Solid waste facilities: state policy goals.

The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, establishes an integrated waste management program. Existing law provides that is the policy goal of the state that at least 75% of solid waste generated annually be source reduced, recycled, or composted, and that statewide landfill disposal of organic waste be reduced from the 2014 level by 50% on or before 2000 and by 75% on or before 2025. Existing law prohibits a person from establishing or expanding a solid waste facility in a county after a countywide or regional agency integrated waste management plan has been approved unless the solid waste facility is, among other things, a disposal facility, a transformation facility, or an EMSW conversion facility that meets specific criteria. Existing law defines an "EMSW conversion facility" as a facility where municipal solid waste conversion that meets specific requirements takes place and defines "transformation" as incineration, pyrolysis, distillation, or biological conversion, excluding composting, gasification, EMSW conversion, or biomass conversion. Existing law authorizes the department, by regulation, to specify classifications of solid waste facilities that are exempt from these and other facility regulations if the department makes specific findings, including that the nature of the solid wastes poses no significant threat to the public health, the public safety, or the environment. This bill would prohibit a person from establishing or expanding a transformation facility or an EMSW conversion facility in the state until the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery has determined that the state has achieved the above-described solid waste and organic waste policy goals of the state for 3 consecutive years.