Other Links

• California Climate Change Portal
• Climate Action Team
• ARB Climate Change Site

Climate Change

Caring for the environment, including addressing climate change, is an integral part of the mission of the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). The waste management hierarchy of reduce, reuse, recycle, and environmentally sound disposal, originally established by the Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, (AB 939, Sher, Chapter 1095, Statutes of 1989), can significantly reduce the production of greenhouse gases.

CalRecycle plays a central role in assisting the State’s local jurisdictions meet the AB 939 mandates and fosters markets for recovered recyclables. Since 1998, local governments have quantified and characterized their waste and identified, selected, and implemented programs designed to achieve the diversion mandates. Today, California has a broad-based and expanding infrastructure that diverts over half of the State’s entire waste stream.

Assembly Bill (AB) 32 Scoping Plan

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32, Núñez, Chapter 488, Statutes of 2006) established the world's first comprehensive program of regulatory and market mechanisms to achieve real, quantifiable, cost-effective reductions of GHGs. In response to Assembly Bill 32, the Air Resource Board developed the Scoping Plan which contains the main strategies California will use to reduce the greenhouse gases (GHG) that cause climate change. The proposed scoping plan was released on October 15, 2008 and approved at the Board hearing on December 12, 2008.

CalRecycle's AB 32 Scoping Plan Responsibilities

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) AB 32 Scoping Plan identifies CalRecycle as lead in developing recycling-based solutions aimed at reducing greenhouse gases. These measures include:

• (RW-1) Landfill Methane Control Measure (Discrete Early Action)
• (RW-2) Increasing the Efficiency of Landfill Methane Capture
• (RW-3) High Recycling/Zero Waste:
  • Commercial Recycling
  • Composting and Other Organics Products
  • Anaerobic Digestion
  • Extended Producer Responsibility
  • Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
• Areas of Research/Opportunities for future GHG Emission Reductions:
• Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from Landfill Gas
• Guidelines to conserve water, reduce green waste, reduce air pollution, and protect water quality.

AB 32 Scoping Plan Update, 2013
AB 32 requires ARB to update the Scoping Plan every five years. The 2013 AB 32 Scoping Plan update will define ARB's climate change priorities for the next five years and lay the groundwork to reach post-2020 goals. The update will also highlight California's progress toward meeting the near-term 2020 GHG emission reduction goals defined in the original Scoping Plan (2008).

CalRecycle and ARB staff have been working together to develop a Waste Management Sector Plan addressing greenhouse gas emissions from waste management activities to inform the 2013 Scoping Plan Update.

The draft framework consists of a Waste Management Sector Overview paper and six accompanying draft technical papers covering the various waste management options.  Related technical papers will be posted at a later date.

For More Information

• Overview. More background information on the challenge of global climate change.
• Contacts. Contact information for CalRecycle and other agency staff working on climate change activities.
• Listserv. Enroll in the Climate Change listserv and keep informed of all the latest information on CalRecycle's activities in combating global climate change.
• Events. Plan to attend upcoming events.
• California Climate Change Portal. This site contains information on the impacts of climate change on California and the state's policies relating to global warming. It is also the home for the California Climate Change Center, a "virtual" research and information website operated by the California Energy Commission through its Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program.
• California Air Resources Board climate change website.
• U.S. EPA climate change website.
• Western Climate Initiative. A collaboration launched in February 2007 by the Governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington to develop regional strategies to address climate change.
• California Climate Action Registry. A private nonprofit organization, originally formed by the State, that serves as a voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) registry to protect and promote early actions to reduce GHG emissions by organizations.
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Established to provide the decision-makers and others interested in climate change with an objective source of information about climate change.
• California Climate Adaptation Strategy. The 2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy summarizes the best known science on climate change impacts in seven specific sectors and provides recommendations on how to manage against those threats.
• Cal-Adapt Climate Change Visualization Tools. Cal-Adapt is an online resource designed to provide a view of how climate change might affect California at the local level. Here you can work with visualization tools, access data, and participate in community sharing to contribute your own knowledge.