BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1159
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Date of Hearing: April 28, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Luis Alejo, Chair
AB 1159
(Gordon) - As Amended April 21, 2015
SUBJECT: Product stewardship: pilot program: household
batteries and home-generated sharps waste
SUMMARY: Establishes a limited-term product stewardship program
for home-generated medical sharps and household batteries.
Specifically, this bill:
1) Defines "covered product" as a home-generated medical
sharp or household battery.
2) Defines "product stewardship organization" as one or
more producers of a covered product to act as an agent on
behalf of a producer to design, submit, and administer a
product stewardship plan, or a producer of a covered
product.
3) Requires each product stewardship organization to
develop and implement a product stewardship plan.
4) Requires the California Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), by January 1, 21017,
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to adopt regulations that, at a minimum, include:
a. Performance standards for a covered product,
which shall include a minimum collection rate and
appropriate geographic coverage for a covered product;
b. Procedures for product stewardship plan
submittal; and,
c. The appointment of a stakeholder advisory
committee.
5) States that any action by a product stewardship
organization or its members that relates to any of the
following is not a violation of the Cartwright Act
(Business & Professions Code (B&P) § 16700, et seq.), the
Unfair Practices Act (B&P 1700, et seq.), or the Unfair
Competition Law (B&P § 17200, et seq.)
6) States that any action by a product stewardship
organization or its members that relates to any of the
following is not exempt from the aforementioned laws:
a. Fixing a price of or for a covered product,
except related to the product stewardship plan;
b. Fixing the output of production of a covered
product; and,
c. Restricting the geographic area in which, or
customer to whom, a covered product will be sold.
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7) Requires, on or before July 1, 2017, a product
stewardship plan organization to submit a product
stewardship plan to CalRecycle.
8) Requires a product stewardship plan to contain the
following:
a. Strategies to achieve the performance
standards set by CalRecycle;
b. Strategies for managing and reducing the
life-cycle impacts of the covered product;
c. A funding mechanism that provides sufficient
funding to carry out the plan; and
d. A process by which the financial activities of
the product stewardship organization will be subject
to an independent audit.
9) Requires CalRecycle, within 30 days of receipt of a
submitted product stewardship plan, to review and determine
whether the product stewardship plan is complete or
incomplete, and requires CalRecycle to notify a product
stewardship organization of an incomplete plan's
deficiencies and require resubmittal.
10) Requires CalRecycle, within 60 days, to determine
whether a product stewardship plan deemed complete complies
with its regulations, and requires CalRecycle to notify the
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product stewardship organization of its plans to approve or
deny the product stewardship plan.
11) Requires CalRecycle to delineate reasons for not
approving a product stewardship plan, and allows the
submitter to revise and resubmit a product stewardship plan
within 60 days of receiving notice of disapproval.
12) States that any product stewardship plan not approved by
January 1, 2018 is not in compliance.
13) Requires a product stewardship organization submitting a
product stewardship plan to pay CalRecycle an annual
administrative fee, which shall be set at an appropriate
amount to cover CalRecycle's administrative costs.
14) Creates the Product Stewardship Account and Product
Stewardship Penalty Subaccount.
15) Allows CalRecycle or a court to assess a civil penalty
on any person in violation of the provisions of this bill.
16) Requires CalRecycle, by March 1, 2017, to appoint a
stakeholder advisory committee for each covered product to
provide technical feedback, and requires the stakeholder
advisory committee to report to CalRecycle on product
stewardship organizations progress on implementation.
17) Requires each product stewardship organization to
annually report to CalRecycle on the activities carried out
pursuant to the product stewardship plan.
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18) Requires CalRecycle, by July 1, 2023, to report to the
Legislature with evaluations of the product stewardship
organizations, financial information and overall cost
savings.
19) Sunsets the provisions of this bill on January 1, 2024.
EXISTING LAW:
1) Pursuant to the Integrated Water Management Act of 1989,
requires each city and county in California to implement
plans to divert 25-percent of its waste stream by 1995 and
50-perent starting in 2000. (Public Resources Code (PRC) §
41780, et seq.)
