The Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) will hold a workshop on November 1 to take comments on the feasibility of bifurcating the organic waste collection and processing system to accommodate products that are not currently acceptable compost feedstocks. CalRecycle’s discussion paper can be found here.
Under the federal National Organic Program, the USDA establishes standards for organic agricultural products. These standards allow the use of compost for agricultural production if the materials used to produce compost are specifically allowed feedstocks. These standards generally do not allow the use of synthetic materials in organic compost.
In California, most composting facilities regularly screen out compostable plastics and non-compostable materials to improve the quality and marketability of their finished product. In 2021, Assembly Bill 1201 (Ting, Chapter 504, Statutes of 2021) established restrictions on when products can be labeled “compostable” or “home compostable.” The bill also required CalRecycle to consider whether it would be feasible to separate the collection of organic waste suitable for use in organic agricultural applications from the collection of products not suitable for use in organic agricultural applications. If CalRecycle determines that bifurcation is feasible, it must adopt regulations “to establish a bifurcated approach.”
RCRC initially supported AB 1201, but strongly opposed the measure when these last two requirements were added in the closing days of the 2021 legislative session. RCRC noted the bill could add significant additional burdens on local governments and ratepayers who are struggling to implement the existing SB 1383 organic waste recycling regulations. RCRC feared that the bill would prompt CalRecycle to modify SB 1383 to impose a new dual stream collection system for organic waste.
Responding to RCRC’s concerns, Assembly Member Ting drafted a letter to the Assembly Journal clarifying that the bill’s intent is to “expand content and labeling requirements for compostable products, not adopt new regulations requiring a bifurcated organic waste collection and processing system…The only intent of this provision was for CalRecycle’s feasibility determination to trigger a requirement to adopt regulations to establish a bifurcated approach to product labeling.”
RCRC and other local government organizations opposed CalRecycle’s early 2022 request for budget funding to implement AB 1201 unless its scope was amended to reflect the Legislature’s intent in enacting AB 1201. Assembly Member Ting subsequently included clarifying language in the 2022 Public Resources Trailer Bill (AB 203, Chapter 60, Statutes of 2022) to provide that CalRecycle’s authority for adopting regulations was limited to “requiring a bifurcated approach to product labeling.” These changes went into effect on June 30, 2022, but were inadvertently “chaptered out” when another bill amending the same code section was not amended to reflect current law before being signed by Governor Newsom. This means those statutory changes disappeared January 1, 2023; however, the Letter to the Journal still indicates the Legislature’s intent in enacting AB 1201.
CalRecycle conducted a survey of 34 composting facilities earlier this year pursuant to AB 1201. 24 facilities responded, of which 58% said that processing separate organics streams would not be feasible and 79% said doing so would increase their operational costs by more than 20%. The survey does not appear to have considered the feasibility of bifurcating collection of organic waste by local governments or solid waste haulers.
RCRC will provide comments at the November 1 workshop, noting that CalRecycle’s regulatory authority is limited to requiring bifurcation of product labeling, regardless of its finding on the feasibility of bifurcation. RCRC will also note the current challenges locals face in implementing the existing SB 1383 organic waste collection and recycling framework and that bifurcation of that process would neither be feasible nor an effective use of scarce ratepayer resources.
For more information, please contact RCRC Senior Policy Advocate, John Kennedy.