BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator Wieckowski, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2530
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|Author: |Gordon |
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|Version: |6/15/2016 |Hearing |6/29/2016 |
| | |Date: | |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Rebecca Newhouse |
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SUBJECT: Recycling: beverage containers.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1) Under the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter
Reduction Act (Bottle Bill):
a) Requires beverage containers, as defined, sold in-state
to have a California redemption 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
distributors to pay a redemption payment to the Department
of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) for every
beverage container sold in the state. These funds are
continuously appropriated to CalRecycle for the payment of
refund values and processing fees.
b) Requires every glass manufacturer in the state to use
at least 35% of postfilled glass in the manufacturing of
their glass food, drink or beverage containers, as
specified.
2)Pursuant to the Integrated Waste Management Act:
a) Requires that rigid plastic packaging containers sold in
the state contain a minimum of 25% postconsumer recycled
material and have a recycling rate of at least 45%.
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b) Requires that manufacturers of plastic trash bags that
are at or above 0.70 mils thick to annually certify that
they comply with one of the following:
i) That the bags sold in California contain a minimum
of 10% recycled content; or,
ii) That all plastic products sold by the manufacturer
in California contain a minimum of 30% recycled content.
c) Requires that expanded polystyrene loosefill packaging
(i.e., packing peanuts) sold in the state contain a minimum
of 60% recycled content.
d) Prohibits a manufacturer or supplier from selling a
plastic food or beverage container that is advertised with
a specific recycling content amount unless the manufacturer
or supplier is able to provide certification of that claim
in a format that is easy to understand and scientifically
accurate.
e) Requires a manufacturer or supplier to provide
information and documentation verifying the recycling
content of a plastic food or beverage container within 90
days of a request for such information made by a member of
the public or a state agency.
This bill:
1) Requires a manufacturer of a plastic beverage container,
beginning in March 1, 2018, to report the amount of virgin
plastic and postconsumer recycled content in plastic used in
their beverage containers subject to CRV sold in the state
the previous calendar year.
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2) Requires manufacturers submit the above information to
CalRecycle under penalty of perjury.
3) Specifies that the requirements above do not apply to a
refillable plastic beverage container.
Background
1) Statutes requiring recycled content. California has several
programs and statutes that require minimum levels of recycled
content or "postconsumer" material in various products or
purchases. Postconsumer material is generally defined as
products that were bought, used, and recycled by consumers.
For example, a plastic bottle that has been purchased,
recycled, and used to make another product would be
considered postconsumer material.
a) Rigid plastic packaging container law. California's
Rigid Plastic Packaging Container (RPPC) law was enacted
in 1991 as part of an effort to reduce the amount of
plastic waste disposed in California landfills and to
increase the use of recycled postconsumer plastic. The
law mandates that rigid plastic packaging containers sold
in the state contain a minimum of 25% postconsumer
recycled material. Some products are exempt from
compliance, including food, drugs, baby formula, and other
materials.
b) Glass beverage container recycled content. California
state law requires in-state glass manufacturers to use a
minimum of 35% postfilled glass (glass that had previously
been filled with a beverage or food) in the manufacturing
of their glass food drink, or beverage containers,
measured in the aggregate on an annual basis, and a
minimum of 25% postfilled glass if the manufacturers use
at least half mixed-color cullet.
Glass manufacturers are required to report each month to
CalRecycle on the total tons of new glass food, drink and
beverage containers made in California and the tons of
California postfilled glass used in the manufacturing of
those new containers.
There is no similar statewide requirement for plastic
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beverage containers.
c) State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign. Current state law
establishes the State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign
(SABRC), which requires state agencies and the Legislature
to purchase recycled-content products and track those
purchases. The SABRC requires minimum postconsumer
material content for 11 specified product categories,
including a minimum level of 10% postconsumer material for
plastic products. All state agencies are mandated to
require all businesses to certify in writing the
percentage of postconsumer material in the products,
materials, goods, or supplies offered or sold to the
state.
2)Plastic recycling in California. California has around 10
reclaimers accepting plastic for washing and producing
recycled flake or pellets and over 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. Roughly half
of these plastic containers are at least partially processed
in California.
1)Barriers to using postconsumer plastic.
a) Economics. According to the report "One major driver
of California's recycling efforts is the broader market
for recyclable materials. In order for recycling to be
economically viable, the cost of processing and using the
recycled material must be less than that of virgin
material. One complication is that prices for materials
can fluctuate wildly, leading to dramatic variations in
the monetary reward for recycling."
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The report further states, "The prices of individual
commodities are based on a range of factors, including
global supply, demand, strength of the U.S. dollar,
inventories, consumer consumption, material quality and
cleanliness, and the availability of facilities to process
recycled materials. In addition to the inherent volatility
of market prices for secondary materials, small changes in
prices can have strong impacts on the profitability of
secondary materials compared to virgin material. For
example, falling oil prices and other factors have reduced
the price of virgin plastic and made recycling plastics
less economically feasible by reducing the scrap value of
post-consumer recyclable plastic."
b) Contamination. Historically, glass, steel, aluminum,
and paper have been recycled for use in food packaging.
The risk of postconsumer contamination has not been a
major concern with glass and metals, because they are
generally impervious to contaminants and are adequately
cleaned at the temperatures used in their recycling. In
addition, pulp from reclaimed fiber in paper and
paperboard may be used for food-contact articles provided
it meets federal standards.
