BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1159
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 1159
AUTHOR: Calderon
AMENDED: April 17, 2012
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: May 14, 2012
URGENCY: Yes CONSULTANT: Rebecca
Newhouse
SUBJECT : LABELING: PLASTIC CARRYOUT BAGS
SUMMARY :
Existing law , under the At-Store Recycling Program (Public
Resources Code �42250 et seq.) (part of the California
Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989) requires operators of
stores (defined as retail establishments that provide plastic
carryout bags to customers as a result of sale, and is either
a supermarket or is over 10,000 square feet with a pharmacy),
to establish an at-store recycling program. Among other
provisions, the program requires that the store provide
clearly labeled and easily accessible recycling bins for
plastic carryout bags and that plastic bags provided by the
store have the label, "Please Return to a Participating Store
for Recycling."
This bill would enact the Plastic Bag Reduction and Recycling
Act (Public Resources Code �42250 et seq.) and:
1) Defines the terms, "manufacturer," "operator," "plastic
carryout bag," "reusable bag," and "supermarket."
2) Prohibits, on or after July 1, 2013, the operator of a
supermarket, as defined, from distributing plastic carryout
bags to customers unless the bag displays the phrase,
"Please Recycle This Bag" on both the front and back panel
of the plastic carryout bag, in bold and at least one inch
in height and 75 percent of the width of the front and back
panels of the bag, unless the operator purchased and
received the plastic carryout bag from the manufacturer
before July 1, 2013.
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3) States that a violation of the labeling requirement in #2
is an infraction.
4) Authorizes the city attorney or district attorney to bring
an action against the operator of a supermarket convicted
of a violation to recover costs of the enforcement action.
5) Requires that the above provisions take effect immediately.
COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of Bill . According to the author, "SB 1159 seeks
to prohibit the operator of a supermarket from distributing
a plastic carryout bag to a customer unless the plastic
carryout bag displays the phrase 'Please Recycle This Bag.'
With this phrase in a prominent position on the plastic
carryout bag, the bill seeks to help Californians become
more environmental conscious about their consumption and
help promote responsible acts such as recycling in their
day-to-day activities."
2) Plastic is a problem : Plastic bags and plastic film
together represent 2.2% of the waste stream and every year,
California taxpayers spend $25 million disposing of the 19
billion plastic bags used annually. Although plastic
represents a relatively small fraction of the overall waste
stream in California, plastic waste is the predominate form
of marine debris. Plastics are estimated to compose 60-80
percent of all marine debris and 90 percent of all floating
debris. According to the California Coastal Commission,
the primary source of marine debris is urban runoff, of
which lightweight plastic bags are particularly
susceptible. Due to the interplay of ocean currents,
marine debris preferentially accumulates in certain areas
throughout the ocean. The North Pacific Central Gyre is
the ultimate destination for much of the marine debris
originating from the California coast. A study by the
Algalita Marine Research Foundation found an average of
more than 300,000 plastic pieces per square mile of the
Gyre and that the mass of plastic was six times greater
than zooplankton floating on the water's surface.
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Most plastic marine debris exists as small plastic
particles due to excessive UV radiation exposure and
subsequent photo-degradation. These plastic pieces are
ingested by aquatic organisms and have already negatively
affected over 250 animal species worldwide. In addition,
hydrophobic chemicals present in the ocean in trace amounts
(e.g., from contaminated runoff and oil and chemical
spills) have an affinity for and can bind to plastic
particles and may also enter and accumulate in the food
chain through the same mechanism.
3) Will SB 1159 increase plastic carryout bag recycling ? AB
2449 (Levine) Chapter 845, Statutes of 2006, enacted the
At-Store Recycling Program and requires certain stores to,
among other things, provide bins for plastic carryout bag
recycling and to dispense plastic bags that are labeled to
encourage their recycling at a participating store. This
program currently sunsets on January 1, 2013. SB 1159
would replace the at-store recycling program, and require
plastic carryout bags be prominently labeled to encourage
recycling, although, with the absence of the at-store
recycling program, plastic carryout bag recycling could be
considerably more challenging for the consumer. Many
curbside recycling programs throughout the state (including
much of the bay area and San Diego) do not allow plastic
carryout bags because they tend to clog sorting machines.
The current at-store recycling program already requires
stores that dispense plastic carryout bags to be labeled to
encourage their recycling at a participating store. It is
unclear how the Plastic Bag Reduction and Recycling Act
outlined in SB 1159, which requires a similar, although
larger and more prominent label, but does not offer to
consumers any related recycling program, education,
outreach or information on where to recycle the plastic
bag, will increase the current recycling rate for plastic
carryout bags of less than five percent. In addition,
ultimately fewer bags must be labeled since only
supermarkets are required to put labels encouraging
recycling on their plastic carryout bags, whereas under the
at-store recycling program, both supermarkets and stores
greater than 10,000 square feet with a pharmacy are
required to dispense labeled plastic carryout bags.