2) Requires each city to prepare, adopt, and submit to the
county in which the city is located a HHW element which
identifies a program for the safe collection, recycling,
treatment, and disposal of hazardous wastes, which are
generated by households in the city and which should be
separated from the solid waste stream. (PRC § 41500)
3) Authorizes a city HHW element to include a program for
the safe collection, treatment, and disposal of sharps
waste generated by households. (PRC § 41502)
4) Requires each County to prepare a HHW element which
identifies a program for the safe collection, recycling,
treatment, and disposal of hazardous wastes, which are
generated by households in the city and which should be
separated from the solid waste stream. (PRC § 41510)
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5) Authorizes a county HHW element to include a program for
the safe collection, treatment, and disposal of sharps
waste generated by households. (PRC § 41502)
6) Requires manufacturers of self-injectable medications to
annually submit a plan describing how it provides for the
safe collection and proper disposal of medical sharps. (PRC
§ 47115)
7) Prohibits the disposal of home-generated sharps waste in
the trash or recycling containers, and requires that all
sharps waste be transported to a collection center in a
sharps container approved by the local enforcement agency.
(Health and Safety Code (H&S) § 118286)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS:
Need for the bill: According to the author, "AB 1159 would
establish the Product Stewardship Pilot Program, which would
require producers and product stewardship organizations of
covered products- either home generated sharps waste or
household batteries, to develop and implement a product
stewardship plan?
"Both of these products are widely used, lack convenient
disposal and recycling opportunities for consumers, and have
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significant and indisputable end-of-life impacts?
"The regulations would be performance-based instead of "command
and control", meaning that the product manufacturers would be
given certain performance goals for the program but would be
left to develop the compliance mechanisms in the most
cost-effective and efficient manner possible and meet goals set
by the state."
Extended producer responsibility: CalRecycle defines extended
producer responsibility (EPR) as a strategy to place a shared
responsibility for end-of-life product management on the
producers, and all entities involved in the product chain,
instead of the general public; while encouraging product design
changes that minimize a negative impact on human health and the
environment at every stage of the product's lifecycle. This
allows the costs of treatment and disposal to be incorporated
into the total cost of a product. It places primary
responsibility on the producer, or brand owner, who makes design
and marketing decisions. It also creates a setting for markets
to emerge that truly reflect the environmental impacts of a
product, and to which producers and consumers respond.
By shifting costs and responsibilities of product disposal to
producers and others who directly benefit, EPR provides an
incentive to eliminate waste and pollution through product
design changes.
There are a number of existing, statewide EPR programs for
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various products, including, but not limited to:
Paint stewardship : The California Paint Stewardship Law
(Chapter 420, Statutes of 2010) follows producer
responsibility principles to ensure that leftover paint is
properly managed in a manner that is sustainably funded. Under
the program, manufacturers are required to establish and
finance a safe and reliable system for the recovery and proper
management of leftover paint from residents and businesses.
Historically, paint has represented almost one-third of the
material collected through local HHW programs and costs local
government millions of dollars to manage.
Used Oil : The California Used Oil Recycling Enhancement Act
(Chapter 817, Statutes of 1991) requires oil manufacturers to
pay to CalRecycle an established fee per gallon of lubricating
oil sold in California. CalRecycle can use those fees to
provide grants to industrial generators, curbside collection
programs, and certified collection centers as incentive
payments to discourage the illegal disposal of used oil and
increase used oil recycling.
Mattresses : The California Used Mattress Recovery and
Recycling Act (Chapter 388, Statutes of 2013) aims to reduce
illegal dumping, increase recycling, and substantially reduce
public agency costs for the end-of-use management of used
mattresses by requiring mattress retailers to offer consumer
the option to have a used mattress picked up at the time of
delivery of a new mattress.
Medical sharps: An estimated one million Californians inject
medications outside traditional health care facilities, which
generate approximately 389 million sharps each year.
Improper sharps disposal can affect janitors, maids, pest
control workers, groundskeepers, waste management workers, and
children or household pets among others. Roughly 25% to 45% of
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all facilities processing household trash (besides recycling) in
California have workers hand-sorting recyclable material out of
that trash. A single worker's on-the-job needle stick can mean
weeks of taking drugs to prevent the spread of infection, with
side effects including nausea, depression, and extreme fatigue
as well as months waiting for expensive periodic tests to reveal
whether they contracted life-threatening HIV/AIDs or hepatitis B
or C.
Under current law, a pharmaceutical manufacturer that sells or
distributes a medication in California that is intended to be
self-injected at home through the use of a hypodermic needle,
pen needle, intravenous needle, or any other similar device, is
required to submit a plan to CalRecycle that describes the
actions taken by the manufacturer to support or provide for the
safe collection and proper disposal of the waste devices, and
educate consumers about safe sharps management and collection
opportunities. To date, CalRecycle has received sharps
collection and disposal plans from 24 pharmaceutical
manufacturers or distributors.
