BILL NUMBER: AB 283 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Chesbro
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Ruskin)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Huffman and Nava)
FEBRUARY 12, 2009
An act to add Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 48800) to Part 7
of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, relating to solid waste.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 283, as introduced, Chesbro. Solid waste: extended producer
responsibility program.
The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989,
administered by the California Integrated Waste Management Board, is
required to reduce, recycle, and reuse solid waste generated in the
state to the maximum extent feasible in an efficient cost-effective
manner to conserve water, energy, and other natural resources.
This bill would create the California Product Stewardship Act of
2010 and would require the board to administer the program. The bill
would require the board to adopt regulations by July 1, 2011, in
order to implement the program to provide environmentally sound
product stewardship protocols that encourage producers to research
alternatives during the product design and packaging phases to foster
cradle-to-cradle producer responsibility and reduce the end-of-life
environmental impacts of the product.
The bill, on and after January 1, 2012, would require the board to
select covered products, as defined, according to certain
requirements. The bill would exempt the selection of covered products
from the requirements of the Administrative Law Act. On and after
July 1, 2012, a covered product would be prohibited from being sold
or used for promotional purposes unless the producer or product
stewardship organization, as defined, of the covered product, submits
a product stewardship plan to the board that meets certain timelines
and content requirements, including, but not limited to, a
description of the system for collecting discarded covered products,
methods proposed to maximize the recycling of packaging, a
description of the processing and disposal system, and strategies for
managing and reducing the life cycle impacts of covered products and
packaging such as through redesign.
The bill would establish an annual reporting requirement for
producers or stewardship organizations, require administrative fees
to be set by the board, and authorize civil penalties of up to
$50,000 to be imposed by the board. The bill would require that the
administrative fees be deposited into the Extended Producer
Responsibility Account and that the penalties be deposited into the
Extended Producer Responsibility Penalty Subaccount that the bill
would create in the Integrated Waste Management Fund. The bill would
authorize the fees and penalties to be expended, upon appropriation
by the Legislature, to cover the board's program implementation costs
and as incentives to enhance recyclability and redesign efforts and
to reduce environmental and safety impacts of covered products.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 48800) is added to
Part 7 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, to read:
CHAPTER 5. CALIFORNIA PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP ACT OF 2010
Article 1. Findings and Declarations
48800. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) California has long been a national and international leader
in environmental stewardship efforts and mandating the diversion of
solid waste from disposal.
(2) By exercising a leadership role, the state will move forward
toward a future in which the environment and the economy both grow
stronger together by recycling more and reusing materials, which
encourages new markets and creates new jobs, instead of burying
resources that are lost to the economy forever.
(3) The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) is
the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating activities to
reduce, recycle, and reuse solid waste generated in the state to the
maximum extent feasible in an efficient and cost-effective manner to
conserve water, energy, and other natural resources, and to protect
the environment.
(4) The CIWMB manages 97 percent of the state's solid waste
stream.
(5) To meet the mandates of the Integrated Waste Management Act of
1989, the CIWMB develops and implements programs in accordance with
the act's waste management hierarchy, pursuant to Section 40051 of
the Public Resources Code.
(6) End-of-life management of solid waste has been the shared
responsibility between the state and local governments with the
financial burden placed on the taxpayer.
(7) The CIWMB adopted a final "Extended Producer Responsibility
Framework" policy document in 2008 to guide efforts to reduce the
end-of-life environmental impacts of products and require that
producers share in the responsibility for the stewardship of their
products in order to promote environmental sustainability.
(8) Currently, the state addresses products with end-of-life
management issues through a patchwork of product and material
specific programs that have experienced various levels of success.
(9) Establishing the Extended Producer Responsibility Framework
Program under this chapter offers an alternative to the materials and
products approach while providing the flexibility to customize
individual product stewardship plans toward the most effective and
efficient approach for a particular product or product category.
(10) The disposal of solid waste harms natural resources,
negatively impacts the state's environment, prevents materials from
circulating in the state's economy to produce jobs and new products,
and contributes to global warming.
(11) This chapter directs the CIWMB to develop, implement, and
administer the Extended Producer Responsibility Framework Program.
The program includes a framework for managing individual products
that have significant end-of-life waste management impacts as well as
impacts on the environment and public health.
(12) The CIWMB will select covered products through a set of
requirements that include assessing waste management, public health,
significant environmental impacts, and safety impacts and benefits.
