SB 1181: Waste and used tires.

(1)The California Tire Recycling Act requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to adopt a 5-year plan, which is to be updated biennially, to establish goals and priorities for the waste tire program. The act requires the biennial update to describe the effectiveness of each element of the waste tire program, including specified border region activities that include, among others, tracking both the legal and illegal waste and used tire flow across the border and recommending revisions to the waste tire policies of California and Mexico.

This bill would require the department, to the extent feasible, to strengthen the California tire tracking system to quantify more precisely the number of used tires flowing from California, and from other states through California, into the State of Baja California, Mexico, and the nearby State of Sonora, Mexico. The bill would require the department, to the extent feasible, to work with United States Customs and Border Protection to obtain detailed data on California used tire exports to the State of Baja California, Mexico.

(2)Existing law requires a person generating waste or used tires that are transported or submitted for transportation to submit a California Uniform Waste and Used Tire Manifest, as defined, to the waste and used tire hauler and to submit copies of the manifest to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery. A waste and used tire hauler is required to possess that manifest while transporting waste or used tires, and the operator of a waste or used tire facility is required to submit a copy of the manifest to the department and the generator. Existing law authorizes submitting an electronic report in lieu of submitting a manifest copy under these provisions, if approved by the department. Existing law authorizes the department to adopt regulations necessary or useful to carry out those and related provisions, and imposes a civil penalty on a person who violates any of those provisions or regulations.

This bill would revise and recast the waste and used tire manifest provisions, including revising the definition of California Uniform Waste and Used Tire Manifest and requiring a hauler to have the manifest readily accessible in the transporting vehicle during transportation by paper copy or electronic means. The bill would require a waste or used tire facility to check that the information on a manifest is correct at the time of transfer in a manner required by the department. The bill would authorize the department to require the use of an electronic format in lieu of a paper manifest copy under these provisions. The bill would also make related and nonsubstantive changes.