SECTION 1.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(1) Recycling saves energy, resources, and landfill space, prevents emissions of many greenhouse gases and water pollutants, creates jobs and helps the economy, reduces the need for incinerators, and stimulates the development of greener technologies.
(2) Only about one-fourth of the paper, aluminum, iron, and steel used in the world is recovered for recycling.
(3) Although the waste generated from school districts is only about 2 percent of the statewide waste stream, within an individual jurisdiction school district waste can represent as much as 10 to 15 percent of the total waste disposed in a jurisdiction.
(4) Every year, commercial and industrial enterprises in California spend more than $2.8 billion on the collection and disposal of solid waste.
(5) California currently generates approximately 68 million tons of solid waste per year, about two tons annually per each man, woman, and child in the state.
(6) Recycling and other waste diversion efforts keep an estimated 28.5 million tons of solid waste out of the state’s landfills annually. Since 1990, cities and counties have diverted over 200 million tons of solid waste—enough to fill a line of garbage trucks end-to-end that would circle the Earth’s equator more than six times.
(7) According to the Department of Conservation, only 14.7 billion of the 22 billion beverage containers bought last year in California were recycled.
(8) The annual impact of recycling these billions of beverage containers saves approximately 5.3 million barrels of oil and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 617,000 metric tons.
(9) Ongoing costs of collection and sorting efforts are typically minimal compared to the savings from diversion and income realized from the recycled materials.
(10) California school districts dispose of large amounts of waste (approximately 763,817 tons per year).
(11) Incorporating waste reduction as part of the school district’s overall way of doing business can provide a number of important benefits:
(A) Reduced disposal costs.
(B) Improved worker safety.
(C) Reduced long-term liability.
(D) Increased efficiency of school operations.
(E) Decreased associated purchasing costs.
(12) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 requires that all California cities and counties divert 50 percent of solid waste generation. School districts can play a critical role in a city or county’s ability to realize this goal.
(13) School facilities that have implemented recycling programs have been able to achieve diversion rates as high as 80 percent.
(14) For example, the Desert Sands Unified School District was able to save enough in avoided disposal costs to more than pay for the program’s full-time staff member. The district saved an additional $57,000, which it transferred to the schools’ discretionary budgets based upon participation. Each school received amounts ranging from $1,000 to $3,000, with a high of $7,000.
(15) When pupils, faculty, administrators, and district office staff use recycling bins for bottles and cans, they will accomplish all of the following:
(A) Reduce the district’s waste collection and disposal expenditures.
(B) Help to raise money for our schools.
(C) In some cases, they will help to increase the ability of their local Community Conservation Corps to expand and help more at-risk youth.
(D) Send an important message to California’s young people, encouraging them to be aware of the environmental implications of their actions, including the positive impact recycling has on reducing global warming.
(b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to require each public school and school district office in the state to consult with the local Community Conservation Corps or another recycler to provide and maintain a sufficient number of beverage container recycling bins for participation in a local recycling program or to administer its own recycling program.