Today's Law As Amended


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SB-529 Recycling: fast food facilities.(2013-2014)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Plastic and packaging waste represents a significant and fast-growing component of the state’s waste stream. California disposes of more than three million tons of plastic packaging waste annually. Plastic is the fastest growing component of generated waste, increasing from less than 5 percent in 1980 to more than 11 percent in 2003.
(b) With the sole exception of plastic beverage containers covered by the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, little of generated plastic is currently recycled. Excluding beverage containers, less than 5 percent of plastic packaging is currently recycled.
(c) Disposable food service packaging is used “on the go” when access to trash and recycling receptacles is most limited. Plastics generally can become inadvertent litter even if initially properly discarded, and are carried by wind from uncovered trash cans and dumpsters, vehicles, and solid waste facilities, including landfills.
(d) Compounding the problem of plastic packaging waste is that this material is nonbiodegradable.
(e) The United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates that upwards of 80 percent of litter and marine pollution originates from land-based human activities, including littering, stormwater runoff, and ineffective waste disposal practices.
(f) Data collected during California’s annual Coastal Cleanup Day indicate that plastic and other disposable food service packaging represent some of the most commonly littered items.
(g) Each year thousands of Californians volunteer countless hours to clean up plastic and other disposable food service packaging litter from public roadways, beaches, parks, and other areas of the state.
(h) Under a consent decree entered into by the Region IX of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and several environmental groups on March 22, 1999 (Heal the Bay et al v. Browner (98-4825 SBA)), among other things, a total maximum daily load (TMDL) for trash is required to be developed for all impaired waters within the state within the next decade. Adopted and proposed TMDLs have required that the amount of trash be reduced to zero to protect beneficial uses. The State Water Resources Control Board is also drafting a statewide policy on trash.
(i) The costs to state agencies and local governments to comply with existing TMDL requirements, pending TMDL requirements, or the TMDL requirements yet to be developed, will run into billions of dollars.
(j) The benefits of reducing, recycling, and composting plastic and other disposable food service packaging will have a direct positive impact on the California economy.
(k) In 2012, the California Ocean Protection Council determined that ocean-dependent industries add more than forty billion dollars ($40,000,000,000) to California’s economy. A 2005 report by the National Ocean Economics Program estimated more than 400,000 jobs are based on coastal tourism and recreation, with combined wages of nearly ten billion dollars ($10,000,000,000).
(l) Nondegradable plastics, including, but not limited to, polystyrene and other disposable food service packaging, and the resulting marine pollution pose a threat to water quality and marine wildlife through ingestion and entanglement. A 2012 study by the Convention on Biological Diversity estimated that 663 species were affected by plastic marine pollution through entanglement or ingestion, a 40 percent increase from 1998 estimates.
(m) It is the intent of the Legislature, in adopting this act, to reduce a primary source of marine pollution by increasing the diversion of plastic and other disposable food service packaging.

SEC. 2.

 Chapter 6.6 (commencing with Section 42391) is added to Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, to read:

