3970 Resources Recycling and Recovery
Major Program Changes
  • The Budget includes $30 million from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Funding will be used to provide financial incentives in the form of loans and grants, primarily for capital investments in new facilities and increased throughput at existing facilities-such as converting windrow composting to aerated-static-pile composting to use food waste as feedstock, design and construction of anaerobic digestion facilities to produce biofuels and bioenergy, and design and construction of facilities for processing recyclable fibers and resins. Providing financial assistance for organic waste diversion and recycling manufacturing supports AB 32 emission reduction goals and the 75-percent solid waste recycling goal prescribed in Chapter 476, Statutes of 2011 (AB 341).

  • The budget includes reforms to the Beverage Container Recycling Program, informed by a stakeholder process, to address the structural imbalance and better align financial incentives with recycling objectives in lieu of proportional reductions. Specifically, the reforms include the following: (1) phase in elimination of processing fee subsidies by decreasing funding by $26.3 million in 2014-15; (2) decrease $12.9 million for administrative fees paid to processors and recyclers while relieving administrative burdens; (3) diversify funding for local conservation corps by decreasing $15 million Beverage Container Recycling Fund and increasing other special fund expenditures by a like amount; (4) restructure handling fees to base payment on convenience zones rather than volume, resulting in $7.4 million savings; and (5) decrease $25.5 million by eliminating curbside supplemental payments and payments to cities and counties while increasing the competitive grant program by $3.5 million and funding a new program for local recycling enforcement agency grants with $7 million.