Batteries: Up until February 8, 2006, California residents were
allowed to throw away used battery in the trash. However, since
then, all batteries are considered hazardous waste and have been
prohibited from every solid waste stream in the state due to
those toxic materials. All batteries must be recycled, or taken
to a household hazardous waste disposal facility, a universal
waste handler or an authorized recycling facility.
Currently, local household hazardous waste collection programs
are the primary outlet for proper management of universal waste
and other hazardous wastes generated by households, including
batteries. Cost estimates to manage waste batteries average
around $800 per ton (with some costing up to $2,700 per ton),
amounting to tens of millions of dollars each year.
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According to a University of California case study, "Single-Use
Alkaline Battery Case Study," which assessed the extent to which
product life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions might be reduced
through possible product design, manufacturing, and end-of-life
management strategies introduced under a producer's EPR
initiatives, found that "batteries represent a reasonable
opportunity for EPR programs due to the ready availability of
environmental improvements through design, manufacture, and
end-of-life strategies, which may offer California additional
greenhouse gas emissions reductions beyond those expected under
its current batteries recycling scheme."
In 2004, the Legislature enacted the Rechargeable Battery
Recycling Act, which went into effect July 1, 2006, requiring
all retailers that sell or have sold rechargeable batteries to
take back spent batteries for recycling at no charge to the
consumer. Rechargeable batteries only constitute about 5% of all
disposed batteries, leaving room for much-needed policies for
end-of-life battery management.
Arguments in support: The League of California Cities argues
that, "Managing the waste stream is a very expensive and often
burdensome task for local governments. Cities and Counties spend
upwards of $500 million annually to manage products prohibited
from landfills as well as those lawfully disposed of at the
landfill - a cost that local governments ultimately pass along
to the consumer in the form of fees on solid waste services. AB
1159 takes an important first step in better managing
home-generated sharps and household batteries by requiring
product producers and product stewardship organizations to help
address end-of-life issues for their products, thereby keeping
them out of the local landfill and ultimately lowering the
amount of waste that must be disposed in California."
Arguments in opposition: Sanofi, a healthcare and life science
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company, argues that, "? any discussion of recycling or
collection of waste should start by taking into consideration
and allowing for programs and facilities that already exist to
dispose of used batteries and sharps waste as well as
infrastructure that can be potentially utilized efficiently."
Related legislation: AB 45 (Mullin). Requires local governments
to increase diversion of various household hazardous wastes,
including household batteries and home-generated medical sharps,
and meet designated diversion goals for those wastes. This bill
is set to be heard in the E.S&T.M. Committee on April 28, 2015.
Double referral: This bill was double referred to the Assembly
Natural Resources Committee where is passed on April 13, 2015,
on a 9-0 vote.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
7th Generation Advisors
Alameda County
Alameda County Medication Education Disposal Safety
CA Refuse Recycling Council (CRRC)
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California Product Stewardship Council
California Refuse Recycling Council
California State Association of Counties (CSAC)
Californians Against Waste (CAW)
Castro Valley Sanitation District
Central Contra Costa Solis Waste Authority (Recycle Smart)
City of Santa Monica
City of Sunnyvale
City of Thousand Oaks
City of Torrance
Clean Water Action
Contra Costa Clean Water Program (CCCWP)
Delta Diablo
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League of California Cities
Los Angeles County Solid Waste Management Committee/Integrated
Waste Management Task Force
Marin County Hazardous & Solid Waste Management Authority
Marin County Solid Waste Management JPA
Marin Sanitary Service
Metropolitan Recycling (Bakersfield)
Napa County
Napa Recycling and Waste Services
Riverside County Waste Management Department
Natural Resources Defense Council
Republic Services
Riverside County Waste Management Dept.
Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC)
Sacramento County
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Santa Clara County
Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA)
Tehama County Sanitary Landfill Agency
UltiMed
West Marin Environmental Action Committee
Western Placer Waste Management Authority
Opposition
AdvaMed
Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers
Biocom
Biotechnology Industry Organization
California Healthcare Institute
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California Manufacturers and Technology Association
California Cable & Telecommunications Association (CCTA)
CalTax
PhRMA
Sanofi
Technet
Analysis Prepared by:Paige Brokaw / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965