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4) Label encouraging recycling too big ? In an effort to
improve awareness among consumers that plastic bags can and
should be recycled, SB 1159 would require that the phrase,
'Please Recycle this Bag' be bolded, at least one inch in
height, on the front and back of the plastic carryout bag
and be 75 percent of the width of front and back panels of
the bag. Currently, the At-Store Recycling Program only
specifies that the phrase, 'Please Return to a
Participating Store for Recycling' must be displayed in a
manner visible to consumers and has resulted in some stores
putting the label in a relatively small font size on the
sides of plastic bags. Requiring that the phrase be larger
and in a more prominent place on the bag may help increase
the plastic carryout bag recycling rate. However, because
the requirements in SB 1159 would make the recycling label
extremely prominent in terms of height and width on both
the back and front of the bag, it might interfere with the
store labels including the store name, trademark and
slogan.
5) Amendments needed . In the bill's current form, SB 1159 is
unlikely to accomplish the author's goal of increased
plastic carryout bag recycling. If the committee believes
this bill is necessary, rather than creating the new
Plastic Bag Reduction and Recycling Act (which conflicts
with the At-Store Recycling Law) and requiring the label,
'Please Recycle This Bag,' which does not inform consumers
where or how to recycle their plastic carryout bag, SB 1159
should be amended to replace the provisions of this bill
with a requirement that the plastic carryout bag labeling
provision in the At-Store Recycling Program ('Please Return
to a Participating Store for Recycling') meet certain
height, width and placement specifications (i.e., a minimum
of anywhere from 3/8 to 1/2 inches in height, 25-50 percent
of the plastic bag width, and located on the front and back
panels of the bag). Amendments to SB 1159 should also
include additional time for stores to comply with the new
labeling provisions.
SB 1219 (Wolk) extends the sunset of the At-Store Recycling
Program to January 1, 2020. If SB 1219 is signed into law,
then SB 1159, if amended as described above and
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subsequently signed into law, would chapter out the current
plastic carryout bag labeling provision and replace it with
the labeling provision specified in the amended version of
SB 1159.
6) Related Legislation . The following legislation relates to
plastic carryout bag reduction or recycling:
a) AB 2449 (Levine) Chapter 845, Statutes of 2006,
enacted the At-Store Recycling Program, which defined
reusable bags and required operators of stores to make
reusable bags available to consumers.
b) AB 2058 (Levine) of 2007 would have prohibited the
free dispensing of carryout plastic bags by a store to
its customers, unless the store can demonstrate to the
California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB)
that 70% of the plastic bags it dispensed had been
diverted from the waste stream. AB 2058 was held in
Senate Appropriations Committee.
c) AB 68 (Brownley) of 2009 and AB 87 (Davis) of 2009
both would have required a 25-cent fee on the
distribution of single-use carry-out bags. Both bills
were held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
d) AB 2138 (Chesbro) of 2010 would have established
recycling and composting requirements for take-out food
packaging, including bags. AB 2138 was held on the
Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file.
e) AB 1998 (Brownley) of 2010 would have repealed the
at-store recycling program and instead prohibited stores
from providing a single-use plastic carryout bag to a
customer and required stores to provide reusable bags
for purchase or recycled paper bags for a fee. AB 1998
failed in the Senate on August 31, 2010 (14-21).
f) SB 915 (Calderon) of 2011 sets plastic bag reduction
and recycled content goals. Hearing in the Senate
Environmental Quality Committee was canceled at the
request of the author.
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g) AB 298 (Brownley) of 2011 requires cleaning
instructions to be included on reusable bags and
prohibits them from containing toxic materials, and is
currently with the Senate Environmental Quality
Committee.
h) AB 1834 (Brownley) of 2012 defines reusable bags and
is set for hearing in the Senate Environmental Quality
Committee on May 14, 2012.
i) SB 1106 (Strickland) of 2012 prohibits the
manufacture of reusable bags without a warning label
that specifies the need for reusable bags to be cleaned
between uses. SB 1106 failed in the Senate
Environmental Quality Committee April 23, 2013 (1-5).
j) SB 1219 (Wolk) of 2012 extends the sunset on the
at-store recycling program which currently expires next
year and deletes a preemption which prohibits local
governments from imposing fees upon stores or additional
recycling requirements for plastic bags. SB 1219 is
currently at the Assembly desk.
SOURCE : Senator Calderon
SUPPORT : None on file
OPPOSITION : None on file