Bill Text: CA AB2321 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Plastic packaging containers: compostable.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-04-16 - In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. [AB2321 Detail]
Download: California-2011-AB2321-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2321 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Smyth and Gordon
FEBRUARY 24, 2012
An act to amend Sections 42301 and 42340 of the Public Resources
Code, relating to recycling.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2321, as introduced, Smyth. Plastic packaging containers:
compostable.
Existing law requires rigid plastic packaging containers, as
defined, that are sold or offered for sale in this state to meet
specified criteria, including, but not limited to, that the container
be made from 25% postconsumer material, and provides for the
enforcement of these requirements by the Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery. Certain classes of rigid plastic packaging
containers are exempt from those requirements. Existing law, as of
January 1, 2013, prohibits the sale of a plastic product, as defined,
labeled as "compostable," "home compostable," or "marine degradable"
unless it meets certain ASTM standard specifications, or other
certain requirements.
This bill would define the term "compostable rigid plastic
packaging container" as a rigid plastic packaging container that is
labeled with the term "compostable" and is in compliance with those
labeling requirements. The bill would additionally exempt compostable
rigid plastic packaging from those material requirements.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 42301 of the Public Resources Code is amended
to read:
42301. For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
apply:
(a) "Compostable rigid plastic packaging container" means a rigid
plastic packaging container that is labeled with the term
"compostable" and is in compliance with Chapter 5.7 (commencing with
Section 42355).
(a)
(b) "Container manufacturer" means a company or a
successor company that sells any rigid plastic packaging container
subject to this chapter to a manufacturer that sells or offers for
sale in this state any a product
packaged in that container.
(b)
(c) "Curbside collection program" means a recycling
program that collects materials set out by households for collection
at the curb at intervals not less than every two weeks. "Curbside
collection program" does not include redemption centers, buyback
locations, drop-off programs, material recovery facilities, or
plastic recovery facilities.
(c)
(d) "Refillable package" means a rigid plastic
packaging container that the board department
determines is routinely returned to and refilled by the
product manufacturer at least five times with the original product
contained by the package.
(d)
(e) "Reusable package" means a rigid plastic packaging
container that the board department
determines is routinely reused by consumers at least five times to
store the original product contained by the package.
(e)
(f) "Manufacturer" means the producer or generator of a
product that is sold or offered for sale in the state and that is
stored inside of a rigid plastic packaging container.
(f)
(g) "Rigid plastic packaging container" means
any a plastic package having a relatively
inflexible finite shape or form, with a minimum capacity of eight
fluid ounces or its equivalent volume and a maximum capacity of five
fluid gallons or its equivalent volume, that is capable of
maintaining its shape while holding other products, including, but
not limited to, bottles, cartons, and other receptacles, for sale or
distribution in the state.
(g)
(h) "Postconsumer material" means a material that would
otherwise be destined for solid waste disposal, having completed its
intended end use and product lifecycle. Postconsumer material does
not include materials and byproducts generated from, and commonly
reused within, an original manufacturing and fabrication process.
(h)
(i) "Recycled" means a product or material that has
been reused in the production of another product and has been
diverted from disposal in a landfill.
(i)
(j) "Recycling rate" means the proportion, as measured
by weight, volume, or number, of a rigid plastic packaging container
sold or offered for sale in the state that is being recycled in a
given calendar year, that is one of the following:
(1) A particular type of rigid plastic packaging container, such
as a milk jug, soft drink container, or detergent bottle.
(2) A product-associated rigid plastic packaging container.
(3) A single resin type, as specified in Section 18015, of rigid
plastic packaging container, notwithstanding the exemption of that
container from this chapter pursuant to subdivision (b), (c),
or (d) , or (e) of Section 42340.
(j) (1) "Source reduced container" means either of the following:
(A) A rigid plastic packaging container for which the manufacturer
seeks compliance as of January 1, 1995, whose package weight per
unit or use of product has been reduced by 10 percent when compared
with the packaging used for that product by the manufacturer from
January 1, 1990, to December 31, 1994.
(B) A
(k) "Source reduced container" means a
rigid plastic container for which the manufacturer seeks
compliance after January 1, 1995, whose package weight per unit or
use of product has been reduced by 10 percent when compared with one
of the following:
(i)
(A) The packaging used for the product by the
manufacturer on January 1, 1995.
(ii)
(B) The packaging used for that product by the
manufacturer over the course of the first full year of commerce in
this state.
(iii)
(C) The packaging used in commerce that same year for
similar products whose containers have not been considered source
reduced.
(2) A rigid plastic packaging container is not a source reduced
container for the purposes of this chapter if the packaging reduction
was achieved by any of the following:
(A) Substituting a different material type for a material that
previously constituted the principal material of the container.
(B) Increasing a container's weight per unit or use of product
after January 1, 1991.
(C) Packaging changes that adversely affect the potential for the
rigid plastic packaging container to be recycled or to be made of
postconsumer material.
(k)
(l) "Product-associated rigid plastic packaging
container" means a brand-specific, rigid plastic packaging line that
may have one or more sizes, shapes, or designs and that is used in
conjunction with a particular generic product line.
( l )
(m) "PETE" means polyethylene terephthalate as
specified in subdivision (a) of Section 18015.
(m)
(n) "HDPE" means high-density polyethylene.
SEC. 2. Section 42340 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
42340. The following rigid plastic packaging containers are
exempt from this chapter:
(a) Rigid plastic packaging containers produced in or out of the
state which that are destined for
shipment to other destinations outside the state and which
that remain with the products upon that
shipment.
(b) Rigid plastic packaging containers which
that contain drugs, medical devices, cosmetics, food,
medical food, or infant formula as defined by the Federal Food, Drug
and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. Sec. 301 et seq.).
(c) Rigid plastic packaging containers which
that contain toxic or hazardous products regulated by the
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (7 U.S.C. Sec.
136 et seq.).
(d) Rigid plastic packaging containers which
that are manufactured for use in the shipment of hazardous
materials and are prohibited from being manufactured with used
material by federal packaging material specifications set forth in
Sections 178.509 and 178.522 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal
Regulations, or are subject to testing standards set forth in
Sections 178.600 to 178.609, inclusive, of Title 49 of the Code of
Federal Regulations, or to which recommendations of the United
Nations on the transport of dangerous goods are applicable.
(e) Compostable rigid plastic packaging containers.
