- Read the Report to the Legislature
- Subscribe to the 75 Percent Initiative Listserv.
- Reach the CalRecycle team at 75Percent@calrecycle.ca.gov.
This webpage summarizes ongoing CalRecycle efforts related to the five priority strategies and three additional focus areas recommended in the Report to the Legislature. They represent the next evolutionary phase of materials management in California to strive for the ambitious goal of 75 percent recycling, composting or source reduction of solid waste by 2020 called for by AB 341 (Chesbro, Chapter 476, Statutes of 2011).
If you require assistance accessing any documents on this page, contact CalRecycle's Office of Public Affairs at (916) 341-6300.
Current Initiatives and Workshops
Below are links for ongoing staff activities and stakeholder workshops. New links will be added as warranted...so keep checking! To keep track of workshops, check the list of upcoming workshops or past workshops.
- Moving Organics Out of the Landfill
- Expanding the Recycling/Manufacturing Infrastructure
- Exploring New Models for State and Local Funding of Materials Management Programs
- Promoting State Procurement of Postconsumer Recycled Content Products
- Promoting Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
- Source Reduction
- Commercial Recycling
- Other Products (Packaging, Waste Tires, E-Waste, and Used Oil)
1. Moving Organics Out of the Landfill
- Redirect Organics to Composting or Anaerobic Digestion Facilities
- Anaerobic Digestion- What is it and Who is Doing it? A primer for local agencies provides background on technical considerations and financing approaches that local officials and staff should consider. Includes case examples from Sacramento, Monterey Region, and city of Perris. (Institute for Local Government contract.)
- Mandatory Commercial Organics Recycling
- Implementation materials for Mandatory Commercial Organics Recycling (AB 1826) including an overview of the law and affected businesses, FAQs, annual reporting, enforcement approach, program needs assessment tool, and local examples including C&D, food donation, green material ordinances and green/food waste programs.
- Phase Out Green Waste Alternative Daily Cover (ADC)
- Update on ADC Usage (2012 Data)
- Alternative Daily Cover Investigation Report (2014 Investigation)
- Land Application of Compostable Materials
- Workshops for the regulated community to provide an overview of the regulatory requirements for land application of compostable materials. (Co-sponsored by the State Water Resources Control Board)
- Organics Regulatory Changes
- Informal regulatory process for implementing
SB 1383 (Lara, Chapter 395, Statutes of 2016) begins in 2017. This landmark bill establishes targets to achieve a 50% reduction in the statewide
disposal of organic waste from the 2014 level by 2020 and a 75% reduction by 2025. The bill also sets a target to reduce edible food disposal by at least 20% by 2025. For informal workshop details and materials see the
SLCP webpage.
Staff contact: SLCP.organics@calrecycle.ca.gov- Workshop: February 14, 2017 (Sacramento) and February 16, 2017 (Diamond Bar)
- Workshops: May 17, 2017 (Sacramento) and May 25, 2017 (Oceanside). Topics: definitions and methane emission calculations, local organics recycling programs and edible food recovery programs.
- Workshops: June 21, 2017 (Sacramento) and June 26, 2017 (Lakewood). Topics: Local organic waste collection systems, solid waste facilities and edible food recovery.
- Workshops: August 16, 2017 (Sacramento) and August 31, 2017 (Riverside). Topics: Enforcement and reporting.
- Compostable Materials Handling and In-Vessel Digestion Regulations. The regulations became effective January 1, 2016 and the formal process was initiated in October 2013. The
rulemaking information has been archived.
Staff contact: Martin Perez- February-March 2016. Classroom-based instruction on recently adopted regulations affecting compostable materials handling and in-vessel digestion operations and facilities. PowerPoint presentation materials available on website. Timing for second round of training yet to be determined.
- "Environmental Impacts of Direct Land Application of Uncomposted Green and Woody Wastes on Air and Water Quality." Results of a yearlong field and laboratory study of seven facilities regarding greenhouse gas/ VOC emissions and the migration
of chemical constituents into the soil/soil water from chipped and ground uncomposted organic materials applied directly to agricultural lands. (Contractor: University of California at Davis.)
Staff contact: Crystal Reul-Chen
- Informal regulatory process for implementing
SB 1383 (Lara, Chapter 395, Statutes of 2016) begins in 2017. This landmark bill establishes targets to achieve a 50% reduction in the statewide
disposal of organic waste from the 2014 level by 2020 and a 75% reduction by 2025. The bill also sets a target to reduce edible food disposal by at least 20% by 2025. For informal workshop details and materials see the
SLCP webpage.
