BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1594
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 28, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Wesley Chesbro, Chair
AB 1594 (Williams) - As Amended: April 21, 2014
SUBJECT : Solid waste: recycling: diversion: green material
SUMMARY : Specifies that green material (i.e., yard trimmings
and untreated wood wastes) used as alternative daily cover (ADC)
at a landfill does not constitute diversion and shall instead be
considered disposal beginning in 2020.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the California Integrated Waste Management Act of
1989, which:
a) Specifies a state policy goal that 75 percent of solid
waste generated be diverted from landfill disposal by 2020.
b) Requires each local jurisdiction to divert 50 percent of
solid waste from landfill disposal.
c) Requires a commercial waste generator, including
multi-family dwellings, to arrange for recycling services
and requires local governments to implement commercial
solid waste recycling programs designed to divert solid
waste from businesses.
d) Specifies that "the use of solid waste (including green
material) for beneficial reuse in the construction and
operation of a solid waste landfill," including use of ADC,
is counted as diversion from landfill disposal.
2)Establishes the California Global Warming Solutions Act of
2006 (AB 32), which requires the California Air Resources
Board (ARB) to:
a) Adopt regulations requiring the reporting and
verification of statewide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
b) Adopt a statewide GHG emissions limit equivalent to 1990
emissions levels by 2020.
AB 1594
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THIS BILL :
1)Specifies that on and after January 1, 2020, the use of green
material as ADC does not constitute diversion and shall be
considered disposal.
2)Prior to January 1, 2020, permits a city or county that will
not be in compliance with its diversion requirement as a
result of the use of green material as ADC to apply to
CalRecycle for one two-year extension, as specified.
3)Authorizes CalRecycle to grant extensions for individual
cities or counties.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Landfill cover . Landfill operators are required to cover all
solid waste at the end of each day to control odors, vectors,
fires, litter, and scavenging. Federal regulations require
that cover consist of six inches of earthen materials, but
also permit operators to use alternative measures, generally
referred to as ADC. Specific types of ADC authorized in
California include: geosynthetic fabric (tarps); sewage
sludge; ash and cement kiln dust; treated auto shredder waste
(auto fluff); foam products; contaminated sediment, dredge
soils, foundry sands, and energy exploration and production
waste; compost materials; processed construction and
demolition waste; shredded tires; "spray applied cementitious
products;" and, green materials.
2)Background on green materials as ADC . In December 1993, after
more than a year of public discussion and consideration, the
California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) adopted
an ADC policy that would have allowed a limited amount of ADC
to count toward a jurisdiction's diversion rate. The
implementation regulations for this policy were rejected by
the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) on the grounds that the
CIWMB did not have the statutory authority to limit ADC
diversion credit. This OAL disapproval prompted the CIWMB to
formulate a new ADC policy at its January 1995 meeting. The
new policy considered use of ADC to be diversion so long as
that use was approved by CIWMB and "not excessive." This new
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policy included limiting the ADC diversion credit to the
"functional equivalent" of the earthen material used as daily
cover.
In February 1996, the Sacramento Superior Court ruled in
Natural Resources Defense Council vs. the California
Integrated Waste Management Board that the regulations were
inconsistent with the Public Resources Code Section 41780,
which requires local jurisdictions to "divert" solid waste
from landfills through source reduction, recycling, and
composting activities. The court also ruled that no recycling
activity at a landfill, including material recovery and
composting could be counted as diversion.
AB 1647 (Bustamante), Chapter 978, Statutes of 1996
established that local jurisdictions may use ADC as a strategy
to achieve their waste diversion goals. This bill also
specified that recycling activities conducted at a landfill
are considered diversion.
In October 2013, CalRecycle released the Update on AB 341
Legislative Report: Statewide Strategies to Achieve the 75
Percent Goal by 2020. The report outlines a "new recycling
rate" to measure progress toward the 75 percent goal, which
will not include "beneficial use of waste-derived materials at
landfills," including green materials used as ADC. The report
is clear that the new measurement system will not affect how
individual jurisdiction's diversion rates are calculated.
While a large number of jurisdictions use green materials as
ADC, only 11 of the state's 416 jurisdictions would drop below
their required diversion rate if green materials used as ADC
no longer counted as diversion. In order for CalRecycle to
pursue enforcement action, it would have to determine that the
city or county was also failing to make a "good faith effort"
to meet the state's diversion requirements.
