Organic waste: composting.

(1) The existing California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, which is administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, establishes an integrated waste management program. Existing law requires each city, county, city and county, and regional agency, if any, to develop a source reduction and recycling element of an integrated waste management plan. Those entities are required to divert 50% of all solid waste through source reduction, recycling, and composting. This bill would require the California Environmental Protection Agency, in coordination with the department, the State Water Resources Control Board, the State Air Resources Board, and the Department of Food and Agriculture, to develop and implement policies to aid in diverting organic waste from landfills by promoting the composting of specified organic waste and by promoting the appropriate use of that compost throughout the state. The bill would require the agency to promote a goal of reducing at least 5 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year through the development and application of compost on working lands, and would require the agency to work with the Department of Food and Agriculture to achieve this goal. The bill would also require the Secretary for Environmental Protection and the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to ensure proper coordination of agency regulations and goals to implement these requirements and would require the agency and the Department of Food and Agriculture, with the department, the State Water Resources Control Board, and the State Air Resources Board, to perform other specified functions. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2021. (2) Existing law requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to adopt regulations relating to waste management, including standards for the design, operation, maintenance, and ultimate reuse of solid waste facilities, and for solid waste handling, transfer, composting, transformation, and disposal. Existing law prohibits the solid waste handling, transfer, composting, transformation, and disposal standards from including any requirement that is under the authority of the State Air Resources Board for the prevention of air pollution or the State Water Resources Control Board for the prevention of water pollution and prohibits the solid waste facilities standards from including aspects of solid waste handling and disposal that are within the jurisdiction of the State Air Resources Board, air pollution control districts, and air quality management districts, or the State Water Resources Control Board or a regional water district. Existing law prohibits a person from discharging a quantity of air contaminants or other material that causes injury, detriment, nuisance, or annoyance to the public, or that endangers the comfort, repose, health, or safety of the public, or that causes injury or damage to business or property, except as provided. Under existing law, the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, the State Water Resources Control Board and the California regional water quality control boards are the principal state agencies with responsibility for the coordination and control of water quality in the state. The act, with certain exceptions, requires a waste discharger to file certain information with the appropriate regional board and to pay an annual fee. This bill would require, until January 1, 2021, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, in coordination with the State Air Resources Board and the State Water Resources Control Board, to develop a policy that promotes the development of coordinated permitting and regulation of composting facilities while protecting the environment.