BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2718
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 2718
AUTHOR: Adams
AMENDED: April 14, 2010
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: June 28, 2010
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Caroll
Mortensen
SUBJECT : BEVERAGE CONTAINER RECYCLING:
CONVENIENCE ZONES
SUMMARY :
Existing law , under the California Beverage Container
Recycling and Litter Reduction Act (Act) (Public Resources
Code 14500, et al.):
1) Establishes refund value and redemption payments for
beverage containers.
2) Requires a distributor to pay a redemption payment for
every beverage container sold or offered for sale in the
state to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery
(DRRR), which is required to deposit those amounts in the
California Beverage Container Recycling Fund (Fund). The
money in the Fund is continuously appropriated for the
payment of refund values and processing fees.
3) Specifies that every convenience zone must be served by at
least one certified recycling center, with specified
operating hours. If a zone is "unserved" by a certified
recycling center, existing law requires that the dealer
(store) redeem beverage containers from consumers.
(14538, 14571).
4) Authorizes a dealer that redeems beverage containers to
become certified as a recycling center by DRRR and receive
related handling fees to cover related costs. Limits
handling fees to one recycling center per convenience zone.
(14585).
AB 2718
Page 2
This bill :
1) Adds a definition of an "unserved convenience zone" to mean
a CZ where there is no certified recycling center or other
approved location and that is not otherwise exempt from
existing requirements.
2) Requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery
(DRRR) to pay handling fees to a dealer that is certified
as a recycling center and is located in an unserved zone
for redeemed beverage containers.
3) Authorizes the DRRR to allow a certified recycling center
to be open for less than 30 hours, but not less than 20
hours, per week if the center is located in an unserved
convenience zone that has been unserved for at least six
continuous months.
COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of Bill . According to the author, AB 2718
addresses a variety of structural issues with the Bottle
Bill by adding a definition of "unserved convenience zone";
permitting DRRR to develop various exceptions for the
operation on convenience zone recyclers to incentivize
opening of collection stations in unserved zones; allowing
retailers in unserved zones that collect containers to
receive handling fees.
2) Background . DRRR administers the Beverage Container
Recycling Program, commonly referred to as the Bottle Bill
program. The program encourages the voluntary recycling of
most beverage containers by guaranteeing a minimum payment
(the "California Redemption Value" (CRV)) for each
container returned to a certified recycler. Beverage
containers are subject to the CRV based on both the content
of the container (the beverage type, such as water or
sports drinks) and the container material (such as glass or
plastic).
To encourage convenient recycling, certain recycling
AB 2718
Page 3
centers-generally those located in supermarket parking lots
and known as "convenience zone recyclers"-are paid an
additional "handling fee" or subsidy per container recycled.
Despite this incentive payment, hundreds of areas
throughout the state lack convenience zone recycling
centers. These unserved zones discourage recycling, because
people must travel relatively longer distances to redeem
their beverage containers.
SOURCE : California Grocers Association
SUPPORT : None on file
OPPOSITION : None on file