BILL ANALYSIS
ACR 128
Page A
Date of Hearing: March 24, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
ACR 128 (Emmerson) - As Amended: March 11, 2010
SUBJECT : School districts: recycling programs
SUMMARY : Encourages school districts to engage in recycling
programs and to promote awareness of available state resources
for this purpose. Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes findings and declarations regarding the following:
a) The billions of plastic bottles and aluminum cans
purchased every year; of the almost 22 billion carbonated
and noncarbonated drinks purchased by Californians last
year, 5.8 billion are not recycled;
b) The Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery
(CalRecycle) provides information and technical assistance
to school districts to establish source reduction and
recycling programs;
c) The benefits of incorporating waste reduction as part of
a school district's way of doing business include reduced
disposal costs, improved worker safety, reduced long-termed
liability, increased efficiency of school operations and
decreased associated purchasing costs; and,
d) There are fiscal, educational and environmental benefits
to establishing school beverage container recycling
programs.
2)Resolves that the Legislature encourages school districts to
engage in recycling programs and to promote awareness of
available state resources that schools may utilize to
establish and maintain recycling programs.
3)Resolves that the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of the resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Finds and declares that it is the policy of the state to
ACR 128
Page B
conserve and protect its resources, to increase the public's
awareness of the value of recycling and the need to recycle,
and to improve environmental quality by the recycling of paper
products.
2)Establishes the paper recycling program and authorizes and
encourages school districts and California State University
and Colleges to establish and maintain a paper recycling
program in all classrooms, administrative offices, and other
areas owned or leased by the school district or college campus
where a significant quantity of beverage containers is
generated or may be collected.
3)Encourages local educational agencies to purchase recycled
paper if the supplier of recycled paper offers the paper at a
cost which does not exceed by more than 5% the lowest offer of
nonrecycled paper of comparable quality.
4)Under the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989,
requires the California Integrated Waste Management Board
(CIWMB) to do the following:
a) Develop models and school waste reduction tools that may
be used by schools to implement waste reduction programs;
b) Provide training and ongoing technical assistance to
schools in implementing waste reduction programs; and,
c) Evaluate implementation of school waste reduction and
recycling programs (Public Resources Code 42630 et seq.)
FISCAL EFFECT : This resolution is nonfiscal.
COMMENTS : Background . As part of the 2009-10 budget, SB 63 (T.
Strickland), Chapter 21, Statutes of 2009, eliminated the CIWMB
and transferred its duties and responsibilities as well as the
California Beverage Recycling Program to the newly recreated
CalRecycle. According to the CalRecycle, the California
Beverage Recycling Program has three components: 1) requires a
deposit on each beverage container to give consumers an
incentive to recyle; 2) establish conveniently located recycling
centers where consumers can recycle and redeem the deposits; and
3) impose a processing fee for materials whose cost to recycle
exceeds their inherent scrap value. The CalRecycle certifies
recyclers and authorizes them to repay the deposits, or
ACR 128
Page C
California Refund Value (CRV) to consumers. Recylers receive
reimbursement for the CRV, administrative costs, and processing
costs. More than 16.1 billion of the 21.9 billion aluminum,
glass, plastic and bi-metal containers purchased last year were
recycled.
Recycling in schools . Pursuant to statutory requirements, the
CalRecycle (formerly the CIWMB) maintains on its Web site
information on school waste reduction and provides suggestions
and information on how school districts can initiate a wide
range of waste reduction and recycling efforts, including
environmentally friendly purchasing policies, paper reduction,
food disposal, textbook recycling, beverage container recycling,
and green school facilities.
In 2003, the CIWMB, pursuant to the School Diversion and
Environmental Education Law<1>, conducted a survey of school
districts to assess their level of efforts in implementing waste
reduction programs. Forty-two percent of school districts
responded to the survey, representing 55% of all schools. The
survey found that "92% of districts appear to be participating
in some level of recycling programs. Of the districts that
reported participating in recycling activities, the most
commonly recycled materials include: aluminum cans, white
paper, and cardboard. Based upon survey results, implementation
of a formalized district-wide recycling program appears to
relate to school district size. A greater percentage of larger
school districts reported having the district coordinate
district-wide recycling activities as well as having a service
contract for collection of recyclables than reported by smaller
districts."
Arguments in Support . The author states that "ACR 128
encourages school districts to engage in recycling programs in
an effort to increase the recycling rate in California while
teaching our students to be responsible stewards of our
environment." The author further states that the resolution
will inform school districts of the resources available through
CalRecycle.
Related legislation . AB 747 (Emmerson), pending in the Senate
Rules Committee, authorizes and encourages school districts and
California State University and Colleges to establish and
maintain a beverage container recycling program in all
---------------------------
<1> SB 373 (Torlakson), Chapter 926, Statutes of 2001.
ACR 128
Page D
classrooms, administrative offices, and other areas owned or
leased by the school district or college campus where a
significant quantity of beverage containers is generated or may
be collected.
Prior legislation . SB 497 (Correa), held in the Senate
Appropriations Committee suspense file in 2009, requires school
districts to maintain a sufficient number of beverage container
recycling bins at each campus and public office of the district,
but only to the extent that the district incurs no costs.
SB 1321 (Correa), which was held in the Assembly Appropriations
Suspense file in 2008, is similar to SB 497.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087