The Recycling Advocate - June 9, 2009 - Volume 14, Number 5

Bottle Bill Under Attack! The Department of Finance has proposed more than $120 million in devastating and unnecessary cuts to local recycling programs in order to finance a potentially illegal transfer of funds from the Bottle Bill to the General Fund.

Californians Against Waste has prepared a joint alternative proposal with local governments, recyclers and others that maintains core recycling program priorities, while closing loopholes and extending the successful recycling incentives to additional beverage containers. The CAW proposal will reprioritize expenditures to strengthen recycling while balancing revenues and expenditures. The CAW alternative is completely self-funded and will not require any General Fund payments or transfers.

For more information on the Department of Finance Proposal and CAW's Alternative, go here.

Take Action:  Send a message to the Budget Conference Committee urging them to reject the Department of Finance Proposal.

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Legislative Update: The first major milestone of the legislative session was passed last week as several recycling bills passed out of their houses of origin.  These include two measures to increase landfill diversion, as well as measures regarding plastic recycling, e-waste and used oil.  Unfortunately, action on several important bills was delayed until next year, including extended producer responsibility fees on carryout bags.

Priority Recycling Bills pass houses of origin.

AB 479 (Chesbro) 75% Waste Reduction - passed Assembly Floor 41-32.  AB 479 would set a statewide diversion goal of 75% and require commercial recycling. Awaiting Senate Environmental Quality Committee hearing date.

SB 25 (Padilla) 75% Waste Reduction  - passed Senate Floor 41-32. Among other things, this bill would require CIWMB to adopt programs to increase statewide waste diversion to 75%. Awaiting Assembly Natural Resources Committee hearing date.

AB 1173 (Huffman) - RFLs - passed Assembly Floor with a 51- 25 vote. This bill would limit payment of ratepayer derived Energy Efficiency Funds for Residential Flourescent Light (RFL)  'prebates' to only those entities that produce high quality lamps and who support either direct implementation of specified RFL recycling program or commitment of financial support for RFL recycling. Next, to the Senate.

AB 1329 (Brownley) - PVC Phase out - passed Assembly Floor 42-34. Phases out polyvinyl chloride (PVC) packaging containers by 2014 because of their contaminating affect on plastics recycling. Awaiting Senate Environmental Quality Committee hearing date.

AB 1343 (Huffman) - Paint Recycling - passed Assembly Floor 48-29. Requires paint manufacturers to develop and implement a program to collect, transport, and process postconsumer paint to reduce the costs and environmental impacts of the disposal of postconsumer paint in this state. Next, to the Senate.

AB 907 (Chesbro) Used Oil Recycling - passed Assembly Floor with a 43 - 31 vote. This bill gives the Integrated Waste Management Board authority to develop a program to provide incentives to manufacturers of re-refined oil, and to develop additional capacity for the re-refining of used oil. AB 907 will next be heard in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee.

Other Recycling Bills CAW is supporting:

SB 55 (Corbett) - Bottle Bill - passed Senate Floor 29-4. SB 55 eliminates the anachronistic Redemption Rate calculation requirement. This measure is important because it may become the vehicle for advancing CAW's Alternative to the Department of Finance proposal.

AB 147 (Saldana) - Electronic Waste Reporting - passed Assembly Floor with a 42 -32 vote.  This bill authorizes DTSC to request documentation from electronics manufacturers about the amount of hazardous materials contained in the consumer electronics they offer for sale in the state as opposed to expensive product-by-product testing to determine the hazardous materials content. AB 147 now goes to the Senate.

SB 723 (DeSaulnier) - Electronic Waste Payments - passed Senate Floor with a 22-17 vote.  This bill would authorize the CIWMB to adjust E-waste Collector and Recycler payments annually, rather than every two years to more accurately reflect market conditions for scrap material. It now moves to the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

AB 925 (Saldana) - Bottle Caps - passed Assembly Floor 42 -34. This bill would require bottle caps to be affixed to plastic bottles by 2012. It awaits a Senate Environmental Quality Committee hearing date.

SB 531 (DeSaulnier): Plastic Bags - passed Senate Floor 23-15. This would strengthen manufacturer education requirements of California's At-Store Plastic Bag Recycling Program ("AB 2449"). SB 531 is awaiting an Assembly Natural Resources Committee hearing date.

Controversial Waste-to-Energy Conversion Bill Passes Assembly 
AB 222 (Adams) Conversion Technologies - passed the Assembly Floor over opposition from CAW and other environmental groups, local governments, recyclers and environmental health advocates. This measure would undermine recycling by allowing controversial and environmentally-unproven waste-to-energy technologies to count as recycling under the state's landmark waste reduction law and to count as renewable under the state's renewable energy law.

State Action on Plastic Bags Delayed
State efforts to place a $0.25 fee on carryout bags were setback by the conversion of AB 68 (Brownley) and AB 87 (Davis) into two-year bills by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.  Efforts to reduce plastic litter pollution continue on the local front however, as Palo Alto became the most recent city to ban plastic bags in March.  Several other municipalities are scheduled to vote soon on plastic bag bans, including the City of San Jose. The City of Los Angeles may adopt a plastic bag ban early next year, as the LA city council passed a motion in 2008 stating that January 2010 was the longest they would wait for a state solution on the issue.  An Ocean Protection Council-funded environmental report on carryout bags should be available for local government use by early next year.

Recycling News Links
June 9 - Recycling Leader Richard Valle Wins Irving Foundation Award
May 28 - RFK Jr. Calls for Better New York Bottle Bill
May 28 - Maine Adopts First-in-the-Nation Law to Recycle Mercury-Containing Bulbs
May 28 - NAPCOR Says Untested Plastic Additives Should be Avoided
May 27 - Recycling Champion Wins LA City Council Race

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The Recycling Advocate is published by the environmental group Californians Against Waste.

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