AB 298
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO:
AUTHOR:
AMENDED:
FISCAL:
URGENCY:
AB 298
Brownley
June 18, 2012
Yes
No
SUBJECT:
BAGS
HEARING DATE: July 2, 2012
CONSULTANT: Randy Pestor
SUMMARY:
Existing law, under the At-Store Recycling Program (Public Resources Code
§42250 et seq.) (part of the California Integrated Waste Management Act of
1989):
1) Requires operators of stores, defined as supermarkets and stores over 10,000
square feet that includes a pharmacy, to establish an at-store recycling
program. Under the program:
a) Plastic bags provided by the store must include a label encouraging
customers to return the bag to the store for recycling.
b) Clearly labeled and easily accessible recycling bins for plastic bags must
be provided.
c) All plastic bags collected must be recycled in a manner consistent with the
local jurisdiction’s recycling plan.
d) The store must maintain records relating to the program for at least three
years and must make the records available to the local jurisdiction or the
Department of Resources Recovery and Recycling (DRRR or CalRecycle)
upon request.
e) The operator of the store must make reusable bags available to customers.
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2) Requires plastic carryout bag manufacturers to develop educational materials
to encourage reducing and recycling of plastic carryout bags and make those
materials available to stores.
3) Preempts local governments from requiring stores that meet these provisions
from implementing separate plastic carryout bag recycling programs,
additional auditing or reporting requirements, or from imposing plastic
carryout bag fees upon a store.
4) Authorizes a city, county, or the state to levy fines for stores in violation of
this law.
5) Sunsets the above provisions on January 1, 2013.
This bill enacts the Single-use Carryout Bags Law under the California Integrated
Waste Management Act of 1989 that:
1) Defines terms used in the bill, including:
a) “Recycled paper bag” as a paper carryout bag that contains a minimum of
40% postconsumer recycled content (except certain smaller bags may
contain at least 20% postconsumer content); is accepted for recycling in
curbside programs in a majority of households that have access to
curbside recycling programs; is compostable; and has printed on the bag
the name of the manufacturer, the location where manufactured, and the
minimum percentage of post-consumer content. (§42280(c)).
b) “Reusable grocery bag” before June 30, 2015, means a bag made of cloth
or other machine washable fabric with handles, or durable plastic bag with
handles that is at least 2.25 mils thick and designed for multiple uses.
After July 1, 2015, is a bag designed and manufactured for at least 125
uses, machine washable or made from a material that can be cleaned and
disinfected, and contains certain information on a tag attached to the bag.
After July 1, 2016, is also a plastic bag with at least 20% postconsumer
material designed for at least 125 uses, and meets certain requirements.
(§§42280(d) and 42287).
c) “Single-use carryout bag” as a bag made of plastic, paper, or other
material that is provided by a store to a customer at the point-of-sale and
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that is not a reusable grocery bag. Single-use carryout bag does not
include a bag provided at a pharmacy to a customer purchasing
prescription medication or a nonhandled bag used to protect a purchased
item from damaging or contaminating other purchased items when placed
in a recycled paper bag or reusable grocery bag. (§42280(f)).
d) “Store” as either a full-line self-service retail store with gross annual sales
of $2 million or more that sells certain food items; a store with at least
10,000 square feet that generates sales or use taxes and includes a licensed
pharmacy; or a convenience food store, foodmart, or other entity engaged
in the retail sale of a limited line of goods that generally includes milk,
bread, soda, and snack foods. (§42280(g)).
2) Prohibits a store, on and after January 1, 2014, from providing a single-use
carryout bag (i.e., paper, plastic, or other material) to a customer at the pointof-sale. (§42281(b)(1)).
3) Authorizes a store, on and after January 1, 2014, to provide a reusable
grocery bag (i.e., cloth or durable plastic) to a customer, which may be made
available for purchase. (§42281(b)(2)).
4) Authorizes a store to make a recyclable paper bag (i.e., paper with minimum
percentage of postconsumer material) available for purchase at the point of
sale. (§42281(e)).
5) Authorizes a store to make a compostable bag (i.e., meeting certain
compostable and other requirements) available for purchase. (§42281(f)).
