BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1594
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1594 (Williams)
As Amended May 27, 2014
Majority vote
NATURAL RESOURCES 5-3 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Chesbro, Garcia, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Muratsuchi, Stone, | |Bradford, |
| |Williams | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Holden, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Weber |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Dahle, Bigelow, Patterson |Nays:|Bigelow, Donnelly, Jones, |
| | | |Linder, Wagner |
| | | | |
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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. Specifically, 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.
4)Commencing January 1, 2020, excludes green material used as
ADC from the tipping fee imposed on solid waste disposed at
landfills.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the California Integrated Waste Management Act of
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1989, which:
a) Specifies a state policy goal that 75% of solid waste
generated be diverted from landfill disposal by 2020.
b) Requires each local jurisdiction to divert 50% 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 (N��ez), Chapter 488, Statutes of 2006), 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : 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.
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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 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% 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
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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.
Managing organics. CalRecycle is tasked with diverting at least
75% of solid waste statewide by 2020. Currently, organic
materials, including green waste, make up one-third of the waste
stream (approximately 11 million tons) and food continues to be
the highest single category of disposal at over 15%. CalRecycle
is also charged with implementing its Strategic Directive 6.1,
which calls for reducing organic waste disposal by 50% by 2020.
According to CalRecycle, significant gains in organic waste
diversion are necessary to meet the 75% 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.
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
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will help the State meet its environmental goals, support the
growth of agriculture, and create jobs."
Analysis Prepared by : Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
FN: 0003841