(1) Under existing law, as part of the hazardous waste control laws, the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) generally regulates the management and handling of hazardous waste and hazardous materials. Existing law authorizes a public agency, as defined, to operate a household hazardous waste collection facility under permit from DTSC.

The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, which is administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), requires a city and a county to prepare and submit to CalRecycle a countywide integrated waste management plan. The act requires the plan to include a household hazardous waste element that identifies a program in each city and county for the safe collection, recycling, treatment, and disposal of hazardous wastes that are generated by households.

The California Oil Recycling Enhancement Act, administered by CalRecycle, establishes a used oil recycling program to promote and develop alternatives to illegal disposal of used oil. The act imposes a charge for every gallon of lubricating oil sold or transferred in the state, or imported into the state for use in the state, as specified. The act requires these charges to be deposited into the California Used Oil Recycling Fund, which is continuously appropriated to, among others, pay recycling incentives and to implement local used oil collection programs, as provided.

This bill would make the act, as amended by this bill, inoperative upon the completion of specified conditions, including that CalRecycle submits a letter to the relevant committees of the Legislature indicating that specified conditions have been met and that CalRecycle is prepared to implement a lubricant and waste oil responsibility program as discussed below.

This bill would create a producer responsibility program for lubricants and waste oil and require a producer responsibility organization (PRO) to provide a convenient collection and management system for covered products at no cost to residents or local governments. The bill would define “covered product” to mean a petroleum-based automotive product and other related products, as specified. The bill would require a producer of a covered product to register with the PRO, which would be required to develop and implement a producer responsibility plan for the collection, transportation, and the safe and proper management of covered products. The bill would require CalRecycle, in coordination with DTSC, to adopt regulations to implement the program with an effective date no earlier than July 1, 2028.

This bill would require the PRO, within 12 months of the effective date of the regulations, to submit a product responsibility plan to CalRecycle. The bill would require the plan to include specified elements, including a funding mechanism that provides sufficient funding to carry out the plan. The bill would require, within 6 months of receipt of the plan, CalRecycle, in collaboration with DTSC, to approve, approve in part, or disapprove the plan, as specified. The bill would require CalRecycle to notify the PRO of its decision. If CalRecycle does not approve the plan in full, then the bill would require CalRecycle to specify the reasons for disapproval or identify the portions of the partially approved plan that do not comply with the program, as applicable. The bill would require the PRO to submit a revised plan if its plan is not fully approved. The bill would conditionally approve a plan if CalRecycle does not approve, approve in part, or disapprove a plan within one year of receipt of the plan.

This bill would require the PRO to implement its plan within 90 days of approval. The bill would require the plan to be fully funded in a manner that equitably distributes the plan’s costs among participant producers, as specified. The bill would require the PRO to reimburse local jurisdictions for costs associated with collecting illegally dumped covered products and for providing a convenient collection system for covered products if the PRO’s plan relies on local jurisdictions to collect or manage covered products.

This bill would require a participant producer, through the PRO, to pay CalRecycle, on an unspecified schedule, an annual administrative charge, as determined by CalRecycle and DTSC. The bill would require the charge be set at an amount that is adequate to cover CalRecycle’s and DTSC’s actual and reasonable costs of administering and enforcing the program. The bill would provide for the imposition of administrative civil penalties on producers and other specified persons who violate the program. The bill would establish the Lubricant and Waste Oil Producer Responsibility Fund in the State Treasury and would require the administrative charges collected by CalRecycle to be deposited into that fund for expenditure by CalRecycle, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to cover CalRecycle’s cost to implement the program. The bill would also establish the Lubricant and Waste Oil Penalty Account in the Lubricant and Waste Oil Producer Responsibility Fund and would require that the civil penalties collected by CalRecycle pursuant to the program be deposited into that account, for expenditure by CalRecycle, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for activities related to the collection, reuse, and recycling of covered products, grants for related purposes, and the administration and enforcement of the program.

(2) Existing law, the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, establishes a producer responsibility program designed to ensure that producers of single-use packaging and food service ware covered by that program take responsibility for the costs associated with the end-of-life management of that material and ensure that the material is recyclable or compostable. The act requires producers, either individually or through participation in a producer responsibility organization, to have an approved plan that, among other things, describe how the producer or organization will comply with the act.

This bill would exempt a product from the act if the product is included in an approved product responsibility plan pursuant to the lubricant and waste oil producer responsibility program, discussed above.

(3) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.