BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2505
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2007-2008 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 2505
AUTHOR: Brownley
AMENDED: May 23, 2008
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: June 23, 2008
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Caroll
Mortensen
SUBJECT : PVC PACKAGING PHASE-OUT
SUMMARY :
Existing law , under the Toxics in Packaging Prevention Act,
bans the sale or promotion of packaging that contains one or
more specified heavy metals: lead, cadmium, mercury, or
hexavalent chromium, if the metals have been intentionally
introduced during manufacture or distribution and provides for
a limited exemption under specific conditions, including date
of manufacture prior to January 1, 2006, or inclusion of
metals needed to meet safety standards, etc.
This bill :
1) Makes findings and declarations about polyvinyl chloride
(PVC) packaging containers.
2) Defines a PVC packaging container as a container
predominately made of PVC and is used to contain, hold,
protect, or display another product, alone or in
combination with other materials and may be flexible or
rigid and of various shapes.
3) Exempts from the definition of PVC packaging container:
a) Those used to contain a petroleum based product used
in or on motor vehicles.
b) Those used to contain drugs as defined in the federal
Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
c) Those used solely in transportation and not made
available to consumers.
d) Medical devices as described in Section 109920 of the
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Health and Safety Code such as instruments, apparatus,
implements, machines, contrivances, implants, in vitro
reagents, or other similar or related articles.
4) Prohibits, on and after January 1, 2010 from manufacturing,
importing, selling or distributing in commerce PVC
packaging containers.
5) Requires, on or after January 1, 2010, all plastic
container manufactures to keep on file and to furnish a
certificate of compliance to a purchaser of the plastic
container certifying the container is in compliance with
the requirements of this new article.
6) Requires the purchaser of plastic containers to retain the
certificate for each container as long as the purchaser is
in procession of the container.
7) Requires plastic container manufacturers to provide upon
request to the Department of Toxic Substances Control
(DTSC) a copy of the certificate.
8) Requires that, if a plastic container manufacturer
reformulates or creates a new plastic container, they must
provide a new or amended certificate to a purchaser.
9) Prescribes that a person who violates the new article is
not subject to the criminal penalties of the chapter.
10)Provides for the imposition of administrative civil
penalties of up to $2,500 per day per violation, which may
be pursued in any court of competent jurisdiction. Civil
penalties are to be deposited in the Hazardous Waste
Control Account for expenditure by the DTSC, upon
appropriation, for enforcement.
11)Provides that a person who violates this prohibition shall
not be subject to criminal penalties.
COMMENTS :
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1) Purpose of Bill . According to the author, this law is
designed to solve the human and environmental health risks
associated with PVC consumer packaging. The author cites a
Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse study that found a large
percentage of PVC packaging tested contained lead or
cadmium. Further, they note that PVC is a "potent
contaminant" of the plastics recycling stream, reducing
California's ability to recycle its plastic waste. They
point out that PVC manufacturing plants, such as the Keysor
site in Saugus, have been included on the Federal EPA
priority list for Superfund clean up. The author and
sponsor also point to several large retailers that are
moving toward phase-outs of PVC products and packaging thus
demonstrating the feasibility of the approach contained in
this bill.
2) Just Packaging . This bill looks to address the problems
posed by PVC plastic in the waste stream. It should be
noted that this bill does not address the issues
surrounding the production of PVC nor the use of PVC in
other consumer or medical products.
3) What is PVC? Most vinyl chloride is used to make polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) plastic and vinyl products. Exposure to
vinyl chloride emissions has been linked to adverse human
health effects, including liver cancer, other liver
diseases, and neurological disorders. EPA has classified
vinyl chloride as a Group A human carcinogen. The
production of PVC is attributed to a host of public health
and environmental issues including the release of dioxin,
one of the most potent human carcinogens.
