BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2139
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Pardo Nava, Chair
AB 2139 (Chesbro) - As Amended: April 6, 2010
SUBJECT : Solid waste: extended producer responsibility.
SUMMARY : Enacts the California Product Stewardship Act (Act).
The Act requires California Department of Resources Recycling
and Recovery (CalRecycle) to administer a program to provide
environmentally sound extended producer responsibility (EPR)
protocols to foster producer responsibility. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Establishes the EPR Program in CalRecycle. The program is
intended to provide sound product stewardship protocols that
encourage producers to research alternatives during the
product design and packaging phases to foster producer
responsibility and reduce the end-of-life environmental
impacts.
2)Establishes three types of covered products to be included in
the ERP program including:
a) Home generated medical sharps, including hypodermic
needles, pen needles , intravenous needles, and lancets;
and,
b) Small non-reusable propane containers; and,
c) Household pesticides intended for home use, except those
which are primarily intended or residential cleaning and
disinfection.
3)Establishes requirements for the producers to create the
product stewardship plan and requires the plan to be submitted
by the producer to CalRecycle by September 30, 2011.
4)Clarifies that actions taken under the Act do not interfere
with existing efforts of the Department of Toxic Substances
Control (DTSC) relating to Green Chemistry.
5)Beginning July 1, 2012, prohibits the sale of a covered
product unless the producer is in compliance with the Act. To
be in compliance the producer must:
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a) Submit a product stewardship plan or participation in a
stewardship organization. The product stewardship plan
must include:
i) A description of the covered product and associated
brands covered by the plan,
ii) Performance goals, including a description of how
the performance goals will be achieved and how results
will be measured,
iii) A collection, reuse, and a recycling rate for the
covered product,
iv) If the covered product is prohibited from being
disposed of at a solid waste disposal facility, the
performance goal shall include a schedule to accomplish a
100 percent collection rate.
v) Financing methods for the product stewardship plan,
vi) Strategies for managing and reducing the life cycle
impacts of the covered product; and
vii) Education and outreach activities.
b) Pay operational costs associated with the Act.
6)The product stewardship plan must be approved by CalRecycle.
7)Beginning June 30, 2013 producers and stewardship
organizations operating under the Act to submit an annual
report to CalRecycle, which includes status of meeting
performance goals, a description of outreach and educational
activities, and actions undertaken to manage and reduce the
life-cycle impacts of the covered product.
8)Establishes the Extended Producer Responsibility Account
(Account) and the Extended Producer Responsibility Penalty
Subaccount (Subaccount) in the Integrated Waste Management
Fund.
a) Requires producers subject to the Act to submit an
unspecified administrative fee to CalRecycle to cover
administrative costs to be deposited into the Account.
b) Requires all penalties collected under the Act to be
deposited into the Subaccount, which may be expended by
CalRecycle to cover costs of implementing the Act.
c) Specifies that the Account and Subaccount may be
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expended by CalRecycle for incentives to enhance
recyclability and redesign efforts and to reduce
environmental and safety impacts of covered products.
9)Establishes unspecified civil liability for violations of the
Act.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Pursuant to the California Integrated Waste Management Act of
1989, requires local governments to divert 50% of solid waste
generated from landfill disposal through source reduction,
reuse, and recycling.
2)Prohibits, pursuant to California Code of Regulations, Title
22, Division 4.5, Chapter 23, the disposal of some common or
"universal" wastes in solid waste landfills. Universal wastes
are hazardous wastes that are generated by a wide variety of
sources that contain mercury, lead, cadmium, copper and other
substances hazardous to human and environmental health.
Examples of these wastes are household batteries, fluorescent
tubes, and some electronic devices.
3)Defines "home-generated sharps waste" to mean hypodermic
needles, pen needles, intravenous needles, lancets, and other
devices that are used to penetrate the skin for the delivery
of medications derived from a household. (Health and Safety
Code Section 117671)
4)Prohibits the disposal of home-generated sharps waste in the
solid waste or recycling streams. (Health and Safety Code
Section 118286)
5)Requires a pharmaceutical manufacturer that sells or
distributes a medication that is self-injected at home through
the use of a hypodermic needle, pen needle, intravenous needle
to submit to the California Department of Resources Recycling
and Recovery (CalRecycle) a plan that describes how the
manufacturer supports the safe collection and destruction of
home-generated sharps waste. (Public Resources Code Section
47115 et seq ,).
FISCAL EFFECT . Unknown.
COMMENTS :
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Need for the bill : According to the author "The California
Product Stewardship Act requires manufacturers of hazardous
products to create products that are less toxic, more durable
and easier to recycle when they enter the waste stream. AB 2139
proposes an Extended Producer Responsibility Framework which
would establish one law to address a wide range of toxic
products including medical waste like hypodermic needles,
household pesticides, small propane tanks, and other hazardous
waste found around the home. These waste end up in California
landfills and make a significant impact on our environment.
