Recycling: reusable bags.

The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, as administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, requires an operator of a store, as defined, to establish an at-store recycling program that provides customers the opportunity to return clean plastic carryout bags to that store and to make reusable bags, as defined, available to customers. Existing law prohibits a city, county, or other local public agency from taking specified regulatory actions with regard to plastic carryout bags. A violation of these requirements is subject to civil liability penalties imposed by a local agency or the state. These requirements and prohibitions are repealed on January 1, 2013. This bill would revise the definition of the term "reusable bag" to require the bag to meet specified requirements concerning lifetime use, volume, contest, labeling, and washability, and would require the operator of a store to make these reusable bags available to customers after July 1, 2013. The bill also would delete the prohibition on a city, county, or other local public agency from taking specified regulatory actions with regard to plastic carryout bags. The bill would only become operative only if SB 1219 of the 2011–12 Regular Session is enacted and becomes effective on or before January 1, 2013, and amends Section 42257 of the Public Resources Code to extend the date on which the provisions establishing the at-store recycling program are repealed.