BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                       AB 2396|
          |Office of Senate Floor Analyses   |                              |
          |(916) 651-1520    Fax: (916)      |                              |
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                                   THIRD READING 


          Bill No:  AB 2396
          Author:   McCarty (D) 
          Amended:  4/13/16 in Assembly
          Vote:     21 

           SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE:  6-0, 6/8/16
           AYES:  Wieckowski, Gaines, Bates, Hill, Leno, Pavley
           NO VOTE RECORDED:  Jackson

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE:  7-0, 6/20/16
           AYES:  Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  79-0, 5/5/16 (Consent) - See last page for  
            vote

           SUBJECT:   Solid waste:  annual reports


          SOURCE:    Author

          DIGEST:   This bill requires state agencies to include  
          information relating to commercial recycling and organic waste  
          recycling in their annual report to the Department of Resources  
          Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle).


          ANALYSIS:  Existing law, pursuant to the Integrated Waste  
          Management Act of 1989 (Public Resources Code (PRC) §40000 et  
          seq.):


          1)Establishes a statewide diversion goal of 75% by 2020.  


          2)Requires state agencies to develop an integrated waste  








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            management plan on how the state agency or facility will  
            divert 50% of its waste from landfill disposal by 2004; and  
            requires each state agency to submit an annual report to  
            CalRecycle summarizing its progress in reducing solid waste.


          3)Requires local agencies to divert, through source reduction,  
            recycling, and composting, 50% of solid waste disposed by  
            their jurisdictions.  


          4)Requires each jurisdiction to submit a countywide siting  
            element (CSE) to CalRecycle that includes:  a statement of  
            goals for the environmentally safe transformation and disposal  
            of solid waste; an estimate of the total transformation or  
            disposal capacity necessary for a 15-year period; the  
            remaining capacity of existing solid waste facilities;  
            identification of areas for the location of new solid waste  
            facilities that are consistent with the general plan if the  
            county determines that existing capacity will be exhausted  
            within 15 years, or as specified; and, for CSEs submitted  
            after 2003, a description of the actions taken to solicit  
            public participation by the affected communities.


          5)Requires local governments to include organic waste recycling  
            facilities in the planning requirements for CSEs.


          6)Requires commercial waste generators to arrange for recycling  
            services and requires local governments to implement  
            commercial solid waste programs designed to divert solid waste  
            from businesses (including public entities).


          This bill requires state agencies to include information  
          relating to recycling of solid and organic wastes in their  
          annual reports to CalRecycle.


          Background









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          1) Statewide waste diversion goals.  CalRecycle is tasked with  
             diverting at least 75% of solid waste statewide by 2020.   
             Currently, 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. 


             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.


          2) Mandatory commercial recycling.  According to CalRecycle's  
             Statewide Waste Characterization data (2008), the commercial  
             sector generates nearly three fourths of the solid waste in  
             California; and, much of the commercial sector waste disposed  
             in landfills is readily recyclable.  Increasing the recovery  
             of recyclable materials will directly reduce greenhouse gas  
             (GHG) emissions.  In particular, recycled materials can  
             reduce the GHG emissions from multiple phases of product  
             production, including extraction of raw materials,  
             preprocessing and manufacturing.  A cobenefit of increased  
             recycling is avoided methane emissions at landfills from the  
             decomposition of organic materials.


             AB 341 (Chesbro, Chapter 476, Statutes of 2011) sets forth  
             the requirements of the statewide mandatory commercial  
             recycling program, which has the purpose of reducing GHG  
             emissions by diverting commercial solid waste to recycling  
             efforts and to expand the opportunity for additional  
             recycling services and recycling manufacturing facilities in  
             California.  


          3) Recycling organic waste.  For purposes of recycling, "organic  








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             waste" is defined as food waste, green waste, landscape and  
             pruning waste, nonhazardous wood waste, and food-soiled paper  
             waste that is mixed in with food waste.  Organic material  
             represents about one-third of the solid waste sent to  
             landfills even though a large percentage can be recycled or  
             composted. 


             Recycling technologies for organic waste include composting,  
             anaerobic digestion, and other types of processing that  
             generate renewable fuels, energy, soil amendments, and mulch.  
              Anaerobic digestion, which produces biogas that can be  
             processed into biomethane fuel, is particularly suited to  
             handle food waste.  Green waste is more efficiently processed  
             through composting.  In addition to improving the quality of  
             soil, compost prevents soil erosion, reduces the need for  
             chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, and enables  
             better soil water retention.


