California lawmakers are aiming for the rules proposed by Callex to implement state laws aimed at eroding the letters and intentions of the law.
In a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom and his top administrator, lawmakers said Calrecycle has surpassed its authority by drafting regulations that do not comply with the terms set out by law.
“While I support many changes to the current draft regulations, I have identified several provisions that are inconsistent with the governing law… and I write to the California Director of Environmental Protection Janagarcia and Zoey Heller Zoey Heller in a letter to the state’s Recycling and Recycling Department or the Callecci Zaey Heller.
The letter, written by Senators Katherine Blakespeare (D-Encinitas) and Benjamin Allen (D-Santa Monica), was signed by 21 other lawmakers, including Senators John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) and assembly members Al Muratzci (D-Rolling Hills Estates) and Monique Limón (D-Goleta).
Designed to enforce the law written by Allen, Calrecycle was signed to the law by Newsom in 2022.
Congressional concerns are directed towards the potential approval draft approval that contaminates the law’s recycling technology (explicitly prohibited by the language of the law) and the widespread exemption of documents for products and packaging that fall within the scope of the US Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration.
Including such a comprehensive exemption “not only violates the law, but also runs the risk of significantly increasing the costs of the program,” the lawmaker wrote. They said the new regulations allow “producers to unilaterally decide which products are subject to the law without the requirements or processes to back up such claims.”
Daniel Villazenor, a spokesman for the governor, said in an email that Newsom was clear when he asked Calrecycling to resume that they should work to minimize costs for small businesses and families.
Calrecycle staff, held this week at the agency’s headquarters in Sacramento, responded to similar criticisms, highlighting that these are informal draft regulations.
“We’re looking forward to seeing you in the future,” said Karen Kayfetz, Chief of Calrecycle’s Product Stewardship Chapter. He added that “robust conversations” of regulations help to highlight the hope that “robust conversations” of regulations “are different from the institutional intentions.”
“Of course, to go outside the law, it was that there were provisions that extend beyond that as far as it was interpreted in the language we provided, not our intention, but in the case it was interpreted in the language we provided… I hope to squeeze that back,” she said.
He said these new draft regulations are the rapid result of agencies’ attempts to meet Newsom’s concerns about the law, and that if not implemented properly, they could increase costs for California households.
The draft regulations result from almost three years of negotiations by a large number of stakeholders, including plastic producers, packaging developers, agricultural interests, environmental groups, local governments, recycling companies, and waste carriers. We ordered the waste agency to begin the process.
Critics say the new draft regulations could address the industry and bring even higher costs to both households in California. California households have significantly increased residential waste transport fees, and various jurisdictions in the state are also taxed by clogging plastic waste and rivers, highways, beaches and parking lots.
The law is formed through a series of legislative efforts described as the Extended Producer Liability Act, designed to shift the costs of waste removal and disposal from state jurisdictions and taxpayers to industries that produce waste.
