AB 1158: Carpet recycling.

Existing law requires a manufacturer of carpets sold in this state to submit, either individually or through a carpet stewardship organization, a carpet stewardship plan that meets specified requirements to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery. Existing law imposes a carpet stewardship assessment per unit of carpet sold in the state that is remitted to the carpet stewardship organization and may be expended to carry out the organizations carpet stewardship plan. Existing law provides that the purpose of carpet stewardship laws is to increase the amount of postconsumer carpet that is diverted from landfills and recycled into secondary products or otherwise managed in a manner that is consistent with the states hierarchy for waste management practices. Existing law requires a carpet stewardship organization, in order to achieve compliance with the carpet stewardship laws, to demonstrate to the department that it has achieved continuous meaningful improvement in the rates of recycling and diversion of postconsumer carpet subject to its stewardship plan and in meeting the other specified goals included in the organizations plan.

This bill would provide that it is the goal of the state to reach a 24% recycling rate for postconsumer carpet by January 1, 2020, and to meet or exceed that rate continually thereafter. The bill would require a carpet stewardship plan to achieve a 24% recycling rate for postconsumer carpet by January 1, 2020, and to include quantifiable 5-year goals and annual goals, as specified. The bill would require a carpet stewardship plan to achieve any other recycling rate, and include goals, that the department required after plan review. The bill would require a review no sooner than January 1, 2020, and no less frequently than every 3 years thereafter and would authorize adjustments to the recycling rate and program goals by the department upon each review. The bill would require a carpet stewardship organization to provide to the department all data necessary for the department to evaluate the effectiveness of the program as it is described in the carpet stewardship plan and in annual reports submitted by the carpet stewardship organization. If a carpet stewardship plan that was previously approved by the department terminates or is revoked, the bill would authorize the department to allow a manufacturer that is no longer subject to the plan to continue to sell carpet in California for a period of one year after the plan terminates or is revoked, without being subject to penalties, if the manufacturer meets either of 2 requirements. The bill would revise the criteria that a carpet stewardship organization is required to meet in order to achieve compliance with the carpet stewardship laws. The bill would prohibit a carpet stewardship organization from expending funds from the carpet stewardship assessment for specified costs and penalties, including for engineered solid waste conversion, as defined, the use of cement kilns to burn carpet, or transformation, as defined.

The bill would create an advisory committee that would be required to provide comments and recommendations on carpet stewardship plans, amendments to plans, and annual reports. The bill would require the carpet stewardship organization or manufacturer to incorporate those recommendations to the extent feasible. The bill would require the Director of Resources Recycling and Recovery, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the Senate Committee on Rules to appoint members to the advisory committee, as specified.

Existing law requires the Department of General Services, to the extent feasible and within existing resources, to take appropriate steps, including, but not limited to, revising relevant procurement rules, to ensure that postconsumer carpet that is removed from state buildings is managed in a manner consistent with the purpose of the carpet stewardship laws.

This bill would require the Department of General Services to additionally ensure, under those same conditions, that carpet purchased by a state agency contains a minimum amount of postconsumer content that would be determined by the Department of General Services and published in the State Contracting Manual by July 1, 2018.

Existing law defines carpet for purposes of these laws to mean a manufactured article that is used in commercial or residential buildings affixed or placed on the floor or building walking surface as a decorative or functional building interior feature and that is primarily constructed of a top visible surface of synthetic face fibers or yarns or tufts attached to a backing system derived from synthetic or natural materials.

This bill would expand the carpet stewardship program by revising the definition of carpet to include manufactured items that meet those same descriptions, but that are primarily constructed of a top visible surface of natural face fibers, yarns, or tufts.