BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 489
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Date of Hearing: June 30, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Luis Alejo, Chair
SB
489 (Monning) - As Amended April 6, 2015
SENATE VOTE: 35-0
SUBJECT: Hazardous waste: photovoltaic modules.
SUMMARY: Authorizes photovoltaic modules (known as solar
panels) to be managed as universal waste. Specifically, this
bill:
1) Finds and declares that California has adopted policies
that have contributed to making the state a leader in the
installation of solar energy systems.
2) Finds and declares these policies include the California
Solar Initiative, the state's net energy metering program,
and the California Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).
3) Finds and declares that existing solar energy systems
use photovoltaic technology to capture sunlight and convert
it into electricity until the end of their useful lives,
estimated to be between 25 and 40 years.
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4) Finds and declares the numerous renewable and
customer-generated solar programs in California have led to
a rapid expansion of solar energy systems and that an
increasing amount of end-of-life photovoltaic modules can
be expected from 2020 onwards, and that recycling is the
most sustainable way to manage end-of-life photovoltaic
modules.
5) States the intent of the Legislature to foster a
comprehensive and innovative system for the reuse,
recycling and proper and legal disposal of end-of-life
photovoltaic modules.
6) States the intent of the Legislature to encourage the
photovoltaic module industry to create a photovoltaic
recycling organization to develop a plan for recycling
end-of-life photovoltaic modules in order to make
end-of-life management of photovoltaic modules convenient
for consumers and the public and to ensure the return and
recycling of photovoltaic modules.
7) Authorizes the Department of Toxic Substances Control
(DTSC) to designate end-of-life photovoltaic modules that
are identified as hazardous waste as a universal waste and
subject those modules to universal waste management.
EXISTING LAW:
1) Requires, pursuant to the Integrated Water Management
Act of 1989, each city and county in California to
implement a plan to divert 25-percent of its waste stream
by 1995 and 50-percent of its waste stream starting in
2000. (Public Resources Code (PRC) § 41780, et seq.)
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2) Defines hazardous wastes as those identified in
regulation by DTSC; wastes categorized as hazardous under
the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA);
and, extremely hazardous waste and acutely hazardous waste.
(Health & Safety Code § 25117)
3) Regulates seven categories of hazardous wastes that can
be managed as universal wastes. (California Code of
Regulations (CCR), Title 22, Division 4.5, Ch. 22)
4) Requires the California Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) to coordinate with DTSC
to develop and implement a public information program to
provide uniform and consistent information on the proper
disposal of hazardous substances found in and around homes,
and to assist the efforts of counties required to provide
household hazardous waste collection, recycling, and
disposal programs. (PRC § 47050 - 47051)
5) Allows CalRecycle to provide grants to local governments
to help prevent the disposal of HHW, including for programs
that expand or initially implement HHW programs. (PRC §
47200)
6) Requires, by December 31, 2020, 33% of total retail
sales of electricity in California to be generated from
eligible renewable energy resources, including from solar
energy. (PUC § 399.11-399.32)
7) Defines "solar energy system" as a solar energy device
that has the primary purpose of providing for the
collection and distribution of solar energy for the
generation of electricity, that produces at least one
kilowatt, and produces not more than five megawatts,
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alternating current rated peak electricity, and that meets
or exceeds the eligibility criteria established by the
commission or the California Energy Commission. (Public
Utilities Code (PUC) § 2852)
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, this bill will likely result in one-time costs of
$28,000 from the Toxic Substances Control Account to resubmit
universal waste regulations for photovoltaic modules.
COMMENTS:
Need for the bill: According to the author, "Photovoltaic (PV)
modules, commonly referred to as solar panels, have varying
useful lives with some estimates ranging from 25-40 years. As
part of California's effort to invest in solar installation, it
is critical to consider its inevitable waste stream by making it
easier for end-users to properly dispose and recycle these PV
modules, promote efforts that provide a comprehensive system for
take-back and recycling, and discourage disposal to landfills?
"While some PV module companies may provide take-back and
recycling services for their end-of-life PV modules, there is no
comprehensive industry standard or system in place to deal with
all PV modules?
"SB 489 allows for a universal waste designation for hazardous
waste PV modules, which will provide flexibility for companies
or third-parties to develop more effective and cost efficient
methods of handling PV modules within a take-back and recycle
program. Universal waste designation relieves the burden of
meeting some of the state's rigorous hazardous waste laws and
allows the waste to be streamlined in existing systems for
proper management similar to electronic devices, batteries, or
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CRVs [cathode ray tubes]."
Life expectancy of a solar panel: According to the Solar Energy
Industries Association, "[Solar panels] are designed to last
more than 25 years, and many manufacturers back their products
with performance guarantees backed by warranties. The lifespan
of a [solar panel] is approximately 20-30 years, while the
lifetime of an inverter is approximately 10 years. Therefore,
many solar products have not yet reached end-of-life, and in
fact, panels installed in the early 1980s are still performing
at levels nearly equal to the installation performance level.
Thus, even accounting for the dramatic growth of the industry,
annual [solar panel] waste will not exceed 10,000 tons until
after 2014, and will not exceed 100,000 tons until after 2017."
Right now, solar panel recycling suffers from a chicken-or-egg
problem: there currently aren't many places to recycle old solar
panels, and there aren't enough defunct solar panels to make
recycling them economically attractive.
