BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1435
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Date of Hearing: April 28, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Luis Alejo, Chair
AB 1435
(Alejo) - As Introduced February 27, 2015
SUBJECT: Hazardous waste: toxics: packaging
SUMMARY: Provides an exemption from the Toxics in Packaging
Prevention Act (TPPA) for glass beverage, food or drink
containers.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Prohibits a manufacturer, supplier or person from offering for
sale or for promotional purposes a package that includes an
intentionally introduced regulated metal or in which the sum
of the incidental total concentration levels of the regulated
metals exceeds 100 parts per million by weight.
2)Exempts, until January 1, 2010, packaging from having to
comply with the prohibition, if the packaging contains no
intentionally introduced regulated metals but exceeds the
maximum concentration level because of the addition of a
recycled material.
FISCAL EFFECT: Not Known.
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COMMENTS:
Need for the bill: According to the author, "AB 1435 will remove
an inconsistency in our environmental laws and will preserve the
state's recycling program, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and
protect manufacturing jobs by appropriately exempting glass
containers from the California Toxics in Packaging Law. Glass
containers do not belong in the statute because studies show
that glass is safe and does not leach heavy metals."
California enacted the TPPA, (AB 455 (Chu), Chapter 679,
Statutes of 2003), prohibiting, on and after January 1, 2006, a
manufacturer, importer, agent, or supplier from offering for
sale in California a package or packaging component that
includes a regulated metal, defined as lead, cadmium, mercury,
or hexavalent chromium, if that regulated metal has been
intentionally introduced into the package or packaging component
during manufacturing or distribution.
The intent of this law is to reduce the toxicity in packaging
without discouraging the use of recycled materials in packaging
production. Consumer goods packaging makes up a significant
portion of waste going to the nation's municipal solid waste
landfills. Packaging containing toxic substances, especially
heavy metals, can release those poisonous or dangerous
substances, contaminating the soil and groundwater surrounding
the landfill.
The original TPPA provided special consideration for trace
concentration of lead and other heavy metal that resulted from
the use of recycled content. In the case of glass
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contamination, the residual lead resulted from historic glass
production techniques.
Since the expiration of the special recycled content provisions,
there has been concern about the presence of trace amount of
heavy metals in glass cullet used for producing glass. A recent
study, conducted under the guise of the FEVE, the European
Container Glass Federation, examined the likelihood that glass
with a relatively high level of lead would experience leaching
of the heavy metals into the contents of the package or the
environment.<1> Glass has, under accelerated migration testing
conditions, been found to be a material of high chemical
inertness. The study found that generally glass is an inert food
contact material with limited potential for migration of
elements of toxic significance in the compositions commonly
used. While this study was carried out under the direction of
the European glass production industry and has not been
published or reviewed in the scientific literature, it has
raised the question of whether significant heavy metals,
including lead, are likely to leach from these products as
assumed when the original TPPA was passed.
Argument in support: According to the California Wine Institute,
" The FDA has categorized glass as Generally Recognized as Safe
(GRAS) for food and beverage packaging. Glass is essentially
inert in that it does not deteriorate, corrode, stain or fade
and is therefore one of the safest packaging materials. In
addition, a peer-reviewed extensive study conducted last year by
Stazione Sperimentale del Vetro (SSV) in Italy found that lead
migration from glass was essentially non-detectable, even in
extreme conditions?. The exemption proposed by AB 1435 is
justified by the fact that the Lead contained therein does not
propose a health risk. This is because of the intrinsic
---------------------------
<1>European Container Glass Federation, "Food contact migration
tests and evaluation of risks for human health from hand-made
soda-lime glass containers artificially spiked with lead", June
2014.
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properties of glass; primarily, that a regulated metal which
contaminates a recycling cullet stream will be encapsulated
within the glass and never pose a threat of leaching from the
container."
Argument in opposition: Californians Against Waste raised an
objection to the proposed legislation, "We have reviewed the
scientific research and can find no evidence of a public health
or environmental threat posed by the levels of lead and other
heavy metals normally and historically found in recycled glass
used in the manufacture of glass food and drink containers.
While there is no known public health threat from recycled glass
containing the levels of lead typically and historically found
in and derived from container glass, there may be a potential
risk to public health and/or the environment from the inclusion
of some sources of 'non-container glass' which do contain
hazardous levels of heavy metals and other toxins, including:
CRT glass; Fluorescent tube glass; Solar Panel glass."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Beer Institute
California Labor Federation
California Manufactures & Technology Association
AB 1435
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California Wine Institute
Glass Packaging Institute
West Coast Protective League
Opposition
Californians Against Waste
Analysis Prepared by:Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965