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Date of Hearing: April 24, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Bob Wieckowski, Chair
AB 2457 (Valadao) – As Amended: April 16, 2012
SUBJECT: Solid waste: vehicles: appliances.
SUMMARY: Requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (Cal Recycle) to
convene an interagency working group to determine whether the disposal of end-of-life vehicles
and appliances that are being compacted and exported for recycling is being managed in
compliance with the law. Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires, on or before March 31, 2013, Cal Recycle to convene an interagency working
group consisting of staff from Cal Recycle, the Department of Toxic Substances Control
(DTSC), and other appropriate departments within the California Environmental Protection
Agency (Cal EPA) or the Natural Resources Agency to determine whether the disposal of
end-of-life vehicles and appliances that are being compacted and exported for purposes of
recycling is being managed in compliance with law.
2) Requires on or before October 31, 2014, the working group to prepare and submit to Cal
Recycle a report of its findings.
3) Requires the report to include findings on all of the following:
a) The manner in which the discarded end-of-life vehicles and appliances are being
managed in accordance with state and federal law prior to export;
b) The risks to public health and the environment posed by the mismanagement of the endof-life vehicles and appliances in the state prior to export;
c) The economic impacts of improper management of the end-of-life vehicles and
appliances on the state’s scrap metal recycling infrastructure; and,
d) Any other issues the working group deems appropriate regarding the disposal of the endof-life vehicles and appliances.
4) Requires the report to include recommendations, as necessary, to address the findings.
5) Requires Cal Recycle to post the report on its Internet Web site.
6) Sunsets the provisions of the bill on January 1, 2018.
EXISTING LAW:
1) Pursuant to the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 (Public Resources
Code (PRC) § 40000 et seq.):
a) Defines “materials that require special handling” as all of the following:
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i) Sodium azide canisters in unspent airbags that are determined to be hazardous.
ii) Encapsulated polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), Di (2-Ethylhexylphthalate) (DEHP),
and metal encased capacitors, in major appliances.
iii) Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydro chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), and other nonCFC replacement refrigerants, injected in air-conditioning/refrigeration units.
iv) Used oil in major appliances.
v) Mercury found in switches and temperature control devices in major appliances.
vi) Any other material that, when removed from a major appliance, is a hazardous waste
regulated pursuant to Hazardous Waste Control Law (PRC) § 42167).
b) Requires materials that require special handling to be removed from major appliances and
vehicles in which they are contained prior to crushing for transport or transferring to a
baler or shredder for recycling. (PRC § 42175). Failure to comply with this requirement
is a violation of Hazardous Waste Control Law (PRC § 42175.1).
c) Provides that any hazardous material that becomes a hazardous waste when released or
removed from any major appliance and any mercury-containing motor vehicle light
switch that becomes a hazardous waste when removed from any vehicle shall be
managed pursuant to Hazardous Waste Control Law (PRC § 42175.1).
d) Prohibits a solid waste facility from accepting for disposal any major appliance, vehicle,
or other metallic discard that contains enough metal to be economically feasible to
salvage as determined by the solid waste facility operator (PRC § 42170).
2) Pursuant to Hazardous Waste Control Law (Health and Safety Code (HSC) § 25100 et seq.):
a) Prohibits a person, other than a certified appliance recycler, from removing materials that
require special handling from a major appliance (HSC § 25211.1).
b) Prohibits materials that require special handling that are contained in major appliances
from being disposed of at a solid waste facility. Requires materials that require special
handling to be removed from major appliances prior to the appliance being crushed,
baled, shredded, sawed or sheared apart, disposed of, or otherwise processed in a manner
that could result in the release of, or prevent the removal of, materials that require special
handling (HSC § 25212 (a)).
c) Provides that a person who removes from a major appliance any material that requires
special handling that is a hazardous waste, is a hazardous waste generator and requires
that person to comply with all laws applicable to generators of hazardous waste (HSC §
25212 (b)).
d) Authorizes DTSC to regulate hazardous wastes removed from discarded appliances
(HSC § 25211.5).
e) Provides that any mercury-containing motor vehicle light switch removed from a motor
vehicle is subject to universal waste regulations, and any other applicable regulation
adopted by DTSC, including, but not limited to, standards for the handling of hazardous
waste, standards for destination facilities, requirements for the tracking of universal waste
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shipments, import requirements, and the regulations governing different products (HSC §
25214.6).
f) Requires DTSC to coordinate with local agencies to provide technical assistance to
businesses engaged in the dismantling or crushing of motor vehicles concerning the safe
removal and proper disposal of mercury-containing light switches from motor vehicles
and coordinate and encourage entities to offer to the public the replacement and recycling
of mercury-containing motor vehicle light switches (HSC § 25214.7).
3) Pursuant to the Dry Cell Battery Management Act (PRC § 15000 et seq.), prohibits a person
from selling or offering for sale a vehicle manufactured on or after January 1, 2005, that
contains a mercury-containing motor vehicle light switch (PRC § 15029).