(13) Expanding the extended producer responsibility approach to a
broader range of problem products, packaging, and materials offers an
opportunity to reduce waste and increase recycling by customizing
individual product stewardship plans toward the most effective and
efficient approach for any particular product or product category.
(b) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature that the CIWMB
coordinate with other state agencies as well as local jurisdictions,
industry sectors, business groups, environmental organizations, and
other interested stakeholders in implementing this chapter.
(2) It is the intent of the Legislature that in developing the
framework, the CIWMB design performance goals for covered products
that reduce the end-of-life and life cycle impacts of covered
products.
(3) It is the intent of the Legislature that the CIWMB design the
program to help satisfy the waste diversion requirements of the
Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 in a manner that minimizes
costs and maximizes benefits for California's economy, improves the
end-of-life management of products, and maximizes additional
environmental and economic cobenefits for California.
(4) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage the
development of the additional materials processing capacity that is
needed to meet state objectives for decreasing solid waste disposal
by identifying incentives for local governments and businesses to
locate and approve new or expanded facilities that meet and exceed
their capacity needs, and to recognize those entities that make
significant contributions to the state's overall solid waste
reduction and recycling objectives through the siting of facilities
for the processing of materials diverted from the solid waste stream.
Article 2. General Provisions
48800.1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the
California Extended Producer Responsibility Framework Act of 2010.
Article 3. Definitions
48800.2. For purposes of this chapter, and unless the context
otherwise requires, the definitions in this article govern the
construction of this chapter.
48800.3. "Board" means the California Integrated Waste Management
Board.
48800.4. "Brand" means a name, symbol, word, or mark that
identifies a product, rather than its components, and attributes the
product to the owner or licensee of the brand as the producer.
48800.5. "Capture rate" is a component of the performance goals
for a covered product and means a quantitative measure that
establishes an amount of product to be collected by the product
stewardship system for that product by an established date.
48800.6. "Covered product" means a product used or disposed of in
this state that has been selected by the board pursuant to Section
48813.
48800.7. "Cradle-to-cradle design" means an ideal condition where
the product is developed for closed-loop systems in which every
ingredient is safe and beneficial, either to biodegrade and be
suitable to safely restore the soil or to be fully recycled into
high-quality materials for subsequent product generations, again and
again.
48800.8. "Department" means the Department of Toxic Substances
Control.
48800.9. "Disposition rate" is a component of the performance
goals for a covered product and means a quantitative measure that
establishes the amounts of unwanted product that are reused,
recycled, or recovered, including energy recovery or safe disposal.
48800.10. "Extended producer responsibility" means the extension
of the shared responsibility of producers, and all entities involved
in the product chain, to reduce the cradle-to-cradle impacts of a
product and its packaging, with the primary responsibility being with
the producer who makes design and marketing decisions.
48800.11. "Historic product" means a covered product ready to be
discarded by the user that is not a new product or product currently
marketed or sold by the manufacturer.
48800.12. "Orphan product" means any one of the following:
(a) A covered product that lacks a manufacturer's brand.
(b) A covered product for which the manufacturer is no longer in
business and has no successor in interest.
(c) A covered product that is a brand for which the board cannot
identify an owner.
48800.13. "Performance goal" means product goals, capture rates,
and disposition rates established by the board for covered products.
48800.14. "Producer" means one of the following:
(a) A person or entity that manufactures a covered product that
sells, offers for sale, or distributes that covered product in
California under the manufacturer's own name or brand.
(b) If subdivision (a) does not apply, a person who is not the
manufacturer of the product but is the owner or licensee of a
trademark or brand under which a product is sold or distributed in
California, whether or not the trademark is registered.
(c) If subdivisions (a) and (b) do not apply, a person who imports
the product into California for sale or distribution.
48800.15. "Product goal" is a component of the performance goals
for a covered product and means a qualitative or quantitative goal to
measure improvements that reduce the life cycle impacts of products.
It may include product design and materials content, manufacturing,
packaging, distribution, and end-of-life management. It may address
use of virgin material, water, energy, and hazardous substances, as
well as carbon footprint, product longevity, recycled content, and
recyclability.
48800.16. "Product stewardship organization" means all of the
following:
(a) An organization appointed by a producer or producers to act as
an agent on behalf of the producer or producers to design, submit,
and administer a product stewardship plan.
