California’s 75 Percent Initiative: Defining the Future

The Legislature and Governor Brown set an ambitious goal of 75 percent recycling, composting or source reduction of solid waste by 2020. Instead of focusing primarily on local diversion, the law calls for the state and the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) to take a statewide approach to decreasing California’s reliance on landfills. CalRecycle has been tasked by the Legislature to examine how extensions of existing efforts, as well as new strategies, can be combined to reach that policy goal.

Statewide Strategy for Reaching the 75 Percent Goal

To facilitate the development of that statewide strategy, CalRecycle developed a discussion document in May 2012 for stakeholder input. It presented a snapshot in time and summarized programs that are currently being implemented, as well as potential new ways to tackle problematic waste streams. The draft organized the existing efforts and new ideas into a series of “focus areas.”

During the late spring and summer, CalRecycle formally presented program concepts in two workshops and asked for stakeholder input on the concepts along with any ideas we may have missed. The program concept write-ups are suggestive and don’t encompass all the nuances, variations, or details needed to craft the statewide strategy. Many are familiar because they call for extensions of existing programs. Some involve ongoing cooperative efforts with other agencies, and others require authorizing legislation or regulatory changes. CalRecycle’s recommendations will be presented as a report to the Legislature in January 2014. The report will reflect strategies already being implemented, as well as any that CalRecycle proposes to reach the statewide goal.

Questions?

You can reach the CalRecycle team by email at 75Percent@calrecycle.ca.gov.

Upcoming Workshops and Updates

Topic Specific Workshops

• June/July 2013--Workshop to explore options for materials recovery performance standards related to mixed waste processing comparable to source separation.

Past Workshops and Updates

• May 14 and 21, 2012--What Does 75 Percent Recycling Mean? (PDF, 885 KB) (Sacramento/Southern California)
• September 19, 2012--Update on Report Development (Sacramento)
• March 13, 2013--Electronic Waste. Workshop explore the evolving marketplace for residual CRT glass and potential changes to the Program in light of these circumstances.
• March 18, 2013--Regulatory Changes and Cross-Agency Regulatory Issues re: compostable materials/transfer processing. A series of issue discussion papers and informal workshops began in Oct. 2011 and continue March 18, 2013 to draft language for proposed regulations.
• March 19, 2013--Local Facility Siting and Expansion. First in a series of workshops to explore local funding, siting and permitting opportunities.

• March 25, 2013--Out-of-State Beverage Container Materials. Workshop to explore issues and draft proposed regulations pertaining to importing beverage container materials into California.

• April 15, 2013--Tire Markets. Workshop to discuss the 2012 tire market trends.

• April 16, 2013--Recycled Market Development Zone (RMDZ) Program. Workshop to explore program changes. 

Stay Informed

Sign up today for California’s 75 Percent Recycling Initiative listserv.

Follow CalRecycle activities and workshops on the focus area webpages.

Documents

• California’s New Goal: 75 Percent Recycling (PDF, 1.1 MB). May 2012 discussion document of program concepts organized into focus areas.
• What Does 75 Percent Recycling Mean? (PDF, 885 KB). Presentation from May 14 and 21, 2012 workshops.
• The Why and How of Measurement for a 75% Statewide Recycling Goal (PDF, 1.0 MB). Presentation from September 19, 2012 workshop.

• AB 341 (Chapter 476, Statutes of 2011). Statute that directed CalRecycle to examine existing efforts and propose strategies to reach the 75 percent goal.

• Stakeholder comments and letters.