BILL NUMBER: SB 204 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 12, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 24, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 20, 2003
INTRODUCED BY Senators Perata, Alpert, Kuehl, and Romero
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Hancock, Longville, and Steinberg)
FEBRUARY 13, 2003
An act to add Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 42580) to Part 3
of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, relating to solid
waste, and making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 204, as amended, Perata. Solid waste: personal care products:
recycling.
Existing law requires the California Integrated Waste Management
Board to administer state programs to recycle plastic trash bags,
plastic packaging containers, waste tires, newsprint, and other
specified materials.
This bill would declare that personal care products
represent a substantial portion of the materials that are still
disposed of in landfills without a significant effort to divert the
materials make a manufacturer of personal care
products whose personal care products are sold in the state
responsible for the stewardship of its personal care products. The
bill would provide that the responsibility for stewardship is met
when a manufacturer provides for the diversion from landfill disposal
and recycling of the personal care products sold by that
manufacturer in this state by establishing a specified program
. The bill would define a "personal care product" to mean a
disposable product composed of plastic and paper materials that is
worn by a person of any age for the purpose of capturing human waste.
The bill would require a person that manufacturers personal care
products to pay the board a diversion and recycling fee of $0.0025
per personal care product manufactured by that person and sold or
distributed in the state. The bill would establish the Personal Care
Product Recycling Account in the Integrated Waste Management Fund and
would require the board to deposit those fees in the account. The
bill would continuously appropriate the funds in the account to the
board for expenditure by the board to provide to eligible local
agencies and waste haulers grants for the recycling and diversion
from landfill disposal of personal care products.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes no
. Fiscal committee: yes no .
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 42580) is added to
Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, to read:
CHAPTER 11. PERSONAL CARE PRODUCT RECYCLING
42580. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of
the following:
(a)
(1) Local agencies have made great strides in recent years
in their efforts to meet the requirement of a 50 percent rate of
diversion from the waste stream. However, many are still working to
meet this requirement and some are seeking to reach a 75 percent rate
of diversion.
(b)
(2) Local agencies continue to face difficulty in funding
their responsibilities, including their responsibility to divert
materials from the waste stream. The current downturn in the economy
and the state budget crisis has increased these difficulties.
(c)
(3) Personal care products represent a substantial portion
of the materials that still are disposed of in landfills without a
significant effort to divert the materials. It is estimated that
personal care products represent somewhere between one and one-half
and 3 percent of the materials disposed of in landfills in
California. This means that personal care products are among the
largest single product disposed of in landfills in California. Some
components of personal care products can take up to 500 years to
degrade. According to the United States Environmental Protection
Agency, nearly 20 billion disposable personal care products
containing 5 million tons of untreated human waste are disposed of in
United States landfills each year.
42581. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms have
the following meanings, unless the context clearly requires
otherwise:
(a) "Account" means the Personal Care Product Recycling Account
established under subdivision (a) of Section 42582 in the Integrated
Waste Management Fund.
(b) "Diversion and recycling fee" means the fee imposed upon the
sale of a personal care product pursuant to subdivision (b) of
Section 42582.
(c) "Local agency" means a city, county, city and county,
district, regional agency as defined in Section 40181, or other
agency of local government that provides or regulates solid waste
handling services.
(d) "Personal care product" means a disposable product composed of
plastic and paper materials that is worn by a person of any age for
the purpose of capturing human waste. "Personal care product" does
not include a feminine hygiene product.
(e) "Retail seller" means a retail establishment that offers the
sale of personal care products to consumers, including, but not
limited to, for household or institutional use.
42582. (a) The Personal Care Product Recycling Account is hereby
established in the Integrated Waste Management Fund. Notwithstanding
Section 13340 of the Government Code, all funds in the account are
hereby continuously appropriated to the board, without regard to
fiscal years, for expenditure by the board to implement Sections
42583 and 42584.
(b) A person that manufacturers personal care products shall pay
to the Integrated Waste Management Board a diversion and recycling
fee of one-fourth of one cent ($0.0025) per personal care product
manufactured by that person and sold or otherwise distributed in the
state. A fee may not be assessed on the separate plastic and paper
components used in manufacturing a personal care product. The board
shall deposit those fees in the Personal Care Product Recycling
Account.
42583. The board shall expend the money in the account to provide
grants to eligible local agencies and waste haulers for the purpose
of funding programs for the recycling and diversion from landfill
disposal of personal care products. A recycling and diversion
program that receives a grant shall meet all of the following
conditions:
(a) Meet eligibility requirements adopted by the board in
consultation with local agencies and waste haulers.
(b) Require the separation of personal care products from the
waste stream at either the point of waste collection or at a facility
established for the purpose of sorting and separating materials that
would otherwise be disposed of in a landfill. The eligibility
requirements adopted pursuant to subdivision (a) may allow for
phased-in programs and for programs in which part of the personal
care products in a local entity's waste stream is diverted and
recycled.
(c) Require the materials collected and separated to be processed
so that human waste is in a condition that allows treatment by a
sewage treatment facility or allows marketing to businesses that can
use the human waste in the course of their business in conformity
with all laws and regulations covering the use of human waste .
(d) Require the materials collected and separated to be processed
so that the plastic and paper will be of a quality and type that may
be used in the manufacturing of new products and that meets all
applicable laws relating to the use of recycled plastic and paper.
42584. (a) The board shall set the amount of a grant provided to
a local agency as a percentage of the actual cost of implementing a
local agency's recycling and diversion program.
(b) Before awarding a grant to a local agency pursuant to this
chapter, the board shall require the local agency to certify that
both of the following are true:
(1) The local agency is in compliance with the diversion
requirements of Section 41780, as determined by the board.
(2) The local agency has in operation a program for diversion and
recycling of personal care products that meets the requirements of
Section 42583, or demonstrates it will have that program in operation
within six months of the date that the board approves the issuance
of the grant.
(4) Manufacturers of personal care products have expressed strong
opposition to placing a fee on the manufacture or sale of their
products so as to create funds necessary for the diversion and
recycling of their product. However, they have expressed their
commitment to the environment and to a concern for the life cycle and
appropriate disposal of their product.
(5) Given the strong opposition of the manufacturers to a fee, the
significant contribution to the environment that diversion of
personal care products from landfills can make, the manufacturers'
stated commitment to the environment and to responsibility for the
life cycle of their products, the Legislature finds it appropriate
and necessary to enact a product stewardship requirement relating to
personal care products.
(b) A manufacturer of personal care products whose personal care
products are sold in the state is responsible for the stewardship of
its personal care products. This responsibility is met when a
manufacturer provides for the diversion from landfill disposal and
the recycling of the personal care products it sells in this state.
Diversion and recycling shall be met if a manufacturer implements a
program that meets both of the following criteria:
(1) Ensures that the personal care products are collected,
separated, and processed in such a way so that the human waste
contained within the personal care products is in a condition that
allows treatment by a sewage treatment facility or allows marketing
to businesses or public agencies that can use the human waste in a
manner that is consistent with all laws and regulations covering the
use of human waste.
(2) Ensures that the personal care products are collected,
separated, and processed in such a way so that the plastic and paper
will be of a quality and type that may be used in the manufacturing
of new products and will meet all applicable laws relating to the use
of recycled plastic and paper.
(c) For purposes of this chapter "personal care product" means a
disposable product composed of plastic and paper materials that is
worn by a person of any age for the purpose of capturing human waste.
"Personal care product" does not include a feminine hygiene
product.