Manufacturers of plastic food packaging that contains
recycled plastic are responsible for ensuring that the
recycled material is of suitable purity for its intended
use and will meet all existing specifications for the
virgin material.
The federal Food and Drug Association (FDA) states that
safety concerns with the use of recycled plastic materials
in food packaging include: 1) that contaminants from the
postconsumer material may appear in the final food-contact
product made from the recycled material; 2) that recycled
postconsumer material not regulated for food-contact use
may be incorporated into food-contact packaging; and, 3)
that components in the recycled plastic may not comply
with the regulations for food-contact use.
To address these concerns, FDA considers proposed uses of
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recycled plastic on a case-by-case basis and issues
informal advice as to whether the recycling process is
expected to produce plastic suitable for food packaging.
FDA then issues a "non-objection" letter to the
manufacturer for the packaging. Generally, manufacturers
use postfilled plastic, which refers to recycled materials
that contained food or beverages prior to recycling, to
meet FDA standards.
Several plastic food and drink manufacturers located in
California have received non-objection letters from the
FDA. Depending on the beverage manufacturer and product
line, there is a range of recycled content used in plastic
beverage containers. For example, Coca Cola uses on
average 6% recycled content for their PET packaging, Pepsi
Co reports they are at 10% for beverage containers,
Arrowhead and Nestle bottled water both report a 50%
recycled content rate, and Naked Juice reports that their
bottles are made from 100% recycled content.
Comments
1) Purpose of Bill. According to the author, "Thirty years ago,
the Legislature passed and the Governor signed the California
Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, better
known as the Bottle Bill. This Act established California's
systems for the recycling of beverage containers. In the
decades since the Bottle Bill was enacted, Californians have
embraced recycling beverage containers and roughly 82% are
returned for recycling. Given the public's embrace of
recycling, consumers should be able to determine whether
beverage companies are using recycled plastic in the
beverages they purchase."
2) No postconsumer recycled content requirement. As noted in the
background, several other programs in California, including
the Rigid Plastic Packaging Container program, require
minimum levels of postconsumer recycled material. This bill
does not have a mandate for postconsumer recycled content in
beverage containers, but does require manufacturers who sell
beverages in plastic containers in California, and that are
subject to CVR, to report annually to CalRecycle on the level
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of postconsumer recycled material used for those plastic
beverages.
Related/Prior Legislation
AB 1447 (Alejo) would have established minimum recycled content
standards for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) food and beverage
packing and expanded the recycled content requirement for glass
food and beverage containers to containers manufactured out of
state. This bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
SB 732 (Pan) would have required every manufacturer of a
beverage sold in any plastic container to demonstrate to
CalRecycle that each type of a plastic beverage container sold
in California contains no less than 10% postfilled material, and
would have prohibited CalRecycle from reducing the processing
fees for beverage manufacturers unless their beverage containers
meet the required recycled content. This bill was held in
Senate Environmental Quality Committee.
SOURCE: Californians Against Waste
SUPPORT:
As You Sow
CarbonLITE Industries
Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority
Clean Water Action
EcoPET Plastics, Inc.
Global PET
Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy
Marin County Hazardous and Solid Waste Management Joint Power
Authority
Marin Sanitary Service
Napa Recycling &Waste Services
Natural Resources Defense Council
Northern California Recycling Association
RePET
Sierra Club California
Sonoma County Waste Management Agency
StopWaste
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Tri-CED Community Recycling
UPSTREAM
Verdeco Recycling, Inc.
West Coast Chapter of the Institute of Scrap Recycling
Industries
Zanker Recycling
OPPOSITION:
American Beverage Association
American Chemistry Council
California Bottled Water Association
California Chamber of Commerce
California League of Food Processors
California Manufacturers and Technology Association
California Nevada Beverage Association
California Retailers Association
Grocery Manufacturers Association
International Bottled Water Association
Plastic Recycling Corporation of California
SPI - The Plastics Industry Trade Association
ARGUMENTS IN
SUPPORT: Proponents say that AB 2530 creates a
voluntary market incentive for beverage producers to increase
their use of
recycled content. They note that while Californians have done a
great job
collecting beverage containers for recycling, the in-state
plastic recycling market
is facing considerable challenges, including the drastic drop in
oil prices, which
has lowered demand and price for California-generated recycled
materials, and that
this has many manufacturers reconsidering their commitments to
using recycled
content. They further state that AB 2530 will encourage the
development of a
closed-loop recycling system that supports a robust in-state
recycling industry that
not only creates jobs but also provides a valuable raw material
for the state's
manufacturers.
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ARGUMENTS IN
OPPOSITION: Opponents argue that AB 2530 would
impose new, costly and unnecessary bureaucratic duties on the
beverage industry
that ignore the realities of today's regional beverage
manufacturing and
distribution marketplace. Specifically, they note that large
beverage manufacturers
have hundreds of specific product packages that would need an
annual in-depth
supply chain analysis to generate an accurate percentage of
recycled content, and
that there is no test to determine recycled content other than
to audit the extensive
supply chain of both the source of beverages and beverage
packaging. They state that the report would have to be revised
each year to ensure accuracy and that it is unrealistic to
assume such reports will provide meaningful information to the
public or CalRecyle.
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