SECTIONS 42300-42301 - California Statutes

PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE

SECTION 42300-42301

42300. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Recycling rigid plastic packaging containers saves landfill
space, reduces energy consumption, and preserves natural resources.
(b) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989
requires cities and counties to reduce the amount of waste disposed
in landfills by 50 percent by the end of the decade through source
reduction, recycling, and composting.
(c) Rigid plastic packaging containers represent a significant
component of the solid waste generated in the state.
(d) In order for recycling in the state to be successful, it is
critical that stable, in-state markets be developed for material
separately collected from the waste stream and processed for
recycling.
(e) As of the effective date of this chapter, curbside collection
of recyclables is available to nearly 20 percent of the state's
residents. In order to expand the variety of materials collected in
these programs, including all rigid plastic packaging containers, it
is essential that stable markets exist for the plastic materials
collected.
(f) The state has required several types of products to use
increasing levels of postconsumer recycled material in their
manufacture, including newsprint, glass containers, and plastic trash
bags.
(g) Some of the nation's largest consumer product manufacturers
have announced plans to require, or are currently requiring, their
plastic packaging suppliers to provide them with containers comprised
of increasing levels of postconsumer recycled materials,
demonstrating that the technology is already available to use
recycled material to make new plastic packaging containers. However,
many businesses continue to purchase packaging materials made from
100 percent virgin plastic and to sell them in the state.
(h) The food and consumer products industries are manufacturing
safe products and packaging using plastic materials, some of which
use less raw material than other packaging materials through source
reduction and the reuse and recycling of used plastic materials.
(i) The Legislature recognizes that the need to reduce the amount
of solid waste generated by food products must be balanced with the
need to package those products so that they are resistant to
tampering, damage, and spoilage.
(j) It is, therefore, the intent of the Legislature to spur
markets for plastic materials collected for recycling by requiring
manufacturers to utilize increasing amounts of postconsumer recycled
material in their rigid plastic packaging containers only if the use
of that material does not present an unreasonable risk to the public
health and safety, and to achieve high recycling rates for these
rigid plastic packaging containers.

42301. For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
apply:
(a) "Container manufacturer" means a company or a successor
company that sells any rigid plastic packaging container subject to
this chapter to a manufacturer that sells or offers for sale in this
state any product packaged in that container.
(b) "Curbside collection program" means a recycling program that
collects materials set out by households for collection at the curb
at intervals not less than every two weeks. "Curbside collection
program" does not include redemption centers, buyback locations,
drop-off programs, material recovery facilities, or plastic recovery
facilities.
(c) "Refillable package" means a rigid plastic packaging container
that the board determines is routinely returned to and refilled by
the product manufacturer at least five times with the original
product contained by the package.
(d) "Reusable package" means a rigid plastic packaging container
that the board determines is routinely reused by consumers at least
five times to store the original product contained by the package.
(e) "Manufacturer" means the producer or generator of a product
that is sold or offered for sale in the state and that is stored
inside of a rigid plastic packaging container.
(f) "Rigid plastic packaging container" means any plastic package
having a relatively inflexible finite shape or form, with a minimum
capacity of eight fluid ounces or its equivalent volume and a maximum
capacity of five fluid gallons or its equivalent volume, that is
capable of maintaining its shape while holding other products,
including, but not limited to, bottles, cartons, and other
receptacles, for sale or distribution in the state.
(g) "Postconsumer material" means a material that would otherwise
be destined for solid waste disposal, having completed its intended
end use and product lifecycle. Postconsumer material does not include
materials and byproducts generated from, and commonly reused within,
an original manufacturing and fabrication process.
(h) "Recycled" means a product or material that has been reused in
the production of another product and has been diverted from
disposal in a landfill.
(i) "Recycling rate" means the proportion, as measured by weight,
volume, or number, of a rigid plastic packaging container sold or
offered for sale in the state that is being recycled in a given
calendar year, that is one of the following:
(1) A particular type of rigid plastic packaging container, such
as a milk jug, soft drink container, or detergent bottle.
(2) A product-associated rigid plastic packaging container.
(3) A single resin type, as specified in Section 18015, of rigid
plastic packaging container, notwithstanding the exemption of that
container from this chapter pursuant to subdivision (b), (c), or (d)
of Section 42340.
(j) (1) "Source reduced container" means either of the following:
(A) A rigid plastic packaging container for which the manufacturer
seeks compliance as of January 1, 1995, whose package weight per
unit or use of product has been reduced by 10 percent when compared
with the packaging used for that product by the manufacturer from
January 1, 1990, to December 31, 1994.
(B) A rigid plastic container for which the manufacturer seeks
compliance after January 1, 1995, whose package weight per unit or
use of product has been reduced by 10 percent when compared with one
of the following:
(i) The packaging used for the product by the manufacturer on
January 1, 1995.
(ii) The packaging used for that product by the manufacturer over
the course of the first full year of commerce in this state.
(iii) The packaging used in commerce that same year for similar
products whose containers have not been considered source reduced.
(2) A rigid plastic packaging container is not a source reduced
container for the purposes of this chapter if the packaging reduction
was achieved by any of the following:
(A) Substituting a different material type for a material that
previously constituted the principal material of the container.
(B) Increasing a container's weight per unit or use of product
after January 1, 1991.
(C) Packaging changes that adversely affect the potential for the
rigid plastic packaging container to be recycled or to be made of
postconsumer material.
(k) "Product-associated rigid plastic packaging container" means a
brand-specific, rigid plastic packaging line that may have one or
more sizes, shapes, or designs and that is used in conjunction with a
particular generic product line.
(l) "PETE" means polyethylene terephthalate as specified in
subdivision (a) of Section 18015.
(m) "HDPE" means high-density polyethylene.