BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2530
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 11, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2530 (Gordon) - As Amended April 18, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill requires manufacturers of plastic beverage containers
sold in the state to label the containers with the percentage of
postconsumer recycled content. Specifically, this bill:
1)Beginning January 1, 2018, requires manufacturers a plastic
beverage containers sold in the state to clearly indicate the
average percentage of postconsumer recycled content in the
beverage container, as specified.
2)For purposes of making a claim of postconsumer recycled
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content and labeling the average percentage of postconsumer
recycled content, requires the manufacturer to utilize one or
more of the following approaches:
a) The average percentage of postconsumer recycled content
in all plastic beverage containers sold by the manufacturer
in the state during the previous year.
b) The average percentage of postconsumer recycled content
in the plastic beverage containers sold by the manufacturer
from a product line that carries the claim.
c) Any other reasonable methodology consistent with the
Federal Trade Commission's Guides for the Use of
Environmental Marketing Claims.
3)Requires any claim of recycled content to be accurate and
consistent with the Federal Trade Commission's Guides for the
Use of Environmental Marketing Claims.
4)Allows a manufacturer to use an independent third-party
certification entity to meet the requirements of the bill.
5)Requires a manufacturer to demonstrate compliance with the
bill's requirements to CalRecycle on an annual basis.
6)Prohibits CalRecycle from reducing the processing fee
requirements for a manufacturer of a plastic beverage
container unless the manufacturer complies with the
requirements of the bill.
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FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Increased initial and ongoing annual enforcement costs of
between $400,000 and $600,000 beginning in 2017-18 for
CalRecycle to: a) review and determine label compliance; b)
review and determine the accuracy of claimed recycled content;
c) verify third-party certifications; d) perform periodic
inspections at dealer locations; and e) communicate and
process fee rate change to manufacturers.
2)Unknown potential processing fee increases if manufacturers
fail to label their containers.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, consumers should be able to
easily determine whether the beverages they purchase are made
out of recycled plastic and know whether the beverage
container material they have recycled is going back into new
beverage containers. This bill provides consumers with that
information.
2)Background. The California Beverage Container Recycling and
Litter Reduction Act (Bottle Bill) 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. These funds are continuously appropriated to
CalRecycle for the payment of refund values and processing
fees.
3)Plastic recycling in California. California has around 10
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reclaimers accepting plastic for washing and producing
recycled flake or pellets and 30 manufacturers that use
recycled plastic to manufacture new products. While there has
been significant growth in the use of recycled plastic in
California, the vast majority of recycled plastic is sent
overseas.
In 2014, Californians returned approximately 17.7 billion (one
million tons) beverage containers covered by the Bottle Bill.
Plastic containers accounted for 220,000 tons. Approximately
half of these were processed and recycled in California
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081