SB 279: Solid waste: compostable materials.

Existing law requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to adopt and revise regulations setting forth minimum standards for composting, in accordance with law. Existing regulations require all compostable materials handling activities to obtain a permit prior to commencing operations and to comply with specified requirements. Existing regulations specify 4 regulatory tiers for composting operations, with different requirements for each tier. The 4 tiers are excluded, enforcement agency notification, registration permit, and full solid waste facility permit.

In the excluded tier, existing regulations specify the excluded activities that do not constitute compostable material handing operations or facilities and, therefore, are not subject to permit requirements or other regulatory requirements. One of the excluded activities is the composting of green material, agricultural material, food material, and vegetative food material, alone or in combination, if the total amount of feedstock and compost onsite at any one time does not exceed 100 cubic yards and 750 square feet.

This bill would require that the total amount of feedstock and compost onsite at any one time not exceed 500 cubic yards instead of the 100 cubic yards and 750 square feet in the regulations. The bill would also require the composting of agricultural materials and residues that are from a large-scale biomass management event at an agricultural facility that does not otherwise operate as a solid waste facility to be an excluded activity, as specified.

Existing regulations require composting operations in the enforcement agency notification tier to comply with certain solid waste requirements, including, but not limited to, providing written notice to an enforcement agency before commencing operations, as provided. Under existing regulations, the enforcement agency notification tier includes, but is not limited to, certain agricultural, green material, and biosolids composting operations.

This bill would require a composting operation to be included in the enforcement agency notification tier and authorize the operation to accept up to 10% food material by volume for a period not to exceed 5 years before applying for a full solid waste facility permit, if specified conditions are met, including, but not limited to, the operation having between 500 and 12,500 cubic yards of material onsite.

Existing regulations prohibit a composting operation from giving away or selling more than 1,000 cubic yards of compost product annually if it is in the excluded tier or if it is an agricultural material composting operation in the enforcement agency notification tier, its feedstock is both green material and agricultural material, and the operation is located on land zoned for agricultural uses.

This bill would authorize those composting operations to give away or sell up to 5,000 cubic yards of compost product annually.