6) Requires a store to provide a customer participating in the California Special
Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children with a
reusable grocer bag or recycled paper bag at no cost. (§42281(d)).
7) Provides phasing of certain bag requirements between January 1, 2014, and
July 1, 2015; and requires a convenience food store and foodmart to comply
with the above bag requirements by July 1, 2015. (§§42281(b) and 42282).
8) Requires a store, except for a convenience food store or foodmart, to provide
for collection of plastic bags, which applies to a store that is prohibited from
providing single-use carryout bags to its customers. (§42283).
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9) Sets requirements for DRRR to certify reusable grocery bags that: a) require
a reusable grocery bag producer to submit a certification to DRRR by January
1, 2015, and every two years thereafter; b) require a producer to submit a fee
to DRRR with each certification to cover DRRR certificate costs; c) require
DRRR to publish a list on its Internet website by July 1, 2015, regarding
certain reusable grocery bag information; c) provide for DRRR audits and
inspections of a producer; d) authorize DRRR to test any reusable bag; e)
authorize DRRR to enter into an agreement with other states that conduct
inspections to provide enforcement of these requirements; f) set civil penalties
for violating these requirements; g) require DRRR to deposit all certification
fees into the Reusable Bag Account created in the Integrated Waste
Management Fund to be expended by DRRR, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, to assist DRRR with implementing these certification-related
requirements; and h) require penalties to be deposited into a Penalty
Subaccount created in the Reusable Bag Account for these same purposes
upon appropriation by the Legislature. (§42288).
10) Requires DRRR to submit a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2016,
regarding the effectiveness of the Law and recommendations for statutory
changes to increase effectiveness of the Law, which must include certain
matters (e.g., compilation of state cleanup data to evaluate pollution
reduction, number and types of violations). This report requirement sunsets
January 1, 2017. (§42289)
11) Authorizes a city, county, city and county, or the state to impose civil liability
of $500 for the first violation of the Law, $1,000 for the second violation, and
$2,000 for the third and subsequent violations. These penalties do not apply
to the above certification procedures. Collected penalties must be paid to
whichever office brought the action and penalties. (§42289.5).
COMMENTS:
1) Purpose of Bill. According to the author, “California taxpayers spend
approximately $25 million annually to collect and bury the 19 billion plastic
bags used every year. Unfortunately, these bags are rarely recycled; the
California Integrated Waste Management Board estimated that less than 5%
of all single use plastic bags in the state are actually recycled. Instead, local
agencies spend millions more to dispose of plastic bags and clean up
discarded plastic bags – for example, in 1994, the annual cost to clean the 31
miles of beaches along Los Angeles County was over $4 million, much of it
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due to plastic bags.”
The author notes that “In recent years many cities and counties have seen the
benefits of passing single bag ordinances and 47 cities and counties have done
just that. With the passage of the City of Los Angeles bag ordinance last
month 33% of Californians are currently under a single use bag ordinance.
However, those ordinances differ enough that there is a need for an
overarching statewide policy on single use bags. AB 298 will do just that by
prohibit[ing] grocery stores and convenience stores (as defined) from
providing single use carryout bag to a customer after 2014 and 2015
respectively. In lieu of single use bags stores must make reusable bags and
40% postconsumer paper bags available for purchase by the customer.”
2) Background. Plastic bags and plastic film together represent 2.2% of the
waste stream, and every year California taxpayers spend $25 million
disposing of the 19 billion plastic bags used annually. Although plastic
represents a relatively small fraction of the overall waste stream in California,
plastic waste is the predominate form of marine debris. Plastics are estimated
to compose 60-80% of all marine debris and 90% of all floating debris.
According to the California Coastal Commission, the primary source of
marine debris is urban runoff, of which lightweight plastic bags and plastic
film are particularly susceptible. Due to the interplay of ocean currents,
marine debris preferentially accumulates in certain areas throughout the
ocean. The North Pacific Central Gyre is the ultimate destination for much of
the marine debris originating from the California coast. A study by the
Algalita Marine Research Foundation found an average of more than 300,000
plastic pieces per square mile of the Gyre and that the mass of plastic was six
times greater than zooplankton floating on the water’s surface.
