CA AB 2514

Title: Solid waste: organic waste: diversion: hydrogen: biomethane.
Author: Cecilia M. Aguiar-Curry

Summary
AB 2514, as amended, Aguiar-Curry. Solid waste: organic waste: diversion: hydrogen: biomethane. (1) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 generally regulates solid waste disposal, management, and recycling. The act requires each city, county, and regional agency to develop a source reduction and recycling element of an integrated waste management plan. The act requires that element to include a 50% solid waste diversion requirement, as specified, and provides that up to 10% may be achieved through biomass conversion under certain conditions, with biomass conversion defined as the production of heat, fuels, or electricity by certain means from specified materials. One of the conditions for using biomass conversion to satisfy a portion of the solid waste diversion requirement is that pyrolysis not be included in the source reduction and recycling element. Pyrolysis is not defined for that purpose or for other purposes in the act.This bill would define pyrolysis as the thermal decomposition of organic material at elevated temperatures in the absence or near absence of oxygen. (2) Existing law requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, to adopt regulations, as specified, to achieve the reduction in the organic waste disposed of in landfills. The department’s regulations provide for, among other things, the calculation by the department of recovered organic waste product procurement targets for each local jurisdiction and a list of eligible recovered organic waste products for purposes of the procurement targets.This bill would require the department, no later than January 1, 2026, to amend those regulations to include, as a recovered organic waste product attributable to a local jurisdiction’s procurement target, hydrogen and pipeline biomethane converted exclusively from source separated diverted organic waste, as specified.(3) Existing law requires the department, in consultation with the state board, to analyze the progress that the waste sector, state government, and local governments have made in achieving the reduction targets for the amounts of organic waste disposed of in landfills. Existing law authorizes the department to provide incentives to facilitate progress toward the reduction targets if the department determines that sufficient progress has not been made.This bill would require the department, when providing incentives to facilitate progress toward the reduction targets, to consider the life-cycle effects of different projects and then prioritize incentives for landfill diversion projects with the greatest life-cycle benefits.

Status
Read second time and amended.

Bill Documents
CA AB 2514 - 04/10/24 - Amended Assembly
04/10/24 - CA AB 2514 (04/10/24 - Amended Assembly)