Container Law Expansion Boon to Curbside

On Monday, the Senate Environmental Quality Committee advanced CAW sponsored legislation to expand California's Container Recycling Law.

Senate Bill 1625 (Corbett), will help reduce plastic litter, waste and marine debris by expanding California's successful Container Recycling Law to include all plastic bottles. When implemented, this measure will result in the recycling of more than 3 billion additional plastic bottles, reducing littered and landfilled plastic waste by 130,000 tons annually.

Managing plastic waste poses a growing cost burden on local governments. The collection and disposal of plastic bottles costs local governments and ratepayers in excess of $32 million annually. The increase in recycling as a result of SB 1625 will—at minimum--cut this disposal cost in half. What little plastic bottle recycling is occurring now is primarily being subsidized by local governments and ratepayers, at the rate of more than $16 million annually. SB 1625 will eliminate these existing costs to curbside recycling programs and instead provide curbside programs with more than $67 million in new recycling program revenue. SB 1625 and the resulting growth in recycling represents a net revenue benefit to local governments and curbside recycling programs of roughly $100 million annually.