In 2012 (the most recent data available), approximately 1.6
million tons of green material was used as ADC. Use has
gradually decreased since 2005, when it peaked at
approximately 3 million tons.
3)Managing organics . CalRecycle is tasked with diverting at
least 75 percent of solid waste statewide by 2020. Currently,
organic materials, including green waste, make up one-third of
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the waste stream (approximately 11 million tons) and food
continues to be the highest single category of disposal at
over 15 percent. CalRecycle is also charged with implementing
its Strategic Directive 6.1, which calls for reducing organic
waste disposal by 50 percent by 2020. According to
CalRecycle, significant gains in organic waste diversion are
necessary to meet the 75 percent goal and to implement
Strategic Directive 6.1. Recycling technologies for organic
waste include composting, anaerobic digestion, and other types
of processing that generate renewable fuels, energy, soil
amendments, and mulch.
Recycling organic waste provides significant GHG reductions
over landfilling. Composting and other organics processing
technologies, including anaerobic digestion, reduce GHGs by
avoiding the emissions that would be generated by the
material's decomposition in a landfill. Landfill gas is
generated by the decomposition of organic materials such as
food, paper, wood, and green material. Fifty percent of
landfill gas is methane, a GHG that is 21 times more efficient
at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. While most modern
landfills have systems in place to capture methane,
significant amounts continue to escape into the atmosphere.
According to ARB's GHG inventory, approximately 7 million tons
of CO2 equivalent are released annually by landfills. That
number is expected to increase to 8.5 million tons of CO2
equivalent by 2020.
4)This bill. According to the author, "California is one of the
only states to allow the use of green material as landfill
cover and the only state to count cover material as
diverted-nearly half the states in the country have banned the
landfilling of this material all together. Eliminating this
wasteful practice will help the State meet its environmental
goals, support the growth of agriculture, and create jobs."
5)Suggested amendments . The committee may wish to make the
following technical and clarifying amendments :
a) Revise page 3, lines 1 to 9 to read:
(2) Commencing January 1, 2020, the use of green material
as alternative daily cover , not including materials left
over from the composting process, as alternative daily
cover does not constitute diversion through recycling and
AB 1594
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shall be considered disposal for purposes of this division.
(3) (A) If , after January 1, 2020, a local jurisdiction
will no longer be in compliance with Section 41780 after
January 1, 2020 as a result of using green material as
alternative daily cover, that jurisdiction, pursuant to
subparagraph (B), may , before that date, apply to the
department for up to a one extension of up to two-years
two-year extension before that date .
b) Revise page 3, lines 28 to 31 to read:
(C) Upon receipt of an application pursuant to this
paragraph, the department may, at its sole discretion,
grant as to a local jurisdiction up to a two-year delay of
one extension for up to two-years from the requirements of
imposed by paragraph (2).
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Agromin
Association of Compost Producers
Breathe California
Biodegradable Products Institute
California Biomass Energy Alliance
California Climate and Agriculture Network
California Coastal Protection Network
California Compost Coalition
California League of Conservation Voters
California Organics Recycling Council
California Resource Recovery Association
Californians Against Waste
Center for Biological Diversity
City and County of San Francisco
City of Thousand Oaks
Clean Power Campaign
CleanWorld
Coalition for Clean Air
Costa Mesa Sanitary District
CR&R Environmental Services
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Ecology Center
Environment California
Frank M. Booth Design Build Company
Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives
Global Green USA
GrassRoots Recycling Network
Green Waste Recovery
Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice
Integrated Waste Management Consulting
Laane
Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy
Napa Recycling & Waste Services
Napa Recycling Compost
Natural Resources Defense Council
NatureWorks, LLC
Northern California Compost
Northern California Recycling Association
Northern Recycling Compost
Peabody Engineering
Planning and Conservation League
Quackenbush Mountain Compost
Recology
Sierra Club California
Sonoma Compost
Synergex International
Tracy Delta Compost
Upper Valley Recycling Compost
US Composting Council
Vasko Electric, Inc.
Z-Best Composting
Opposition
Family Winemakers of California
Analysis Prepared by : Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092