- Grants and Loans to Support Organics Recycling and Food Waste Prevention
- Grant Cycle 1 (FY 2014/15: ORG1)-Five (5) grants awarded for anaerobic digestion (3), composting and food rescue projects (2): Project Descriptions.
- Grant Cycle 2 (FY 2016-17: ORG2) Ten (10) grants awarded for anaerobic digestion (3) and composting (7), including three in rural areas: Project Descriptions.
- Workshop to discuss draft grant criteria and program development for the Food Waste Prevention and Rescue Grant Program (FY 2016–17) May 24, 2016--Sacramento
- Loans awarded to Nursery Products for greenwaste diversion and North State Rendering (FY 2014/15) from Greenhouse Gas Reduction Loan Program.
- Oceanside--Reusing Organics, Promoting the Environment, the Economy and the Community of Oceanside: Case study of El Corazon Compost Facility, an innovative public-private partnership between Agri Service and City of Oceanside in northern San Diego County. Project also received CalRecycle RMDZ loan in 2013. (Institute for Local Government contract.)
2. Expanding the Recycling/Manufacturing Infrastructure
- New Reporting Requirements for Recyclers, Composters and Solid Waste Facilities
- Proposed regulatory process for AB 901 (Chapter 746, Statutes of 2015) begins in April 2016.
Workshops (2016-2017) and draft regulations.
Staff contact: AB901.Reporting@calrecycle.ca.gov.
- Proposed regulatory process for AB 901 (Chapter 746, Statutes of 2015) begins in April 2016.
Workshops (2016-2017) and draft regulations.
- Grants and Loans to Support Recycled Fiber, Plastic, and Glass Recycling and Manufacturing
- Streamline Permitting Process and Resolve Conflicting Permitting Requirements
Staff contact: Martin Perez - Provide Financial Incentives to Expand Infrastructure
- Workshop to discuss proposed criteria for new Cap-and-Trade funded grants and loans to build or expand facilities for organics management (compost, anaerobic digestion, etc.) and manufacturing with recycled content fiber, resin or glass (February 6, 2014).
- Recyclable commodities manufacturing grants awarded (3) for projects using recycled fiber and plastics: Request for Approval (revised July 2015).
- Financing Recycling Programs and Facilities: Understanding Options and Resources. The second half of this report (from page 7) provides a listing of funding options for (1) collecting/processing recycled material or (2) manufacturing products from recycled content materials.
- Streamline Local Facility Siting and Expansion
Staff contact: Chris Bria.- "Local Funding and Siting: Case Studies, Samples, and Strategies" Contract with the Institute for Local Government included a series of workshops and guides. Links provided below and others, are available on ILG’s Recycling Resource Center.
- Primer on Recycling Facilities. Basic description of collection and processing systems, the types of recycling facilities and the potential benefits to the communities where they are located.
- Understanding Recycling Facilities and Required Permits. Introduction to different types of recycling facilities and the permits required
by different agencies.
- March 10, 2015 webinar focusing on California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) guidelines that recycling projects will need to comply with and the opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts in manufacturing projects that use recycled materials.
- April 14, 2015 webinar presents tips for streamlining the planning process to facilitate the siting of recycling projects. Panelists will also discuss the benefits of developing an overlay zone for recycling facilities and a case study from Butte County.
- Recycling Roadmap: How to Plan, Site, and Finance Your Recycling Facility: Infographic provides an overview of steps to plan, site and finance a public or private facility to process and reuse recycled materials.(September 2015)
- Model Goals, Policies, Zoning, and Development Standards for Composting and Remanufacturing Facilities: Land use planning approaches and zoning tools including model language. (September 2015)
- Connecting the Dots: Recycling, Climate and Economic Development. Discusses how increased recycling, construction of recycling facilities and use of recycled content in manufacturing reduces greenhouse gas emissions and promotes economic development.
- Oceanside-Reusing Organics Promoting the Environment, the Economy and the Community: Partnership project with city and El Corazon Compost managed by Agri Services (received RMDZ loan in 2013).(September 2015)
- Oroville-Partnerships Pave the Way for Expansion: Case study on working with the Federal Aviation Administration to use excess land adjacent to the local airport for recycling and manufacturing.
- Performance Standards for 'comparable to source separation'
Contact staff at MRFStandards@calrecycle.ca.gov.- Multiple workshops to explore options for MRF Performance Standards related to mixed waste processing comparable to source separation.
- September 19, 2012 Workshop Presentation
- November 26, 2012 Workshop Presentation
- July 16 and 18, 2013 Workshop Presentation. Comments on proposed approach were accepted through August 1, 2013.