(b) The organization shall be open for participation by all
producers of a covered product.
48800.17. "Product stewardship plan" means a plan written by an
individual producer or a stewardship organization, on behalf of a
producer, that addresses the environmental impacts of a covered
product over the entire life cycle of that product, including product
design and the collection, transportation, reuse, recycling, and
final disposition of discarded covered products as provided in this
chapter.
48800.18. "Reporting period" means the period commencing January
1 and ending on December 31 of the same calendar year.
48800.19. "Retailer" means a person that offers new products for
sale at retail through any means, including remote offerings such as
sales outlets, catalogs, or an Internet Web site.
48800.20. "Secondary material" means material that is being
reused or recycled that would otherwise be disposed of in a landfill.
48800.21. "Sell" or "sales" means any transfer of title for
consideration, including remote sales conducted through sales
outlets, catalogs, or an Internet Web site or similar electronic
means. Sell or sales does not include leases.
Article 4. Extended Producer Responsibility Framework Program
48810. (a) (1) The Extended Producer Responsibility Framework
Program is hereby created.
(2) The program shall be administered by the board.
(3) The program shall provide environmentally sound product
stewardship protocols that encourage producers to research
alternatives during the product design and packaging phases to foster
cradle-to-cradle producer responsibility and reduce the end-of-life
environmental impacts.
(b) For purposes of this chapter, the board shall review existing
and proposed international, federal, and state Extended Producer
Responsibility Programs and make reasonable efforts to promote
consistency among the programs established pursuant to this part and
those other programs.
(c) By July 1, 2011, the board, following one or more noticed
public workshops and consultation with all appropriate state
agencies, shall adopt regulations to implement this chapter.
(d) The board, in addition to any other regulations necessary to
implement this chapter, shall do all of the following:
(1) Establish definitions.
(2) Establish a process for selecting covered products and
determining performance goals.
(3) Establish a process for product stewardship plan development,
review, and submittal.
(4) Establish a process for providing data and reporting to the
board.
(5) Prepare recommendations for immediate incentives for producers
that stimulate waste reduction, pollution prevention, energy
efficiency, and increased secondary use of recycled and reused
materials that would otherwise be disposed of. These incentives may
include, but are not limited to, an expedited approach to permitting
facilities needed to implement product stewardship programs,
investments in more market development, cost-effective energy savings
and reducing water usage, tax incentives for utilizing renewable
resources, loans from the Recycling Market Development Revolving Loan
Program pursuant to Section 42023.1 to qualifying product
stewardship organizations for startup of stewardship programs, and
further incentives for designing products and processing facilities
from recycled and reused materials that would otherwise be disposed
of.
(6) Prepare recommendations for long-term incentives to foster
environmental product design to reduce waste and use of hazardous
materials, to reward businesses for superior environmental
performance that results in significant solid or hazardous waste
reduction or increased use of secondary materials, and for
investments that support longer term change to material markets and
market development.
(7) Prepare recommendations for funding incentives, by consulting
with product stewardship stakeholders to determine how to fund
additional cradle-to-cradle stewardship initiatives and disincentives
for solid waste disposal as a viable option.
(8) Establish penalties for violations of this chapter.
(9) Develop guidelines designed to ensure that activities
undertaken pursuant to this chapter do not interfere with the
following:
(A) Efforts by the department undertaken pursuant to Article 14
(commencing with Section 25251) of Chapter 6.5 of Division 20 of the
Health and Safety Code.
(B) The State Energy Resources Conservation and Development
Commission's energy efficiency programs.
(C) The State Air Resources Board climate change efforts to
achieve and maintain state and federal ambient air quality standards
and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
(D) The State Water Resources Control Board efforts for water
quality protection.
(E) The Ocean Protection Council's ocean litter reduction efforts.
(F) The Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act
(Division 12.1 (commencing with Section 14500)).
48811. (a) Nothing in this chapter or any regulation adopted or
actions taken by the board pursuant to this chapter shall be
interpreted to limit, abrogate, supersede, duplicate, or otherwise
conflict with federal law, federal policy, or federal treaty
obligations.
(b) Nothing in this chapter or any regulation adopted or actions
taken by the board pursuant to this chapter shall be interpreted to
limit, supersede, duplicate, or otherwise conflict with the authority
of the department under Section 25257.1 of the Health and Safety
Code to fully implement Article 14 (commencing with Section 25251) of
Chapter 6.5 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, including
the authority of the department to include products in its product
registry.