          4) Waste reduction and GHGs.  According to the California Air  
             Resources Board (ARB), a total reduction of 80 million metric  
             tons (MMT), or 16% compared to business as usual, is  
             necessary to reduce statewide GHG emissions to 1990 levels by  
             2020.  ARB intends to achieve approximately 78% of the  
             reductions through direct regulations.  ARB proposes to  
             achieve the balance of reductions necessary to meet the 2020  
             limit (approximately 18 MMT) through its cap-and-trade  
             program. 


             Landfill gas is generated by the anaerobic decomposition of  
             organic materials such as food, paper, wood, and green  
             material.  50% of landfill gas is methane, a GHG with a much  
             shorter life, but much higher global warming potential than  
             carbon dioxide (methane is approximately 25 times more  
             efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide over a  
             100-year time span).  Depending on the types of solid waste,  
             the chemical makeup of landfill biogas can vary greatly from  
             the biogas produced from dairy farms, municipal solid waste,  
             and wastewater treatment facilities.  While most modern  
             landfills have systems in place to capture methane,  








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             significant amounts continue to escape into the atmosphere.   
             According to ARB's GHG inventory, approximately seven million  
             tons of carbon dioxide equivalent are released annually by  
             landfills.  That number is expected to increase to 8.5  
             million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2020.


             Composting and other organics processing technologies,  
             including anaerobic digestion, reduce GHGs by avoiding the  
             emissions that would be generated by the material's  
             decomposition in a landfill.  For example, in the case of  
             anaerobic digestion, the process produces methane from the  
             organic waste in a controlled environment for use as a  
             renewable fuel, and results in climate benefits by both  
             reducing GHGs from landfills, and displacing fossil fuels.   
             Recycling organic waste provides significant GHG reductions  
             over landfilling. 


             According to CalRecycle, Mandatory Commercial Recycling was  
             one of the measures adopted in the Scoping Plan by the Air  
             Resources Board pursuant to the California Global Warming  
             Solutions Act.  The Mandatory Commercial Recycling Measure  
             focuses on increased commercial waste diversion as a method  
             to reduce GHG emissions and is designed to achieve a  
             reduction in GHG emissions of 5MMT of CO2 equivalents.  To  
             achieve the Measure's objective, an additional two to three  
             million tons of materials annually will need to be recycled  
             from the commercial sector by the year 2020 and beyond.


          Comments


          Purpose of bill.  According to the author, "This bill will  
          ensure that the government of California joins our counties by  
          including summaries of state agency efforts regarding organic  
          waste diversion when submitting their reports about recycling  
          compliance.  With the legislature's ambitious goal to reduce  
          greenhouse gas emission to 1990 levels by 2020, we need to know  
          how our agencies contribute to meeting this goal by diverting  
          greenhouse gas-producing waste."








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          Related/Prior Legislation


          AB 876 (McCarty, Chapter 593, Statutes of 2015) required local  
          governments to include organic waste recycling facilities in the  
          existing planning requirements for countywide solid waste  
          management.


          AB 1045 (Irwin, Chapter 596, Statutes of 2015) required the  
          California Environmental Protection Agency to establish policies  
          to encourage recycling of organic waste and coordinate the  
          oversight and regulation of organic waste recycling facilities.   



          AB 1826 (Chesbro, Chapter 727, Statutes of 2014) phased in  
          requirements for generators of specified amounts of organic  
          waste to arrange recycling services for that material beginning  
          January 1, 2016, through January 1, 2019.


          AB 341 (Chesbro, Chapter 476, Statutes of 2011) required local  
          businesses and multifamily residential dwellings of five or more  
          units that generate more than four cubic yards of solid waste  
          per week to separate recyclable materials from solid waste and  
          subscribe to a basic level of recycling service that included  
          collection, self-hauling, or other arrangements for the pickup  
          of the recyclable materials or subscribe to a recycling service  
          that may include mixed waste processing that yields diversion  
          results comparable to source separation.




          FISCAL EFFECT:   Appropriation:    No          Fiscal  
          Com.:YesLocal:   No


          According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:








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           Minor additional state costs.  State agencies are already  
            required to report annually to CalRecycle on their waste  
            diversion programs.  This bill clarifies that mandatory  
            commercial recycling and mandatory organics are a part of the  
            waste diversion programs that agencies must include in their  
            annual reports.




          SUPPORT:   (Verified6/21/16)


           Los Angeles County Solid Waste Management Committee/Integrated  
            Waste Management Task Force
          Northern California Recycling Association
          Solid Waste Association of Northern America


          OPPOSITION:   (Verified6/21/16)


          None received

          ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  79-0, 5/5/16
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,  
            Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,  
            Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,  
            Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier,  
            Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,  
            Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger  
            Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey,  
            Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes,  
            McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte,  
            O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,  
            Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting,  
            Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Beth Gaines








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          Prepared by:Joanne Roy / E.Q. / (916) 651-4108
          6/22/16 15:15:18


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