Illegal Disposal Emergency Regulations

Overview

The Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) proposes to adopt emergency regulations that define Land Application Activities and place these activities within CalRecycle’s Compostable Material Handling Facilities and Operations Regulatory Tiers and subject these activities to the appropriate operator filing requirements, state minimum standards, record keeping, and Enforcement Agency (EA) inspection requirements. The proposed regulations ensure that these activities which are land applying compostable material or digestate are appropriately regulated by the EA to ensure protection of public health and safety and the environment.

Additionally, these proposed regulations amend the sampling and record keeping requirement for solid waste facilities, operations, and activities to ensure that any facility and operation sending material to a location to be land applied are sampling to ensure the material is suitable for land application, consistent with section 17852(a)(24.5), and the sampling test results, weights, and end destination for each load sent offsite are included in the operator records. These proposed regulations allow EAs to review this new recordkeeping data to track the flow of material, investigate, and enforce land application activities to prevent unlawful disposal of material.

Affected Regulatory Code Sections

CalRecycle is proposing emergency regulations to amend Title 14, California Code of Regulations (CCR), Division 7, Chapters 3, 3.1, 3.2, and 5, Sections 17402, 17414, 17414.2, 17852, 17854.1, 17869, 17896.45, 18302, 18303, 18304, and 18304.1.

CalRecycle is also proposing emergency regulations to adopt Title 14, CCR, Division 7, Chapters 3, 3.1, and 3.2, Sections 17410.5, 17862.3, 17868.6, and 17896.62.

Current Status

The Illegal Disposal emergency regulations are scheduled to be submitted to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) on February 4, 2025, beginning the 10-calendar day emergency rulemaking process. The 5-calendar day public comment period will begin on February 4, 2025 and end on February 10, 2025.

Details of how to submit comments during the comment period are included below.

Current Documents

All rulemaking documents listed here are either available by clicking the link, submitting a PRA request at https://www2.calrecycle.ca.gov/Forms/ContactUs/PublicRecordsRequest/, or by emailing regulations@calrecycle.ca.gov. These documents are also available for public inspection during normal business hours at CalRecycle, 1001 “I” Street, 24th Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814. To schedule a time to inspect these documents, please contact Csilla Richmond at regulations@calrecycle.ca.gov.

Input from Interested Parties

On February 4, CalRecycle will initiate a 5-calendar day written comment period for the proposed emergency regulations. The public comment period will commence on February 4, 2025, when the emergency regulations are posted on Office of Administrative Law’s (OAL) website. The public comment period will close on February 10, 2025.

Comments on the proposed emergency regulations must be submitted to OAL via email to staff@oal.ca.gov, by fax to (916) 323-6826, or by mail to:

OAL Reference Attorney
300 Capitol Mall, Suite 1250
Sacramento, California 95814

When submitting a comment to OAL, a copy of the comment must also be submitted to CalRecycle in one of the following ways:

Csilla Richmond
Illegal Disposal Emergency Rulemaking
Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, Regulations Unit
1001 “I” Street, MS-24B
Sacramento, CA 95814

OAL will confirm that CalRecycle has received the comment before considering it. The comment must state that it is about the emergency regulation currently under OAL review and include the topic of the emergency.

Please note that under the California Public Records Act (Government Code section 7920.000 et seq.), your written and oral comments, attachments, and associated contact information (e.g., your address, phone number, email address, etc.) become part of the public record and can be released to the public upon request.

Contact

For more information on the Illegal Disposal Emergency Regulations, please contact Csilla Richmond at regulations@calrecycle.ca.gov.

For more information regarding the solid waste handling regulatory requirements, please visit CalRecycle’s Permit Toolbox homepage.