BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1419
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 27, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Das Williams, Chair
AB 1419
(Eggman) - As Introduced February 27, 2015
SUBJECT: Recycling centers
SUMMARY: Authorizes the Department of Resources Recycling and
Recovery (CalRecycle) to revoke certification of a certified
recycling center if it determines that the recycling center is
not open during its posted hours on two consecutive inspections,
and the recycling center has no reportable volumes for a period
of 30 consecutive days. Authorizes the holder of a certificate
that is revoked to request a hearing to be conducted in the same
manner as a hearing for an application that was denied.
EXISTING LAW, pursuant to the California Beverage Container
Recycling and Litter Reduction Act (Bottle Bill):
1)Requires beverage containers sold in this state to have a
California refund value (CRV) of 5 cents for containers that
hold fewer than 24 ounces and 10 cents for containers that
hold 24 ounces or more and requires a distributor to pay a
redemption payment to CalRecycle. Continuously appropriates
these funds to CalRecycle for the payment of refund values and
processing fees.
2)Defines a number of terms, including:
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a) "Beverage" to include, among other things, soda, beer
and other malt beverages, wine and distilled spirit
coolers, carbonated mineral and soda waters, noncarbonated
fruit drinks, and vegetable juices in liquid form that are
intended for human consumption. Excludes from the
definition of 'beverage,' among other things, vegetable
drinks in beverage containers of more than 16 ounces, milk,
medical food, and any product sold in a container that is
not an aluminum beverage container, a glass container, a
plastic beverage container, or a bimetal container.
b) "Convenience zone" to mean either an area within a
one-half mile radius of a supermarket, or an area
designated by CalRecycle at a location where there is no
supermarket but there are two or more dealers located
within a one-mile radius of each other, and meet certain
specified criteria.
c) "Certified recycling center" to mean an operation that
is certified by CalRecycle and that accepts from consumers,
and pays or provides the CRV for, empty beverage containers
for recycling.
3)Requires CalRecycle to:
a) Establish reporting periods of six months each for
redemption rates and recycling rates for beverage
containers and requires them to determine and report the
redemption rates and recycling rates for those beverage
containers for each reporting period.
b) Certify recycling centers and promulgate regulations
establishing a procedure for certification of recycling
centers. Specifies that these regulations shall include,
as a condition for certification, that if one or more
certified entities have operated at the same location
within the past five years, the recycling center must
demonstrate to CalRecycle that its operations exhibit a
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pattern of compliance with the Bottle Bill and its related
regulations.
c) Pay handling fees to supermarket sites, nonprofit
convenience zone recyclers, or rural region recyclers to
provide an incentive for the redemption of empty beverage
containers in convenience zones, and adopt guidelines and
methods specifying a procedure for the payment of these
fees.
d) After deducting refund values, administrative fees, and
a reserve for contingencies, appropriate remaining Fund
monies to designated programs, grants, and fee payments
(PRC Section 14581).
4)Requires certified recycling centers to comply with the
requirements of the Act and:
a) Operate during specified business hours;
b) Post signage that is at least two feet by two feet,
which includes the types of containers that can be redeemed
and the price paid by weight or per container;
c) Notify CalRecycle of any material change in the nature
of the operation;
d) Complete a precertification training program;
e) Accept and pay CRV for all Bottle Bill containers, and
not pay CRV for any container that is not included in the
Bottle Bill or any container that the center knows, or
should have known, is from out of state;
f) Prepare and maintain specified documentation; and,
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g) Comply with all regulations adopted by CalRecycle.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
1)Background on the Bottle Bill. California's Bottle Bill has
achieved an overall recycling rate over 80 percent - higher
than any other bottle bill program in North America.
According to Californians Against Waste, since its inception
25 years ago, the program has resulted in the recycling of
over 11.9 million tons of glass; 3 million tons of aluminum;
and, more than 2 million tons of plastic. In addition to the
diversion from landfill disposal, this recycling has avoided
an estimated 2 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent
greenhouse gas emissions over the last four years.
The Bottle Bill is designed to provide consumers with a
financial incentive for recycling and to make recycling
convenient to consumers. The centerpiece of the Bottle Bill
is the CRV. Consumers pay a deposit, the CRV, on each
beverage container they purchase. Retailers collect the CRV
from consumers when they buy beverages. The dealer retains a
small percentage of the deposit for administration and remits
the remainder to the distributor, who also retains a small
portion for administration before remitting the balance to
CalRecycle. When consumers return their empty beverage
containers to a recycler (or donate them to a curbside or
other program), the deposit is paid back as a refund.
Consumers that wish to redeem the CRV can turn their containers
in to a recycling center, which is certified by CalRecycle to
accept beverage containers and pay the CRV to consumers to
serve a convenience zone. CalRecycle pays 'handling fees'
based on the number of containers accepted to certified
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recycling centers. CalRecycle maintains a list of certified
recycling centers to assist the public in locating convenient
recycling opportunities.
2)This bill. According to the author:
Currently, a certified operator of a recycling center is
required to notify CalRecycle 10 days prior to the
discontinuance of an operation. However, there is no
penalty associated with failing to adhere to this
requirement. As a result, many operators abandon recycling
businesses without informing CalRecycle, which is
problematic for various reasons. First, this results in
incorrect information being provided to the public that a
recycling center is operational when it may not be open for
business. Second, with the perceived existence of more
than one recycling center operating in a convenience zone,
an operational recycling center is unable to receive [the]
handling fee revenue that the site would otherwise be
eligible for as the sole recycler in the convenience zone.
Finally, the current process to declare that a
non-probationary, certified recycling center is abandoned
is unnecessarily cumbersome and negatively impacts already
limited CalRecycle staffing resources.
3 Revoking certification. The process for revoking the
certification of an abandoned recycling center takes a minimum
of 60 days, following an inspection process that takes six to
eight weeks. While certified recycling centers are required
to notify CalRecycle if they close or change ownership,
revoking the certification of a closed recycling center only
occurs if CalRecycle receives a complaint that the center is
not operating or if a center is closed when CalRecycle
conducts an inspection, which generally happens once each
year. This bill would streamline this process by creating a
rebuttable presumption that a recycling center is abandoned,
under specified conditions, while preserving due process if
the owner of a certified recycling center wishes to continue
operation.
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3 Suggested amendment. This bill streamlines CalRecycle's
authority to revoke the certification of an abandoned
recycling center, which is an enforcement action. The
committee may wish to amend the bill to move the bill's
provisions from the chapter relating to administration
(Chapter 3, commencing with section 14530) to the chapter
relating to enforcement (Chapter 8, commencing with section
14590).
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Californians Against Waste
West Coast Chapter of the Institute of Scrap Recycling
Industries, Inc.
Opposition
None on file
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Analysis Prepared by:Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092