California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle)

Mandatory Commercial Recycling

Proposed Regulations

Description

New regulation covering CalRecycle's responsibilities for implementing mandatory commercial recycling (Recycling of Commercial Solid Waste) law. This regulation concerns recycling requirements for businesses that generate 4 cubic yards or more of commercial solid waste per week and multifamily residential dwellings with 5 or more units, requirements for local jurisdictions for education, outreach, monitoring and reporting, and CalRecycle review.

Affected Regulatory Code Sections

California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Division 7, Chapter 9.4, Article 2, commencing with Section 18836.

Status

The Mandatory Commercial Recycling Regulation was adopted at the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) Monthly Public Meeting on January 17, 2012 and is currently pending Office of Administrative Law approval.

Formal rulemaking for the regulation began October 28, 2011 with the beginning of the 45-day comment period which ended on December 12, 2011. A public hearing was held December 13, 2011, to receive comments following the initial 45-day public comment period.

Contact

You may contact CalRecycle's Mandatory Commercial Recycling team at climatechange@calrecycle.ca.gov.

If you would like to receive e-mail notifications regarding this regulation, please add your contact information to CalRecycle's Mandatory Commercial Recycling Listserv.

Additional Resources

Stakeholder Input

  • January 17, 2012 Public Hearing: CalRecycle held a public hearing to receive comments before adopting the proposed Mandatory Commercial Recycling Regulation. The Regulation was adopted at the January monthly public meeting.
  • December 13, 2011 Public Hearing: CalRecycle held a public hearing to receive comments for the proposed regulation following the 45-day comment period.
  • October 28, 2011: CalRecycle began the 45-day comment period for the proposed regulation, extending through December 12, 2011.

Rulemaking Documents

Rulemaking History

  • January 17, 2012: The Mandatory Commercial Recycling Regulation was adopted at the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) Monthly Public Meeting.
  • December 13, 2011: CalRecycle held a public hearing to receive additional comments on the proposed regulation.
  • October 28 to December 12, 2011: 45-day comment period for the proposed regulation.
  • October 28, 2011: Office of Administrative Law approved the publication of the regulatory packet and the 45-day comment period started.
  • October 18, 2011: CalRecycle approved the Proposed Mandatory Commercial Recycling Regulations (PDF, 246 KB) and directed staff to forward the regulatory packet to the Office of Administrative Law at the CalRecycle Public Meeting.

Rulemaking History Prior to AB 341

Prior to the passage AB 341, CalRecycle and the ARB worked together to establish a rulemaking process for the Mandatory Commercial Recycling Measure required in the AB 32 Scoping Plan. Under a Memorandum of Understanding between the two, CalRecycle was responsible for developing, implementing, and enforcing the regulations, while ARB was responsible for adopting the regulations and providing additional enforcement if needed. To build the basis for the rulemaking, CalRecycle and the ARB hosted eight (8) informal workshops to solicit stakeholder feedback regarding the measure and associated draft regulations. These workshops offered an informal opportunity to talk about design and implementation issues of this measure.

While there are some distinctions between the draft regulations in this prior rulemaking effort and the commercial recycling program outlined in AB 341, the fundamental framework and principals are parallel. Therefore, CalRecycle staff has adjusted the proposed regulation for a new rulemaking, as described above to reflect the specifics of AB 341, while also carrying forward the language and details incorporated through the nearly 3-year informal stakeholder engagement process.

The following provides additional details regarding each of these workshops.

Workshop Dates

July 19, 2011, Sacramento, California

CalRecycle staff conducted a workshop seeking stakeholder input on additional staff economic analysis and changes to the proposed AB 32 Mandatory Commercial Recycling regulation since the January 19, 2011 meeting. The workshop materials and description are posted on the related CalRecycle public notice page.

January 19, 2011, Sacramento, California

At the January 19, 2011 workshop, CalRecycle and ARB staff reviewed the revised draft regulatory language (PDF, 116 KB), various related economic and environmental impact analyses, and the final draft report for the cost study on commercial recycling. Staff engaged with participants, addressing questions and collecting informal stakeholder comments related to these subjects through January 26, 2011.

September 21, 2010, Sacramento, California

In coordination with the Air Resources Board, CalRecycle focused the September 21, 2010 informal stakeholder workshop on various related analysis efforts, including the:

  • Cost model for economic evaluation of the proposed regulation with supplemental economic analysis
  • Local government cost survey
  • Recycling and composting GHG emission reduction factors
  • Environmental impacts analysis

The workshop materials are posted on the related CalRecycle public notice page. CalRecycle staff requested comments by October 8, 2010.

June 16, 2010, Sacramento, California

As part of the Materials Management and Local Assistance (MMLA) monthly public meeting agenda, CalRecycle staff engaged in an informal stakeholder workshop on the proposed AB 32 Mandatory Commercial Recycling regulation. Event information included: agenda, proposed regulations, summary of proposed regulation, background information, and presentations. CalRecycle staff requested comments by June 30, 2010.

Workshop topics included:

  • Introductions and general project background information.
  • Overview of the regulation.
  • Focused discussion on related issues.
  • Presentation of associated tools.
  • Next steps and timeline for formal rulemaking.

Presentations included:

December 15, 2009, Sacramento, California

At the December 15 CIWMB Board Meeting, CIWMB Staff presented a discussion of and request for direction on Draft Proposed Regulatory Language (Word, 106 KB) and Rulemaking Plan (Word, 74 KB).

September 15, 2009, Sacramento, California

At the September 15th CIWMB Board Meeting, CIWMB Staff presented a compilation of stakeholder input (Word, 38 KB) obtained from workshops conducted in July and August. Also presented was Staff’s Draft Concepts (Word, 235 KB) for Mandatory Commercial Recycling Regulation.

July 20 and August 6, 2009, Northern and Southern California
Agenda (Adobe PDF, 358 KB) | White Paper (Adobe PDF, 948 KB)

All interested stakeholders were invited to informal stakeholder workshops on Mandatory Commercial Recycling.

Staff provided background information regarding this measure, including related legislation, support projects, and the overall timeline at two initial workshops hosted in the summer of 2009. Discussion included input on a range of issues such as thresholds, exemptions, implementation, enforcement, and costs. These are also described in the related "white paper" provided above.

In follow-up to these workshops, staff prepared and presented a summary of the informal stakeholder comment received relative to staff's draft conceptual regulatory provisions at the September 9, 2009, Strategic Policy Development Committee meeting. At this meeting, staff was directed to use these conceptual regulatory provisions as the basis for draft regulatory language to be presented and discussed at the Strategic Policy Development Committee meeting in December 2009.

Presentations

July 20, 2009
Cal EPA Headquarters Building
Sacramento, California

August 6, 2009
South Coast Air Quality Management District
Diamond Bar, California

 

Mandatory Commercial Recycling Home

Last updated: January 26, 2012
Climate Change: http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/Climate Change/
Contact: climatechange@calrecycle.ca.gov