BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1435
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1435 (Alejo)
As Introduced February 27, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+----------------------|
|Environmental |7-0 |Alejo, Dahle, | |
|Safety | |Gallagher, | |
| | |Gonzalez, Gray, | |
| | |McCarty, Ting | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+----------------------|
|Appropriations |17-0 |Gomez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonta, | |
| | |Calderon, Chang, | |
| | |Daly, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Quirk, | |
| | |Rendon, Wagner, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Provides an exemption from the Toxics in Packaging
AB 1435
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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: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill would result in minor, absorbable costs.
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
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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 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.
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
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products as assumed when the original TPPA was passed.
Analysis Prepared by:
Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965 FN:
0000506