Most plastic marine debris exists as small plastic particles due to excessive
UV radiation exposure and subsequent photo-degradation. These plastic
pieces are ingested by aquatic organisms and have already negatively affected
over 250 animal species worldwide. In addition, hydrophobic chemicals
present in the ocean in trace amounts (e.g., from contaminated runoff and oil
and chemical spills) have an affinity for, and can bind to, plastic particles and
may also enter and accumulate in the food chain through the same
mechanism.
3) Local bag responses. Many cities and counties throughout California have
adopted ordinances banning plastic bags including San Francisco, San Jose,
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Long Beach, Los Angeles County, Santa Clara County, Alameda County and
others. Most of these local governments also require stores to charge a fee for
a paper carryout bag, and a few have banned both single-use plastic and paper
carryout bags. The desire for statewide uniformity in 2010 led the California
Grocers Association to support AB 1998 (Brownley) which would have
banned plastic carryout bags and placed a fee on paper bags.
4) No corresponding litter and pollution program funded by fees. AB 298 does
not provide a funding mechanism to deal with litter and pollution, as well as
stormwater, sewer and water treatment facility problems associated with bag
debris. Instead, AB 298 authorizes a store to make a recycled paper bag
available for purchase at the point of sale. Some previous legislation included
fees to be placed on bags to directly address those problems. AB 298, like
AB 1998 (Brownley) of 2010, does not establish a funding mechanism for
these programs.
Should there be fees on bags to address single-use bag problems?
5) Bags may be needed. AB 298 prohibits a store from providing a single-use
bag to a customer after January 1, 2014, and authorizes – but does not require
– reusable grocery bags to be available for purchase. Under these
circumstances, there may be no bags available for a customer.
A store should be required, rather than authorized, to make reusable grocery
bags available for purchase by a customer.
6) Related legislation. AB 2058 (Levine) of 2007 would have prohibited the
free dispensing of carryout plastic bags by a store to its customers, unless the
store can demonstrate to the California Integrated Waste Management Board
(CIWMB) that 70% of the plastic bags it dispensed had been diverted from
the waste stream. AB 2058 was held in Senate Appropriations Committee.
SB 531 (DeSaulnier) of 2009 would have required manufacturers of plastic
carryout bags to consult with various entities, including the CIWMB, when
developing specified educational materials to encourage the reduced use or
recycling of those bags, and authorized the CIWMB to modify those
materials. SB 531 was held in Assembly Natural Resources Committee
without further action.
AB 68 (Brownley) of 2009 and AB 87 (Davis) of 2009 both would have
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required a 25-cent fee on the distribution of single-use carryout bags. Both
bills were held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 2138 (Chesbro) of 2010 would have established recycling and
composting requirements for take-out food packaging, including bags. AB
2138 was held on the Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file.
AB 1998 (Brownley) of 2010 would have repealed the at-store recycling
program and instead prohibited stores from providing a single-use plastic
carryout bag to a customer and required stores to provide reusable bags for
purchase or recycled paper bags for a fee. AB 1998 failed in the Senate on
August 31, 2010 (14-21).
SB 915 (Calderon) of 2011 sets plastic bag reduction and recycled content
goals. A hearing in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee was
canceled at the request of the author.
AB 1834 (Brownley) of 2012 defines reusable bags and is on the Senate
Floor.
SB 1106 (Strickland) of 2012 prohibits the manufacture, distribution, and sale
of reusable bags without a warning label that both specifies the need for
reusable bags to be cleaned and disinfected between uses and outlines the
health risks associated with not cleaning or disinfecting reusable bags
between uses. SB 1106 failed in the Senate Environmental Quality
Committee April 23, 2012 (2-5).
SOURCE:
Californians Against Waste, Environment California, Heal the
Bay
SUPPORT:
Azul, California Coastkeeper Alliance, Canyonland
Conservation Fund, City and County of San Francisco
Department of the Environment, Clean Water Action,
Earthwise Bag Company, Inc., Los Angeles County Board of
Supervisors, Los Angeles County Solid Waste Management
Committee/Integrated Waste Management Task Force, Santa
Clara County Board of Supervisors, Save Our Shores, Seventh
Generation Advisors, Surfrider Foundation
OPPOSITION:
None on file.
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