AB 341 (Wesley Chesbro) – 75% Apartment Recycling Diversion Goal by 2020!
Recycling just got easier for the 7 million Californians living in apartment buildings. The Regulation was adopted at CalRecycle’s January 17, 2012 meeting. How will your property use this bill to earn new found NOI?
According to 2008 Statewide Waste Characterization data, the commercial sector generates nearly three fourths of the solid waste in California. Furthermore, much of the commercial sector waste disposed in landfills is readily recyclable. Increasing the recovery of recyclable materials will directly reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) emissions. In particular, recycled materials can reduce the GHG emissions from multiple phases of product production; including extraction of raw materials, preprocessing and manufacturing. A co-benefit of increased recycling is avoided methane emissions at landfills from the decomposition of organic materials. Use of composted organic materials also provides environmental benefits such as carbon storage in soils and reduced use of fertilizers, pesticides, and water.
San Diego, CA Valet Trash & Recycling Apartment Community
California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the Renter’s Right to Recycle Act, which requires owners of multifamily housing with five or more units to provide paper, plastic and can and bottle recycling programs to their tenets starting next year, 2013. “We have finally overcome a great inequity,” said the bill’s author Assembly member Bob Blumenfield (D-San Fernando Valley) in a statement. “Renters want and deserve the same opportunities to recycle as everyone else. Before this bill, many renters could recycle only by hauling their waste across town to a recycling center. Green living is the future, and nothing is more basic than being able to recycle where you live.”
According to the legislation, less than 40 percent of Californians living in multifamily dwellings have access to residential recycling, while 70 percent of the state’s residents living in single-family homes have access to recycling services. Of the waste generated at apartments, only 15 percent is recycled, compared to rates above 50 percent for single-family homes statewide.
Summary.
AB 341 would create green jobs by expanding recycling to every multi-family dwelling and business and would charge CalRecycle with the responsibility for ensuring that the state is recycling at least 75% of the garbage that it generates by 2020.
UPDATE! Governor Brown Signed AB 341!
Bill Breakdown
AB 341 (by Assembly Member Wesley Chesbro) is a landmark piece of legislation that will move California forward from landfilling to waste reduction, recycling, and composting, by creating a commercial recycling program and setting a bold goal for the state’s waste reduction efforts.
While local diversion efforts have largely focused on residential recycling, there is still a large untapped recycling opportunity in the commercial sector, which comprises two-thirds of California’s waste stream. For example, California as a whole diverts 58% of its waste but large office buildings divert only 7%. More than half of the material disposed at these buildings consists of readily recyclable paper and cardboard. Other businesses also recycle at far lower rates than the rest of the state. Every day that these materials go to landfills represents a wasted opportunity to conserve our natural resources, reduce greenhouse gases, and create local green jobs. This bill expands recycling to the underserved, long neglected Multi-Family Apartment and Condo communities.
How will your property use this bill to earn money? At AWS, Multi-Family MANDATES mean MONEY!
In addition, this bill will build on the success of California’s landmark 1989 recycling legislation (AB 939), which requires each city and county to cut their garbage in half by the year 2000, by directing CalRecycle to increase statewide diversion to 75% by 2020. The bill makes sense because of the share volume of waste generated at Multi-Family Communities.
SOURCE: http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/climate/recycling/
Assembly Member Wesley Chesbro
Accelerated Waste Solutions offers Convenient multi-night Valet Trash & DoorStep Recycling pick up for apartment residents. After we divert and recover recyclable materials from the doorstep, we work with our partners to insure reuse. AWS has testimonial backed, proven system that enhances participation, fights contamination, increases NOI & saves money. For like type programs, Contact AWS for Apartment Valet Trash & DoorStep Recycling regulation-compliant programs. The easiest turn-key sustainable option for Multi-Family Communities.
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