BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator Wieckowski, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 901
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|Author: |Gordon |
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|Version: |7/2/2015 |Hearing |7/15/2015 |
| | |Date: | |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Joanne Roy |
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SUBJECT: Solid waste: reporting requirements: enforcement
ANALYSIS:
Existing law: Pursuant to the California Integrated Waste
Management Act (Public Resources Code §40000 et seq.):
1) Establishes a state recycling goal of 75% of solid waste
generated be diverted from landfill disposal by 2020 through
source reduction, recycling, and composting.
2) Requires each local jurisdiction to divert 50% of solid waste
from landfill disposal through source reduction, recycling,
and composting.
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.
5) Requires cities and counties to report specified information
to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery
(CalRecycle) using the Disposal Reporting System (DRS), which
tracks the amount and origin of waste disposed in California
and sent from California to out-of-state landfills.
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6) Requires cities and counties to submit DRS information at
least quarterly to CalRecycle.
7) Requires disposal facilities to report the origins and
tonnages of all material accepted at the facility to the
county in which it is located.
8) Requires recycling and composting facilities to submit
periodic information to counties on the origin, types, and
quantities of materials that are disposed of, sold to end
users, or that are sold out of state.
9) Requires each county to submit period reports to the relevant
cities, regional agencies, and CalRecycle on the origin and
amounts of waste disposed in the jurisdiction.
10)Grants CalRecycle regulatory authority to adopt practices and
procedures related to waste tracking in the state, as long as
the regulations do not impose an unreasonable burden on waste
handling, processing or disposal operations.
This bill:
1) Requires disposal facility operators to submit tonnage
information to CalRecycle, and to counties upon request.
2) Requires recycling and composting operations and facilities
to submit specified, periodic information directly to
CalRecycle instead of to the counties.
3) Deletes the requirement for counties to submit periodic
information, regarding solid waste disposed and diverted, to
cities, regional agencies, and the department.
4) Requires exporters, brokers, and transporters of recyclables
or compost to submit periodic information to CalRecycle on
the types, quantities, and destinations of materials that are
disposed of, sold, or transferred inside or outside of the
state. Authorizes CalRecycle to provide this information, on
an aggregated basis, to jurisdictions upon request.
5) Imposes penalties to any person who refuses or fails to
submit waste tracking information of $500 to $5,000 per
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violation.
6) Imposes penalties for any person who knowingly or willfully
files a false report, or any person who refuses to permit
CalRecycle to perform an inspection or examination of records
of $500 to $10,000 per violation.
7) Provides that liability may be imposed either through a civil
action or administratively.
8) Specifies the types of waste disposal records that are
subject to inspection and copying by CalRecycle and an
employee of a governmental entity; and prohibits a government
entity from disclosing specified information unless necessary
as part of an administrative or judicial proceeding.
Authorizes a government entity to petition the superior court
for injunctive or declaratory relief to enforce this
authority.
9) Requires recovered civil penalties be deposited in the
Integrated Waste Management Account.
10)Requires that reports in this bill be submitted
electronically, using an electronic reporting format system
established by CalRecycle.
11)Exempts specified waste disposal records from disclosure
under the California Public Records Act.
Background
1) Statewide waste diversion goals. 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.
CalRecycle is tasked with diverting from landfills at least 75%
of solid waste statewide by 2020 through source reduction,
recycling and composting. Source reduction, or waste
prevention, is designing products to reduce the amount of
waste that will later need to be thrown away and also to make
the resulting waste less toxic. Recycling is the recovery of
useful materials, such as paper, glass, plastic, and metals,
from the trash to use to make new products reducing the
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amount of virgin raw materials needed. Composting involves
collecting organic waste, such as food scraps and yard
trimmings, and storing it under conditions designed to help
it break down naturally. This resulting compost can then be
used as a natural fertilizer/soil amendment.
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 of organic waste, including composting
and anaerobic digestion) are necessary to meet the 75% goal
and to implement Strategic Directive 6.1.
By using and reusing materials in the most productive and
sustainable ways across their entire life cycle, conserving
resources and reducing wastes help slow climate change and
minimize the environmental impacts of used materials.
2) Disposal Reporting System (DRS). Disposal reporting
requirements were established in 1992. DRS is the set of
guidelines that tracks the origin of waste disposed in
California's landfills, and waste sent from California to
out-of-state landfills. DRS is used for: calculating per
capita disposal rate and measuring goal achievement for
jurisdictions; calculating California's disposal rate;
identifying variability in jurisdiction waste disposal over
time; identifying changes in the flow of waste disposed over
time; tracking waste exported out of state; and tracking the
types and amounts of alternative daily cover (ADC) and
alternative intermediate cover (AIC) used at landfills.
In 2007, CalRecycle implemented an electronic DRS (eDRS), which
simplified the process for disposal facility operators, local
governments, and CalRecycle. eDRS was created to capture,
store, and display disposal information submitted to
CalRecycle. Under the updated system, disposal facility
operators can update DRS directly on an ongoing basis,
allowing counties the option to submit their quarterly
disposal information through an online interface. Currently
22 counties report using eDRS, 30 continue to submit paper
reports, and six are not subject to reporting requirements.
Comments
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1) Purpose of Bill. According to the author:
California has set a goal of achieving a recycling rate of
75% by 2020. Many actions will be needed to achieve that
goal, but most importantly it will be necessary to have
accurate and timely data on waste disposal and recycling.
Currently, data is sent to counties from disposal
facilities and then the counties forward that information
to CalRecycle.