Solar energy is ever-growing: Under California law, the RPS
requires 33% of all of California's energy to be generated from
eligible renewable energy resources, including solar energy, by
2020. In May 2015, the Public Utilities Commission reported that
California's three largest Independent Utility Operators (IOU)
collectively served 22.7% of their 2013 retail electricity sales
with renewable power, and the IOUs are on track to achieve the
2020 RPS mandate. Much of that can be attributed to solar. As of
December 2014, 8,544 megawatts of cumulative solar energy have
been installed in California. There were 642 megawatts of solar
energy installed in California in the third quarter of 2014,
which marks a 37% increase over the same quarter last year.
Governor Brown made statements in his January 5, 2015, Inaugural
Address proposing to increase, from one-third to 50 percent our
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electricity derived from renewable sources, and there are
multiple pending legislative proposals to codify that proposal.
If an increase in the RPS mandate is successful, there will
likely be a significant uptick in solar panel installations and,
therefore, eventual solar panel disposal.
Universal waste: Under current law, it is illegal to dispose of
hazardous waste in the garbage, down storm drains, or onto the
ground. Universal waste, which is regulated by DTSC (California
Code of Regulations (CCR), Title 22, Division 4.5, Chapter 23),
comes primarily from consumer products containing mercury, lead,
cadmium and other substances that are hazardous to human health
and the environment. Examples of universal waste are batteries,
fluorescent tubes, and many electronic devices. These items
cannot be discarded in household trash or disposed of in
landfills.
Are solar panels hazardous? End-of-life disposal of solar
products in the United States is governed by RCRA, and state
policies that govern waste. To be governed by RCRA, solar panels
must be classified as hazardous waste. To be classified as
hazardous, panels must fail to pass the Toxicity Characteristics
Leach Procedure (TCLP) test. Most solar panels pass the TCLP
test, and thus are classified as non-hazardous and are not
federally regulated.
However, the production of solar panels involves toxic heavy
metals, such as cadmium, copper, lead, and selenium; therefore,
some solar panels are likely to exhibit the characteristic of
toxicity that have adverse environmental and public health
effects.
Current regulatory thinking on governing solar panel disposal:
Given that solar panels can be recycled and that portions of the
panels can be reclaimed for use in new panels, or used in other
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products such as fiberglass, DTSC proposed amending its
regulations (CCR, Title 22, Division 4.5, Chapter 10 (commencing
with §66260.10), Chapter 11 (commencing with §66261.1), and
Chapter 23 (commencing with §66273.1)) to manage solar panels
that are a hazardous waste as a universal waste, stating:
"In 2009, DTSC became aware that some [solar panels] may be
hazardous waste by California standards for non-RCRA
hazardous waste (i.e., [solar panels] that fail
California's hazardous waste criteria for toxicity). DTSC
conducted further research and found that few [solar
panels] on the market had undergone hazardous waste
testing. However, available information indicates that most
[solar panels] do not fail the federal hazardous waste
criteria for toxicity (i.e., are not federally-regulated
RCRA hazardous waste). If such [solar panels] then fail
California hazardous waste criteria, then those [solar
panels] would be non-RCRA hazardous waste. Therefore, based
on available information on hazardous waste testing to
date, DTSC believes that some [solar panels] would likely
only be hazardous waste under California hazardous waste
criteria for toxicity. Thus, these non-RCRA hazardous waste
[solar panels] would be subject to full hazardous waste
management standards when handled in California."
However, on October 8, 2013, the Office of Administrative Law
(OAL) disapproved the proposed regulations citing the expired
statute authorizing DTSC to adopt new universal waste
regulations.
After consideration of OAL's concerns, DTSC decided to withdraw
the proposed solar panel regulations package. DTSC plans to
pursue obtaining authorization from the US EPA to implement the
federal Universal Waste Regulations in California-a process that
was initiated by DTSC in 2003, but was never completed. Upon
completion of the application for RCRA Authorization and
approval by the United States Environmental Protection Agency,
DTSC intends to reintroduce this rulemaking for Proposed
Management Standards for Hazardous Waste Photovoltaic Modules.
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Extended producer responsibility (EPR): This bill is essentially
calling on solar panel manufacturers to establish an EPR
framework for spent solar panels.
CalRecycle defines EPR as a strategy to place a shared
responsibility for end-of-life product management on the
producers, and all entities involved in the product chain,
instead of the general public; while encouraging product design
changes that minimize a negative impact on human health and the
environment at every stage of the product's lifecycle. This
allows the costs of treatment and disposal to be incorporated
into the total cost of a product. It places primary
responsibility on the producer, or brand owner, who makes design
and marketing decisions. It also creates a setting for markets
to emerge that truly reflect the environmental impacts of a
product, and to which producers and consumers respond.
By shifting costs and responsibilities of product disposal to
producers and others who directly benefit, EPR provides an
incentive to eliminate waste and pollution through product
design changes.
Related legislation:
1) SB 1020 (Monning, 2014) would have designated solar
panels with hazardous waste properties to be classified as
universal waste. The bill also would have required
producers of solar panels to have a take-back and recycling
plan. That bill was held by the author in the Senate
Environmental Quality.
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2) AB 645 (Williams), which is pending in the Senate Rules
Committee, would increase the State's RPS from 33% to 50%
by 2030.
3) SB 350 (de Léon), which is pending the Assembly Rules
Committee, would also increase the State's RPS from 33% to
50% by 2030.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
ACR Solar International Corp.
California Product Stewardship Council
Californians Against Waste
Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority (dba RecycleSmart)
Los Angeles County Solid Waste Management Committee / Integrated
waste Management Task Force
Rural County Representatives of California
Sierra Club California
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Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition
Solar Energy Industries Association
SolarCity
Solid Waste Association of North America
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Paige Brokaw / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965