BILL ANALYSIS
SB 25
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Date of Hearing: June 28, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Wesley Chesbro, Chair
SB 25 (Padilla) - As Amended: June 21, 2010
SENATE VOTE : Vote not relevant
SUBJECT : Solid waste: rendering
SUMMARY : Specifies that "renderer" and "rendering" do not
include facilities or activities that are already licensed by
the Department of Resources Recovery and Recycling (DRRR).
EXISTING LAW , pursuant to the California Meat and Poultry
Inspection Act:
1)Defines "renderer" as any person engaged in the business of
rendering any livestock or poultry carcass, or any part or
product of such a carcass, except as specifically exempted.
2)Defines "rendering" as all recycling, processing, and
conversion of animal and fish materials and carcasses and
inedible kitchen grease into fats, oils, proteins, and other
products that are used in the animal, poultry, pet food, or
other industries.
THIS BILL :
1)Specifies that "renderer" does not include a person operating
a solid waste facility "licensed" by DRRR that hauls, handles,
or processes mammalian, poultry, or fish tissue from the food
service industry, grocery stores, or residential food scrap
collection, or as part of a research composting operation for
the purpose of obtaining data on pathogen reduction or other
public health, animal health, safety, or environmental
concerns.
2)Specifies that "rendering" does not include recycling,
processing, or conversion of mammalian, poultry, or fish
tissue from the food service industry, grocery stores, or
residential food scrap collection at a solid waste facility
licensed by DRRR, or as part of a research composting
operation for the purpose of obtaining date on pathogen
reduction or other public health, animal health, safety, or
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environmental concerns.
FISCAL EFFECT : Non-fiscal
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the bill. According to the author, food waste is
being used to produce compost, renewable energy, and biofuels
at facilities permitted and inspected by DRRR. CDFA recently
proposed regulations that would impose regulatory authority
over some solid waste facilities (composting and anaerobic
digestion facilities) that handle and process meat scraps and
trimmings from butcher shops and retail establishments. The
author states that because these facilities are already
permitted and regulated by DRRR, the facilities and haulers
should not also be required to be [licensed] and regulated by
CDFA.
2)Background. Careful management of waste meat, poultry, and
fish tissue is necessary to protect public health and safety
and the environment. Currently, this material is jointly
regulated by CDFA and DRRR. CDFA licenses and inspects
renderers who recycle animal carcasses, packinghouse waste and
inedible kitchen grease into animal feed ingredients and
inedible industrial fats, oils, and other products and
registers transporters of inedible kitchen grease. DRRR
permits and inspects solid waste facilities, including compost
and anaerobic digestion facilities, that accept mammalian,
fish, and poultry from the food service industry, grocery
stores, and residential food scrap collection programs. DRRR
does not regulate solid waste haulers.
Animal tissue not fit for human consumption is generally sent to
rendering facilities that process the material into fats,
oils, and protein used for animal feed (including pet food)
and as ingredients in soaps, paints, cosmetics and toiletries,
explosives, pharmaceuticals, leather, textiles, and
lubricants. CDFA regulations require animal tissue generated
by specified food-processors (including butcher shops and
grocery stores) to be disposed of through licensed renderers
or pet food processors. Transporters of animal tissue
products are required to register with CDFA. Waste meat,
poultry, and fish tissue from restaurants is not regulated and
it handled with other solid waste.
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The recommended hierarchy for food scrap management in
California is to: 1) Prevent food waste; 2) Feed people; 3)
Convert to animal feed and/or render; and, 4) Compost. Food
waste (including animal tissue) can be composted either by the
general public or in industrial composting facilities, if they
are permitted to accept food waste. DRRR regulations prohibit
the composting of unprocessed mammalian tissue due to
potential public health and safety risks. Food scraps require
precise management because they may be heavier and contain
more putrescible material than other organic waste.
According to the sponsor, regulations currently proposed by CDFA
would require solid waste facilities (including existing
facilities), specifically composting facilities and anaerobic
digesters, to be regulated by CDFA if they accept animal
tissue even though they are already permitted by DRRR.
Supporters state that these regulations are not only
unnecessary, but inappropriate for these types of facilities
and are "potentially contradictory to some of the health and
safety requirements of the agency that has primary oversight
responsibility." Additionally, the regulations require solid
waste haulers transporting mixed solid waste or organic
material that may include food waste to permitted solid waste
facilities to register with CDFA. This has created a climate
of regulatory uncertainty for these facilities, which will
hinder their expansion.
Opponents of the bill state that this bill would allow
composting of animal tissue that would then be available to
the public and farmers for land application, potentially
spreading serious animal diseases, and that composting has not
been proven to destroy disease pathogens as effectively as
rendering. They note that federal regulations prohibit
feeding "ruminants to ruminants" and that possible grazing of
cattle on land that has had compost containing animal tissue
applied to it may increase the risk of diseases such as mad
cow. Finally, they state that the appropriate venue for
addressing these issues is the open regulations package at
CDFA.
3)Related legislation:
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a) AB 2612 (Agriculture Committee) is an omnibus bill that,
among other issues, expands the definition of a "collection
center" to include a "pet food processor", changes the
license expiration date from a year of issuance to December
31 of each year, and exempts a "collection center" from
registration as a transporter of kitchen grease if they are
licensed as a collection center.
b) SB 1107 (Kehoe), requires the State Water Resources
Control Board (SWRCB), on or before January 1, 2012, to
develop, adopt, and implement regulations that include
specified requirements, for a manifest system to track the
transportation of interceptor and trap grease, as
specified. This bill requires SWRCB to impose a fee
sufficient to cover the costs of implementation, and
requires SWRCB to deposit all revenues from the fee in the
Interceptor and Trap Grease Manifest Fund, which the bill
establishes. This bill authorizes SWRCB to expend monies
in the fund to implement the bill, subject to appropriation
for that purpose.
4)Drafting issues . This bill currently exempts facilities
"licensed" by DRRR; however, DRRR issues permits for
facilities, not licenses. If this bill moves forward, the
committee may wish to amend the bill to clarify that the
provisions apply to facilities permitted by DRRR.
5)Double referral . If this bill passes out of this committee,
it will be referred to the Assembly Committee on Agriculture.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Californians Against Waste
Republic Services, Inc.
Opposition
California Grain and Feed
Pacific Coast Rendering Association
Analysis Prepared by : Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. / (916)
SB 25
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319-2092