SB 515

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, requires retailers of rechargeable batteries to have in place a system for the acceptance and collection of rechargeable batteries. The bill would require, by April 1, 2013, a producer, or the household battery stewardship organization created by one or more producers, of a household battery to submit a household battery stewardship plan to the department, which would be required to include specified elements. The bill would allow a registered hazardous waste transporter to elect to submit a household battery stewardship plan to the department on behalf of one or more producers and would require a hazardous waste transporter making that election to comply with the provisions of the bill applicable to a household battery stewardship organization. The bill would require the department to review a household battery stewardship plan submitted to the department and either deem the plan complete within 30 days after receipt or take specified actions. The bill would prohibit a producer, wholesaler, or retailer, on and after January 1, 2014, from selling a household battery unless the plan for that battery is deemed complete by the department. The act would require a producer or the household battery stewardship organization to implement the household battery program pursuant to the household battery stewardship plan, including achieving a specified collection rate, and contacting cities, counties, districts, and regional agencies either to reimburse the local public agency for the mutually agreed upon cost of collecting household batteries or provide for the pickup of household batteries, or both. The bill would require each producer or household battery stewardship organization implementing a household battery stewardship plan to prepare and submit to the department an annual report describing the activities carried out pursuant to the household battery stewardship plan. The bill would require a producer or household battery stewardship organization submitting a household battery stewardship plan to pay the department a plan review fee, as determined by the department, when submitting the plan to the department and to pay an administrative fee, as determined by the department, when submitting the annual report. The bill would provide for the imposition of administrative civil penalties upon a wholesaler or retailer selling household batteries in violation of the bill. The bill would create the Household Battery Stewardship Account in the existing Integrated Waste Management Fund and would require that the fees be deposited into that account and that the penalties be deposited into the Household Battery Stewardship Penalty Subaccount that the bill would create in that account. The bill would authorize the fees and penalties to be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to cover the department's program implementation costs and would authorize all funds collected or received by the department under the program, except for the fees, to be expended as incentives to enhance recyclability and redesign efforts and to reduce environmental and safety impacts of household batteries. (2) Existing law requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) to exercise enforcement and regulatory authority with regard to the hazardous waste accepted at a facility that accepts both hazardous waste and other solid waste. This bill would require DTSC, upon the request of an applicant for a project to construct, expand, or retrofit a solid waste facility to process, collect, or recycle a universal waste, as defined, to appoint an administrative liaison to serve as the applicant's single point of contact, and to provide other information and assistance.