AB 901 would require waste disposal facilities and
recycling and composting operations to report directly to
CalRecycle. They would do so using the electronic Disposal
Reporting System (DRS) that is already in place at
CalRecycle.
AB 901 would also strengthen CalRecycle's fraud enforcement
authority by allowing the imposition of civil penalties
against those who falsify or fail to submit timely,
complete or accurate waste flow information.
This authority is needed because, according to CalRecycle,
two-thirds of DRS reports are late, incomplete, or
inaccurate. Timely and accurate reports are needed if we
are to achieve our goal of 75% recycling. Furthermore,
inaccurate reporting can defraud local jurisdictions and
the state out of millions of dollars in revenue.
Finally, AB 901 also streamlines CalRecycle's authority for
requiring recycling facilities to submit information on the
final disposition of material those facilities accept and
process - by eliminating the requirement that facilities
identify the county of origin of the recycled material they
handle.
2) Disposal Reporting System (DRS). This bill requires that
reports be submitted using eDRS. Existing law, as it relates
to reporting requirements for recycling and composting
facilities has been in effect since 1992. However,
CalRecycle has never implemented the provision that requires
recycling facilities to report on the types and quantities of
materials that they accept. CalRecycle has indicated that in
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order to achieve California's 75% recycling goal and ensure
compliance with organic waste recycling requirements, it
intends to begin implementing these provisions. This bill
updates the existing requirements to ease that process.
3) DRS enforcement. While all counties in which solid waste
facilities are located are required to submit DRS reports,
compliance is a significant issue. Currently 65% of DRS
reports received by CalRecycle are not properly filed. Just
under 30% (126 facilities) submitted their annual reports to
counties late in 2013, and 29 facilities never submitted
their 2013 annual report and remain out of compliance.
According to CalRecycle's report, "State of Disposal in
California" (March 2015), "Statutes and the DRS regulations
lack enforcement provisions. The regulations only have very
limited options for encouraging compliance with these rules.
If a report is late or not submitted, CalRecycle can report
this at a public meeting and publish the names of
non-submitters on CalRecycle's website. Currently, there are
no penalties or other enforcement options. The instances and
long-term patterns of misreporting in DRS highlight the lack
of any effective deterrent mechanisms. Authority for
investigations, enforcement actions, and monetary penalties
would require legislative action." (p. 19).
A number of high profile violations have occurred over the last
several years:
Earlier this year, four former employees of the Ox
Mountain Landfill in San Mateo County were charged with
grand theft of nearly $1.4 million (M). The employees
misclassified construction waste as green waste and
illegally collected fees on the material from landfill
customers. The defendants are also accused of
misrepresenting the weight of materials disposed of by
certain customers and stealing the difference between the
amount they charged consumers and the amount paid to the
landfill.
In 2014, a jury ordered Recology (a waste management
company) to repay $1.3M to San Francisco ratepayers for
bonuses it received in 2008 from the city for meeting
recycling goals. The jury found that the bonus was paid
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based on false information provided by Recology to the
city.
Also in 2014, the Kern County District Attorney filed
suit against Benz Sanitation for illegal disposal of solid
waste on property east of the company's Tehachapi recycling
facility. This case is pending. In 2012, Benz Sanitation
was fined $2.375M for falsifying records. The company
collected residential and commercial solid waste from Los
Angeles County, created fraudulent documents showing that
the trash was generated in Kern County and disposed of the
material in Tehachapi Landfill in Kern County, thereby
avoiding disposal fees for either county.
In 2008, a number of employees of the Kirby Canyon
Landfill in San Jose were involved in a bribery scheme in
which a waste hauler, Resource Development Services, bribed
the workers to allow its trucks to pay reduced landfill
fees. Six employees were arrested, and five were fired but
not charged. An internal investigation found that Waste
Management, the owner of the landfill, lost more than $13M
in revenue.
CalRecycle is tasked with ensuring the safe management of
tires in California, including the upkeep of a waste tire
manifest system. The tire manifest system has similar
enforcement provisions to those in this bill. CalRecycle is
authorized to assess administrative penalties of up to
$10,000/day for violations of hauling and manifest
requirements. According to CalRecycle, increased
administrative penalty authority has resulted in a consistent
decrease in violations since 2009. Similar to the success in
enforcing waste tire hauling and manifest requirements, this
bill proposes to provide CalRecycle with similar tools to
enforce DRS requirements in this bill.
1) Author's amendment. The author wishes to delete the
provisions in AB 901 related to the Public Records Act; and
instead cross reference provisions in the Integrated Waste
Management Act concerning the availability of documents and
protection of trade secrets (PRC §40062).
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Related/Prior Legislation
AB 1826 (Chesbro), Chapter 727, Statutes of 2014, required
generators of specified amounts of organic waste to arrange for
recycling services and requires local governments to implement
organic waste recycling programs.
AB 341 (Chesbro), Chapter 476, Statutes of 2011, established a
statewide 75% recycling goal and required commercial waste
generators to arrange for recycling services and required local
governments to implement commercial solid waste recycling
programs.
SOURCE: Author
SUPPORT:
California Resource Recovery Association
California State Association of Counties
Californians Against Waste
City of San Francisco, Mayor Edwin Lee
County of San Mateo
Inland Empire Disposal Association
Los Angeles County Waste Management Association
Recology
Rural County Representatives of California
Solid Waste Association of Orange County
StopWaste
Waste Management
OPPOSITION:
Los Angeles County Solid Waste Management Committee/Integrated
Waste Management Task Force
Waste Connections, Inc.
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