The EPR Framework is a strategy to share responsibility among
those who make, sell, use, and dispose of products, while
placing the primary responsibility on producers to reduce a
product's lifecycle impacts. In other words, those who benefit
from a product would share in the costs associated with the
environmental impacts of the product. By having producers share
in the costs of managing product discards, EPR harnesses the
power of the free market to drive environmental improvement. "
Medical Sharps : An estimated one million Californians inject
medications outside traditional health care facilities, which
generate approximately 389 million sharps each year. The
numbers of patients using injectable medications will continue
to grow because it is an effective delivery method. The most
common home use of sharps is to manage diabetes. Other reasons
to home-inject include multiple sclerosis, infertility,
migraines, allergies, hemophilia and medications for pets.
The need to keep the growing number of sharps out of the
municipal waste stream has gained serious attention. California
was one of the fore-runners in that policies shift with the
passage of SB 1305 (Figueroa), Chapter 64, Statutes of 2006 to
prohibit the disposal of medical sharps in California's
landfills. Although illegal, most of these used needles still
end up in household trash and pose a significant risk of injury
and/or infection to children, custodial workers and solid waste
employees.
Universal waste : Universal wastes are household hazardous
wastes that contain mercury, lead, cadmium, copper and other
substances hazardous to human and environmental health. In
general, universal waste may not be discarded in solid waste
landfills. Examples of these wastes are batteries, fluorescent
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tubes, and some electronic devices. Universal Wastes in this
bill are non-empty aerosol cans - propane and pesticides.
Support: Supporters of AB 2139, including the League of
California Cities, point out that " Cities and counties in
California spend upwards of $500 million annually to manage
products banned from landfill as well as those disposed of at
the landfill - a cost that local governments ultimately end up
passing on to the consumers in the form of fees on solid waste
services. AB 2139 takes the important step of adopting the
California Product Stewardship Act, which will require product
producers to address end-of-life issues for their produce,
thereby keeping thousands of tons of waste out of the local
landfill and ultimately lowering the amount of waste that must
be disposed in California."
Opponents: Opponents of AB 2139, including a coalition of
pharmaceutical manufactures, object to the provisions of the
bill that effect home generated medical sharps waste.
Specifically they find that the bill only applies to certain
home-generated sharps waste. Because it fails to address other
sources of home-generated sharps waste, it therefore also fails
the test of shared responsibility. While this bill targets the
manufacturers of certain sharps, it does not impose the same
mandate on local governments, health care organizations, public
health officers, solid waste service providers and others
involved in the generation of medical sharps waste from the
solution. Moreover, by assigning some manufacturers
responsibility for consumer behavior - something over which they
have next to no control, the bill also fails to address the real
problem inherent with current law - a lack of disposal resources
available to consumers."
Prior and Related Legislation:
1)AB 239 (Chesbro) 2009. Proposed the California Product
Stewardship Act of 2009 (Act). The Act requires the
California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) to
administer a program to provide environmentally sound product
stewardship protocols to foster "cradle-to-cradle" producer
responsibility. (Held in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee)
2)AB 1343 (Huffman). Creates an architectural paint recovery
program to require manufacturers or designated stewardship
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organizations to develop and submit an architectural paint
stewardship plan to reduce the generation of post consumer
paint, promote the reuse of post consumer architectural paint,
and manage the end-of-life of post consumer architectural
paint, in an environmentally sound fashion, including
collection, transportation, processing, and disposal. (Held
in the Senate Appropriations Committee)
3)AB 2176 (Blumenfield). Enacts the California Lighting Toxics
Reduction and Jobs in Recycling Act (Act) which establishes a
producer responsibility program for mercury-containing lamps
and a fee program for inefficient lamps. (Set for hearing in
the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Material Committee
on April 13, 2010)
4)AB 2398 (J. Perez). Requires, by September 30, 2011, a
producer or the product stewardship organization created by
one or more producers of carpet to submit a carpet stewardship
plan which would be required to include specified elements,
including performance goals. (Set for hearing in the Assembly
Natural Resources Committee on April 12, 2010)
5)SB 1100 (Corbett). Creates a product stewardship program for
household batteries. (In the Senate Appropriations Committee)
Double Referral to Natural Resources Committee : Should this
measure be approved by this committee, the do pass motion must
include the action to re-refer the bill to the Assembly
Committee on Natural Resources.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support:
CA Resource Recovery Association
California Product Stewardship Council
Californians Against Waste
Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority
City of San Francisco
Del Norte County Solid Waste Management Authority
Humboldt County Waste Management Authority
League of California Cities
Marin Sanitary Services
Napa County
Opposition:
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BayBio
BIOCOM
The California Healthcare Institute
The Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers Association
AdvaMed
Consumer Specialty Products Association
Soap and Detergent Association
American Chemistry Council
California Chamber of Commerce
California Grocers Association
California Manufacturers and Technology Association
Grocery Manufacturers Association
Monsanto
Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment
Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965