Even with the issues surrounding PVC, it is ubiquitous and is
used in thousands of applications including building
materials such as cables, window frames, doors, walls,
paneling, water and wastewater pipes and in home products
such as vinyl flooring, vinyl wallpaper, window blinds and
shower curtains.
It is also very common in consumer articles such as credit
cards, records, toys, binders, folders, pens; it is used in
the car industry, especially as underseal, in hospitals for
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medical disposables, and as cable and wire insulation.
And, as addressed in this bill, it is widely used in
packaging because of its ability to take many forms and its
properties of strength and flexibility.
4) Recycling Stream Issues . According to the author, PVC
packaging is virtually nonrecycled in California.
Collection, cost and toxicity concerns prevent any
large-scale recycling of PVC resin. PVC is a declared and
potent contaminant of the PET recycling stream, the
nontoxic, dominant resin used for consumer plastic
packaging. The presence of PVC packaging in the waste
stream prevents some municipalities from accepting certain
types of plastic packaging for fear of PVC contamination.
Phasing out the sale of PVC packaging would result in the
use of packaging that can be made from recycled material
and that can be recycled, increasing California's landfill
diversion rate.
PVC packaging (labeled with the #3 symbol) is often confused
by consumers as polyethylene terephthalate, or PETE (the
plastic labeled with the #1 symbol and commonly used for
clear plastic applications), because of the visual
similarity of the two materials. Even highly sensitive
mechanical sorting equipment used by recycling companies
has difficulty distinguishing the two types of plastics.
This confusion results in the contamination of PETE during
the recycling process. This is of note in that many of the
PVC packaging containers addressed in this bill do not
carry a recycling symbol and/or the public is not
accustomed to looking for one because they do not fit the
description of a 'typical' recyclable container. However,
as local governments expand their recycling programs to
include a wider array of plastics, this issue can only
become more problematic. As an example, as a result of an
increase in the awareness of recycling plastic grocery bags
and other film plastics, it is not unlikely that other
types of flexible, 'filmy' type plastics, many likely made
from PVC, could find their way to the recycling stream.
PVC creates significant technological problems for PET bottle
recycling. Because both PET and PVC sink in water, they
cannot be separated in traditional plastic recycling wash
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systems without expensive detection equipment. There is no
equipment available that will remove 100% of PVC from PET
plastic. PVC has a much lower melt temperature than PETE.
At PETE's melt temperature, PVC burns destroying the
surrounding PET and harming the processing equipment. Even
very small amounts (100 parts per million) of PVC in PET
will reduce its value or make it unusable. PVC plastic
threatens the well-developed PET recycling infrastructure.
5) Opposition concerns . Opponents to the measure state that
this bill creates a burdensome certification process, and
is duplicative of other plastic packaging laws and other
laws that govern PVC. They also purport that the bill is
based on inaccurate information about PVC. They also
contend that the bill presents inconsistent policy
direction and point to the various exemptions in the bill.
6) Considerations . The bill contains a certification process
for manufacturers and purchasers of PVC packaging. The
author should consider options to streamline this process
while still providing protection to downstream users to
ensure they do not receive a banned product.
SOURCE : Californians Against Waste
SUPPORT : Advocates for Environmental Human Rights
American Association on Intellectual and
Developmental
Disabilities
Breast Cancer Fund
Clean Water Action
Environmental Health Fund
Heal the Bay
Healthy Child Healthy World
Global P.E.T., Inc.
Glynn Environmental Coalition
National Resources Defense Council
City of Oakland
City and County of San Francisco
Sierra Club California
OPPOSITION : American Chemistry Council
California Business Properties Association
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California Chamber of Commerce
California Film Extruders and Converters
Association
California Grocers Association
California Manufacturers and Technology
Association
California Retailers Association
California Restaurant Association
Chemical Industry Council of California
Council for Responsible Nutrition
Grocery Manufacturers Association
Industrial Environmental Association
Personal Care Products Council
Society of the Plastics Industry
Toy Industry Association
Western States Petroleum Association
Window and Door Manufacturers Association