- Multiple workshops to explore options for MRF Performance Standards related to mixed waste processing comparable to source separation.
- Recycling Market Development Zone (RMDZ) Program
Staff contact: Jim LaTanner- Workshop to explore program changes (April 16, 2013)
- "Local Funding and Siting: Case Studies, Samples, and Strategies" Contract with the Institute for Local Government included a series of workshops and guides. Links provided below and others, are available on ILG’s Recycling Resource Center.
3. Exploring New Models for State and Local Funding of Materials Management Programs
- Local Funding Mechanisms
Staff Contact: Chris Bria- "Local Funding and Siting: Case Studies, Samples, and Strategies." Contract with the Institute for Local Government included a series of workshops and guides. Links provided below and others, are available on
ILG’s
Recycling Resource Center.
- March 19, 2013. Financing local programs and siting recycling infrastructure.
- Series of webinars to explore the traditional and innovative ways that cities and counties across the state are funding local recycling programs.
- November 4, 2014 webinar explores effect of Propositions 26 and 218 on the financing of community solid waste and recycling programs.
- December 2, 2014 webinar. Overview of funding mechanisms used in California including: user fees, franchise fees, tipping fees and sales of recyclable materials, and; Kern County case study.
- January 29, 2015 (Oakland, CA) and February 25, 2015 (Lakewood, CA), Financing recycling facilities including tax exempt bonds, grants or loans from California Pollution Control Financing Authority (CPCFA), California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (IBank) and CalRecycle.
- Multiple workshops cosponsored by CalRecycle with HF&H Consultants to explore managing rates related to collection, processing and disposal of discards.
- October 9, 2013 (Oakland)
- November 7, 2013 (Lakewood)
- December 10, 2013 (Sacramento--CalEPA Building)
- Financing Recycling Programs and Facilities: Understanding Options and Resources. The first half of this report provides an overview of current methods used by local governments to fund their recycling programs.
- The True Cost of Recycling: How California Communities are Financing and Siting Recycling Infrastructure: Seven city and county case stories on financing local programs including consumer education, long term rate stabilization policies, and charging the true cost of all services. Siting stories for anaerobic digestion and other recycling facilities in 7 cities and counties.(September 2015)
- Survey prepared by Institute for Local Government as part of their CalRecycle contract to gather information about how local agencies finance solid waste and recycling programs as well as best practices related to facility siting and planning.
- "Local Funding and Siting: Case Studies, Samples, and Strategies." Contract with the Institute for Local Government included a series of workshops and guides. Links provided below and others, are available on
ILG’s
Recycling Resource Center.
- State Level Funding
- Landfill Tipping Fees in California (February 2015). Report discusses complexity and variation in local, regional and statewide tipping fees and compares California to other states and the European Union. Report also maps and compares California tipping fee data by region, by ownership (public/private), disposal tonnage, rural/urban location and proximity to other landfills. (Background for October 2014 presentation.)
- California’s Environmental Goals and Funding Waste Management Infrastructure: Multiple workshops to explore the state investment and partnerships needed to achieve California’s 75 percent recycling goal while sustaining CalRecycle’s
ability to manage the handling of solid waste in California.
- December 8, 2015 (Diamond Bar)
- December 15, 2015 (Sacramento)
4. Promoting State Procurement of Post-Consumer Recycled Content Products
Background technical paper developed to identify critical issues in development of Waste Sector Plan (State Procurement--Draft) (August 2013).
5. Promoting Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
EPR is a policy that shifts costs and responsibilities for product discards to producers and others who directly benefit. This page summarizes the EPR framework and Program News.
Contact staff at EPR@calrecycle.ca.gov.
- Mattress Recovery and Recycling
The Used Mattress Recovery and Recycling Act requires CalRecycle to establish recycling goals in consultation with the mattress recycling organization.
- August 15, 2017: Review draft mattress recycling baseline and mattress recycling goals.
6. Source Reduction
- Educating the Next Generation
- Utilizing public-private partnerships, the Education and the Environment Initiative provides K-12 teachers with training and curriculum materials that use the environment as context for teaching required science and social studies lessons. Homepage summarizes the program and current activities.
7. Commercial Recycling
- Mandatory Commercial Recycling
- New state requirements (AB 341) for most California businesses and public entities to begin recycling programs by July 1, 2012 if they generate four cubic yards or more of solid waste per week. Also applies to multifamily residential projects (those with five or more units).
- Mandatory Commercial Organics Recycling
- Mandatory Commercial Organics Recycling (AB 1826) requires California businesses to start recycling their organic waste by April 1, 2016, depending on the amount of waste they generate each week.