4) Pursuant to Chapter 23 (Section 66261.50) of Division 4.5 of Title 22 of the California Code
of Regulations, defines as hazardous waste when discarded mercury-containing motor
vehicle light switches and any motor vehicle or portion of a motor vehicle that contains such
switches, when any person decides to crush, bale, shred, or shear the vehicle.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
Need for the bill: According to the author’s office, “Over the past several years, other companies
have begun to purchase end-of-life vehicles and appliances and to compact them into what are
known in the industry as “logs,” without first having properly de-polluted them. These logs are
placed in seagoing containers and exported overseas for shredding in China or other foreign
countries. These companies compete unfairly with the California auto shredders for vehicles and
appliances and pose a serious threat to the environment. These “loggers” do not adhere to the
same environmental standards that the California shredders are held to, and they enjoy a
significant economic benefit by avoiding environmental compliance costs. California auto
shredders collectively spend millions of dollars annually to comply with California
environmental regulations, and the economics of the shredding business do not allow them to
compete for cars and appliances that are being purchased at higher prices by companies who do
not have to bear environmental regulatory costs. It is also contrary to the policy of the State of
California to allow the export of vehicles and appliances that have not been de-polluted, resulting
in exposure of individuals and the environment to hazardous substances when these items are
shredded in foreign countries.”
Recycling of automobiles and appliances in California: End-of-life automobile and appliances
are commonly shredded, which involves a capital intensive mechanical process in which a
hammer mill rips and grinds materials into fist-sized pieces. According to a November 2002
draft report by DTSC, the shredding of automobiles and household appliances results in a
mixture of ferrous metal (e.g. iron-containing scrap), nonferrous metal (e.g. non-iron-containing
metal alloys such as aluminum and copper), and shredder waste. These constituents are
separated by a variety of methods, generally on-site. Both the ferrous and non-ferrous metals are
sold to secondary smelters where they are recycled and used to manufacture various metal
products. Shredder waste, also known as “fluff,” consists of glass, fiber, rubber, automobile
fluids, dirt and plastics found in automobiles and household appliances that remain after the
recyclable metals have been removed. According to DTSC's draft report, shredder waste is both
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a hazardous waste and a recyclable material subject to California’s Hazardous Waste Control
Law and the regulations that apply to hazardous wastes.
In 2002, DTSC reported that approximately 700,000 automobiles and an unknown number of
appliances were recycled by shredders in California each year, producing approximately 1.1
million tons of recyclable scrap metal. The New York Times recently reported that in 2010, auto
shredders deposited 591,271 tons of waste in California landfills.
Mismanagement of end-of-life vehicles and appliances: While “materials that require special
handling,” including mercury switches and other materials, are required to be removed before
shredding and recycling, DTSC reports that shredder waste has still been found to contain
hazardous materials such as lead, cadmium, copper, zinc and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
at levels above the state’s regulatory thresholds. The discussion on how best to manage this
waste is ongoing.
California shredders have recently been cited for air and water quality violations associated with
operational pollution. For example, in January 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
ordered Sims Metal Management, a metals and electronics recycler at the Port of Redwood City,
to comply with federal Clean Water Act laws following inspections that found evidence of
unlawful discharges of PCBs, mercury, lead, copper and zinc into the San Francisco Bay.
According to records provided by the Port of Redwood City, from July 2010 to June 2011, 20
large vessels picked up and transported an average of 22,000 tons of shredded material a piece
from the facility bound for global destinations including China. The largest single transport
during the specified period was 35,000 tons of shredded material.
Additionally, DTSC announced in September 2011 that it and the Los Angeles County District
Attorney’s Office reached a $2.9 million settlement with SA Recycling LLC, a metal recycler
based in Anaheim. The settlement agreement resolved a complaint that SA Recycling and Sims
Metal West violated hazardous waste and air pollution laws in 2007. When a May 2007
explosion occurred at the company’s Port of Los Angeles facility, destroying its air pollution
control system, the facility, which shreds automobiles, household appliances and other metals,
continued to operate for about 120 days without a fully functioning air pollution control system
in place. An estimated 4.4 tons of material was released into the air as a result.
The bill’s sponsors also raise concerns about “loggers,” which they say are unpermitted,
ephemeral, mobile facilities that purchase end-of-life vehicles and appliances in order to compact
them for export. They argue that these “logging” facilities do not adhere to environmental laws,
often failing to remove required materials from vehicles and appliances before compaction. In
addition to threatening public health and the environment, the sponsors assert, these “logging”
facilities syphon much needed materials from legitimate recycling facilities. This bill is an
attempt to ascertain compliance with federal and state law as it relates to end-of-life vehicles and
appliances.
Proposed amendment: Since the bill currently limits the directive in subdivision (a) to disposal,
and the directive in (b) includes other management activities, the Committee may wish to clarify
that the working group is not limited to focusing on the disposal of end-of-life vehicles and
appliances.
Prior legislation:
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SB 524 (Correa, 2009), required the Secretary for Environmental Protection to establish a
working group to consider the current regulation of auto shredder waste and potential changes to
that regulation. SB 524 passed the Assembly ESTM Committee on a 5 – 1 vote, but was
amended to instead deal with the Transportation Investment Fund.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (sponsor)
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:
Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965