48812. As a part of the board's annual report to the Legislature
pursuant to Section 40507, the board shall include a section on the
progress and implementation of the Extended Producer Responsibility
Framework Program.
48813. On and after January 1, 2012, the board, in consultation
with all appropriate state agencies, and after one or more noticed
public workshops with an opportunity for all interested parties to
comment, shall select covered products according to the following
requirements:
(a) The board shall only select covered products that have been
identified with end-of-life environmental and waste management
impacts, that meet one or more of the following criteria:
(1) Those products that pose a significant threat to public health
and safety when discarded.
(2) Products that pose a threat of increased greenhouse gas
emissions.
(3) Products that impose significant end-of-life management costs
on state or local government.
(b) The factors the board shall consider in selecting covered
products pursuant to subdivision (a) shall include, but are not
limited to, the following:
(1) Public health and significant environmental and safety impacts
and benefits.
(2) Resource recovery and material conservation potential,
including the potential for product redesign to achieve greater waste
reduction, toxicity reduction, water consumption reduction, increase
in recycled content, and greater capability for being recycled.
(3) Energy use and conservation potential.
(4) Climate change impacts and benefits.
(5) Existing infrastructure capacity for material management and
potential for expansion.
(6) Success in collecting and processing similar products in other
programs in the United States and other countries.
(7) The selection of products in extended producer responsibility
programs in other states.
(8) Ocean pollution impacts.
(9) Storm water runoff impacts.
(c) The board may select covered products and set performance
goals over time at regularly scheduled board meetings.
(d) Through the product selection process, the board shall do the
following:
(1) Identify and notify potential interested parties for a
proposed covered product.
(2) Select and define a covered product or covered products. This
may include historic and orphan products in addition to new products.
(3) Determine whether the packaging for a covered product shall be
considered part of the covered product.
(4) Establish any implementation dates for requirements for
covered products.
(5) Identify unique environmental impacts or management
requirements, if any, for a covered product.
(6) Set performance goals and timeframes for the covered product.
(7) Establish measurement metrics and reporting protocols for the
covered product.
(e) The selection process for covered products described in this
section shall not be subject to the requirements of Chapter 3.5
(commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of
the Government Code. However, selected covered products and
associated performance goals shall be submitted to the Office of
Administrative Law for filing and printing with the Secretary of
State.
48814. (a) On and after July 1, 2012, a covered product shall not
be offered for sale or used for promotional purposes in this state
unless the producer or product stewardship organization of the
covered product submits a product stewardship plan in accordance with
this chapter and the regulations adopted pursuant to subdivision (c)
of Section 48810.
(b) A producer shall do all of the following:
(1) (A) Submit a product stewardship plan or participate in a
stewardship organization.
(B) The producer, however, shall maintain responsibility for
compliance with this chapter.
(2) (A) Collect the individual covered product pursuant to a
product stewardship plan to be reused or recycled, unless the board
determines that the covered product is not reusable or recyclable.
(B) Covered products that have been determined by the board not to
be recyclable nor reusable shall be disposed of or managed in
properly permitted facilities appropriate for the covered product,
including disposal or management of all hazardous products,
components, or materials in properly permitted hazardous waste
facilities appropriate for the product, component, or material.
(3) Provide for collection services without charging a fee at the
time that covered products are discarded and collected for recycling
or disposal.
(4) Pay all the administrative and operational costs associated
with the product stewardship plan, including the costs of collection,
transportation, and recycling or disposal, or both, of covered
products.
44815. (a) The producer or product stewardship organization of a
covered product shall submit a product stewardship plan to the board.
(b) Each product stewardship plan for a covered individual product
shall include, at a minimum, all of the following:
(1) Contact information for all participating producers.
(2) A description of the product and associated brand covered by
the plan.
(3) A detailed description of how the performance goals set by the
board will be achieved.
(4) A description of methods proposed to be used to maximize the
recycling of packaging that is delivered into the program along with
the discarded covered product.
(5) A description of the collection system for collecting the
discarded covered product, including, but not limited to, the
following:
(A) How the discarded covered product will be collected in all
counties of the state.
(B) The entities that will perform collection services.
