter 727, Statutes of 2014) phased in
requirements for generators of specified amounts of organic
waste to arrange recycling services for that material beginning
January 1, 2016, through January 1, 2019.
AB 341 (Chesbro, Chapter 476, Statutes of 2011) required local
businesses and multifamily residential dwellings of five or more
units that generate more than four cubic yards of solid waste
per week to separate recyclable materials from solid waste and
subscribe to a basic level of recycling service that included
collection, self-hauling, or other arrangements for the pickup
of the recyclable materials or subscribe to a recycling service
that may include mixed waste processing that yields diversion
results comparable to source separation.
SOURCE: Author
SUPPORT:
Association of Compost Producers
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees
Californians Against Waste
California Compost Coalition
California Organics Recycling Council
Carbon Cycle Institute
City and County of San Francisco Department of the Environment
Clean World
Coalition for Clean Air
Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation
Environmental Action Committee of West Marin
West Marin Compost Coalition
Stop Waste
Individual (1)
OPPOSITION:
California State Association of Counties
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Rural County Representatives of California
Solid Waste Association of North America, California Chapters
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ARGUMENTS IN
SUPPORT: A coalition of support states, "Promoting compost in
California will reduce fugitive methane emissions associated
with landfill and other waste operations and help the state meet
its ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals?The state has made
great strides toward reducing waste in landfills by setting
organics diversion goals. In order to facilitate these goals,
California local governments must now take a more proactive role
in developing the infrastructure necessary to recycle organic
waste."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: Opposition states, "Counties still
have to report each and every year about their fifteen-year
outlook. This seems very repetitive, and we question the need
for information associated with a fifteen-year outlook each and
every year. We also believe a fifteen-year outlook is far too
long and suggest an alternative approach which is a
once-every-five-year report done with a five-year assessment.
We ultimately believe AB 876 remains unnecessary as local
governments are currently required to include information about
organics processing capacity and needs within their organic
waste recycling programs."
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