8. Other Products
- Packaging
CalRecycle efforts to identify and explore opportunities to increase recycling of packaging, particularly paper and plastic-based packaging.- Presentation of findings from research on bio-based and degradable plastics (
December 11, 2013, Sacramento).
Staff contact: Wendy Harmon - Workshop to share ideas related to source reduction and recovery of packaging (
December 12, 2013, Sacramento).
Staff contact: Cynthia Dunn - Workshop to review potential policy approaches
(November 13, 2014, Sacramento).
Staff contact: Cynthia Dunn - Manufacturers' Challenge Workshop to hear industry commitments for recovering packaging from landfills to reach statewide recycling goals (January
5, 2016, Sacramento).
Staff contact: Cynthia Dunn - Packaging Reform workshops begin in March 2017 to generate discussion and gather stakeholder ideas that will contribute to the development of a policy model describing a comprehensive, mandatory
approach for the management of packaging materials. Director Smithline
approved the development of this policy model at CalRecycle’s September 2016 public meeting.
- March 22, 2017--Sacramento: Existing policy models and California considerations.
- October 10, 2017: Screening criteria and data sources for determining priority packaging types for analysis relative to different mandatory policy approaches.
- Presentation of findings from research on bio-based and degradable plastics (
December 11, 2013, Sacramento).
- E-Waste
CalRecycle is beginning a series of workshops concerning the future of e-waste collection and management in California.- September 14, 2016--Future of Electronic Waste Management in California, Part 1: Includes stakeholder survey results, stakeholder panel presentations and small group discussions
to explore essential elements for three potential models: fee and payments; extended producer responsibility or take-back/hybrid.
Contact: EWaste@CalRecycle.ca.gov - March 15, 2017--Future of Electronic Waste Management in California, Part 2: Explore various potential program models adding a “new” product category
- June 20, 2017--Future of Electronic Waste Management in California, Part 3: Focused discussion on developing criteria by which various product categories could be evaluated for potential inclusion as a covered electronic device (CED).
- October 11, 2017--Future of Electronic Waste Management in California, Part 4.
- September 14, 2016--Future of Electronic Waste Management in California, Part 1: Includes stakeholder survey results, stakeholder panel presentations and small group discussions
to explore essential elements for three potential models: fee and payments; extended producer responsibility or take-back/hybrid.
Documents
- AB 341 Report to the Legislature. The report outlines five priority strategies and three additional focus areas that can be pursued by the Department, Administration and/or Legislature to meet California’s goal to recycle 75 percent of its’ solid waste by 2020. Preparation of the report was directed by the Legislature with the passage of AB 341. Includes recommendations for statutory and regulatory changes as well as updates and other recommendations. (August 2015)
- State of Recycling and Disposal: Report summarizes solid waste disposal, recycling and composting in California, particularly with respect to implementing the statewide 75 percent recycling goal.
- 2017 Update (August 15, 2017 monthly public meeting presentation)
- State of Recycling. Report summarizes recycling and composting infrastructure in California, particularly with respect to implementing the statewide 75 percent recycling goal.
- 2016 Update (February 16, 2016 monthly public meeting presentation)
- State of Recycling 2015 (March 24, 2015 monthly public meeting presentation)
- State of Disposal. Report discusses solid waste disposal in California including the history of solid waste disposal in California since 1989, the disposal infrastructure, material flows within and out of California, tracking disposal,
disposal fees and funding.
- 2016 Update (February 16, 2016 monthly public meeting presentation)
- State of Disposal 2015 (March 24, 2015 monthly public meeting presentation)
- California Exports of Recyclable Materials. Reports provide details regarding recyclables exported from California’s ports, the amount shipped, and their value for various years.
- 2016 Exports Report (August 15, 2017 monthly public meeting presentation)
- 2015 Exports Report (September 20, 2016 monthly public meeting presentation)
- 2014 Exports Report (July 21, 2015 monthly public meeting presentation)
- 2013 Exports Report (Background for August 2014 presentation)
- 2012 Exports Report. (Background for July 16, 2013 presentation)
AB 341’s 75 Percent Goal and Potential New Recycling Jobs in California by 2020. Report reviews prior studies and, using current disposal tonnage and exports, forecasts job creation (manufacturing and collection/processing sectors) as a result of achieving 75 percent goal. (Background for April 16, 2013 presentation).
Creating New Jobs through Increased Recycling, Processing and Remanufacturing. Presentation reviewed prior state, regional and national studies to forecast future California jobs. (April 16, 2013)