(C) How the collection system is available, convenient,
accessible, and free of charge statewide.
(D) Locations, hours, and days of operation for collection
locations.
(6) A description of the processing and disposal system, including
the following:
(A) How the discarded covered product will be reused and recycled.
(B) If the covered product is not reusable nor recyclable, how the
covered product will be disposed of or managed in properly permitted
facilities appropriate to the covered product, including the
disposal or management of hazardous substances.
(C) The location and permit status of processing or disposal
facilities.
(D) Processing methods utilized at each facility and how residuals
will be handled.
(7) How the product stewardship plan will be financed, including
the following:
(A) The mechanism for securing and dispersing funds to cover
administrative, operational, and capital costs, including the
assessment of charges to producers who participate through a
stewardship organization.
(B) Adequate insurance and financial assurance for collection,
handling, and disposal operations.
(8) Strategies for managing and reducing the life cycle impacts of
covered products and packaging, including through redesign and how
impacts will be tracked over time to show continual improvement.
(9) Education and outreach activities, including the following:
(A) Providing information to the general public on how to use the
collection system for a covered product.
(B) Providing information regarding the collection system to
collectors, retailers, and other interested parties.
(10) The consultation process used to consult with affected
stakeholders and the general public about the contents of the product
stewardship plan.
(c) Producers shall submit their product stewardship plan, or
updates to the product stewardship plan, to the board within 180 days
following the selection of a covered product or 180 days prior to
the sale of a new covered product.
(d) Product stewardship plans shall be revised and submitted to
the board every four years.
(e) All product stewardship plans submitted to the board shall be
available to the public on the board's Internet Web site.
(f) A producer shall notify the board in advance of instituting a
material change to a product stewardship plan.
Article 5. Reporting
48820. (a) Beginning June 30, 2012, and every subsequent year
thereafter, each producer or stewardship organization operating a
product stewardship plan shall prepare and submit to the board an
annual report describing the activities of the product stewardship
program during the previous reporting period, including, but not
limited to, the following:
(1) How the product stewardship plan attained the performance
goals for the covered product, and if the performance goals were not
met, what actions the producer or stewardship organization will take
during the next reporting period to do so.
(2) A description of the outreach and education activities
undertaken during the reporting period.
(3) The actions undertaken to manage and reduce the life cycle
impacts of the covered products and packaging, from product design to
end-of-life management, including how the formulation, packaging,
and distribution of products have been improved to reduce waste,
reduce toxicity, reduce carbon footprint, reduce other environmental
impacts, increase recycled content, increase product longevity, and
make covered products more easily recyclable.
(b) All reports submitted to the board are required to be approved
by the board members at a monthly committee or board hearing.
(c) All reports submitted to the board shall be made available to
the public on the board's Internet Web site.
Article 6. Financial Provisions
44825. (a) All producers shall submit an administrative fee to
the board, according to a fee schedule established by the board.
(b) The total amount of annual fees collected pursuant to this
section shall not exceed the amount necessary to recover costs
incurred by the board in connection with the administration and
enforcement of the requirements of this chapter.
48826. (a) The Extended Producer Responsibility Account and the
Extended Producer Responsibility Penalty Subaccount are hereby
established in the Integrated Waste Management Fund.
(b) All fees collected pursuant to this chapter shall be deposited
in the Extended Producer Responsibility Account and may be expended
by the board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to cover the
board's costs to implement this chapter.
(c) All penalties collected pursuant to this chapter shall be
deposited in the Extended Producer Responsibility Penalty Subaccount
and may be expended by the board, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, to cover the board's costs to implement this chapter.
(d) All funds collected may be expended as incentives to enhance
recyclability and redesign efforts and to reduce environmental and
safety impacts of covered products.
Article 7. Enforcement
48830. (a) Civil liability in an amount of up to fifty thousand
dollars ($50,000) may be administratively imposed by the board
against a producer for any violation of this chapter. The board shall
deposit all penalties in the Extended Producer Responsibility
Penalty Subaccount.
(b) The board shall adopt regulations that specify the procedures
and amounts for the imposition of administrative civil penalties
pursuant to this subdivision.
48831. The board, or its designee, is authorized to inspect,
audit, or require and review third-party audits of producers, product
stewardship organizations, and service providers including
collectors and recyclers that are utilized to fulfill the
requirements of a product stewardship plan.