CHAPTER  6.6. Plastic and Marine Pollution Reduction, Recycling, and Composting Act
Article  1. General Provisions
42391.
 This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the “Plastic and Marine Pollution Reduction, Recycling, and Composting Act.”
42392.
 It is the intent of the Legislature, consistent with the number one recommendation in the state-funded report “Eliminating Land-based Discharges of Marine Debris in California,” to designate responsibility and authority for reduction of marine debris and its sources to a state agency.
Article  2. Definitions
42393.
 For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings:
(a) “Compostable packaging” means a material that meets both of the following criteria:
(1) The packaging is accepted for composting in a residential collection program available to at least 60 percent of the households in the jurisdiction in which it is distributed, as determined by the department.
(2) The packaging is made of a material that meets the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standard Specification for Compostable Plastics D6400, as published in September 2004. For purposes of this paragraph, an ASTM standard specification does not include an ASTM Standard Guide, a Standard Practice, or a Standard Test Method.
(b) (1) “Disposable food service packaging” means single-use disposable products used by a fast food facility for serving or transporting prepared and ready-to-consume food or beverages.
(2) “Disposable food service packaging” includes, but is not limited to, plates, cups, bowls, trays, and hinged or lidded containers.
(3) “Disposable food service packaging” does not include such single-use disposable items such as straws, cup lids, or utensils, or single-use disposable packaging for unprepared foods.
(c) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), “fast food facility” means a food facility that meets all of the following conditions:
(A) The food facility is subject to Section 343(q)(5)(H) of Title 21 of the United States Code or subject to Section 114094 of the Health and Safety Code, as it read on January 1, 2013.
(B) The food facility dispenses food for consumption both on and off the premises.
(C) The food facility has a limited menu.
(D) The food facility prepares items either in advance or for quick heating.
(E) The food facility does not provide for the ordering of food at the tables on the premises.
(F) The food facility serves the food primarily in disposable wrappings or containers.
(2) “Fast food facility” does not include any of the following:
(A) An establishment that meets the definition of a supermarket, as specified in Section 14526.5.
(B) A convenience food store, foodmart, or other entity that is engaged in the retail sale of a limited line of goods, generally including milk, bread, soda, and snack foods.
(C) An eating establishment where the food is served primarily using reusable, nondisposable tableware.
(d) “Food facility” has the same meaning as defined in Section 113789 of the Health and Safety Code.
(e) “PET packaging” means packaging labeled with a “1” pursuant to Section 18015.
(f) (1) “Prepared food” means ready-to-consume food or beverage prepared on the fast food facility’s premises, using a cooking or food preparation technique.
(2) “Prepared food” does not include raw uncooked meat, fish, or eggs, unless the item is provided for consumption without further food preparation.
(g) “Recyclable packaging” means
packaging that is accepted for recycling in a residential collection program available to at least 60 percent of the households in the jurisdiction in which it is distributed, as determined by the department.
(h) “Single-use carryout bag” means a carryout bag provided by a fast food facility to a customer to contain prepared food at the point of sale.
Article  3. Packaging Waste Reduction and Recycling Responsibilities
42394.
 (a) On and after July 1, 2014, a fast food facility shall not distribute disposable food service packaging or a single-use carryout bag to a consumer, unless the type of disposable food service packaging or single-use carryout bag meets the criteria for either compostable packaging or recyclable packaging.
(b) On and after July 1, 2016, a fast food facility shall not distribute disposable food service packaging or a single-use carryout bag to a consumer, unless it has been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the department that the type of disposable food service packaging or single-use carryout bag is recovered for composting or recovered for recycling at a rate of 25 percent or more.
(c) On and after July 1, 2018, a fast food facility shall not distribute disposable food service packaging or a single-use carryout bag to a consumer, unless it has been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the department that the type of disposable food service packaging or single-use carryout bag is recovered for composting or recovered for recycling at a rate of 50 percent or more.
(d) On and after July 1, 2020, a fast food facility shall not distribute disposable food service packaging or a single-use carryout bag to a consumer, unless it has been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the department that the type of disposable food service packaging or single-use carryout bag is recovered for composting or recovered for recycling at a rate of 75 percent or more.
42395.
 (a) For the purposes of demonstrating that the composting or recycling rate requirements specified in Section 42394 are met for any type of packaging or type of carryout bag, the demonstration may include data comparing the amount of that type of packaging or type of carryout bag that is diverted for recycling or composting in this state or in a city, county, or other local agency during a specified period of time, with the amount of that type of packaging or type of carryout bag that is distributed in this state or that city, county, or other local agency during the same specified period of time.
(b) The demonstration made pursuant to Section 42394 shall comply with the following requirements:
(1) All thermoformed PET packaging shall be considered as the same type of packaging when demonstrating the recycling rate for thermoformed PET packaging.
(2) All polycoated papers and paperboards shall be considered as the same type of packaging when demonstrating the recycling rates for polycoated papers and paperboards.
(3) All compostable plastic packaging shall be considered as the same type of packaging when demonstrating the composting rates for compostable plastic packaging.
Article  4. Penalties
42396.
 (a) A person who violates this chapter is subject to a civil penalty of not more than one hundred dollars ($100) for each day the person is in violation of this chapter.
(b) The total annual penalties assessed upon a violator of this chapter shall not exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
(c) On or before July 1, 2015, and on or before July 1 annually thereafter, the department shall publish a list setting forth any penalties that have been levied against a violator of this chapter in the preceding calendar year, for failure to comply with the requirements of this chapter.
(d) The department shall deposit all penalties or fines paid pursuant to this section into the Marine Pollution Reduction Account, which is hereby created in the Integrated Waste Management Fund in the State Treasury. The moneys deposited in the Marine Pollution Reduction Account may be expended by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to provide public education and assist local governmental agencies in efforts to reduce plastic waste and marine debris, and for the department’s costs of implementing this chapter.