California Code of Regulations › Title 14 - Natural Resources › Division 7 - Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery › Chapter 11 - Product Stewardship › Article 1 - Product Stewardship for Carpets › Section 18943 - Criteria for Plan Approval

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) Product stewardship plans must contain
				  the following:
(1) Contact information.
				  Identify the manufacturer or designated stewardship organization responsible
				  for the plan submittal.
(2) Scope.
				  The program described in the stewardship plan is:
(A) Designed to accept and manage all
				  applicable post-consumer carpet, regardless of polymer type or primary
				  materials of construction.
(B) The
				  stewardship plan submitted follows the standard outline (see §
												18942 Stewardship Submittal
				  Instructions).
(3)
				  Performance Goals and Activities. The program described in the stewardship plan
				  shall contain a set of performance goals and criteria that meet the
				  requirements of Public Resources Code Section
				  42972(a)(2),
				  and also include:
(A) Each goal has a
				  baseline from which it is measured.
(B) The plan describes a methodology for
				  estimating the amount of carpet available for collection in
				  California.
(C) Report on source
				  reduction.
(4) Solid
				  Waste Management Hierarchy. Describe:
(A)
				  Proposed measures that will enable the management of post-consumer carpet in a
				  manner consistent with the state's solid waste management hierarchy pursuant to
				  PRC Section
				  40051
				  and demonstrate that over time source reduction, reuse, and recycling will
				  increase, over environmentally safe transformation and land disposal.
(B) Management of carpet through source
				  reduction, reuse and recycling must be greater than, and grow at a higher rate
				  than the management of carpet in any form, including Carpet As Alternative Fuel
				  (CAAF), used as a fuel.
(C) This
				  Article does not modify or abrogate in any manner existing provisions of
				  Section
				  41783
				  of the Public Resources Code related to transformation that allow jurisdictions
				  to reduce their per-capita disposal rate by no more than 10
				  percent.
(5) Collection
				  Systems. Describe the system that will be used to collect and properly manage
				  post-consumer carpet. This description must include the following:
(A) Type of collection sites used.
(B) Types of reuse and recycling activities,
				  processing and/or disposal by product type.
(C) Description of how service providers
				  handling old carpet will be able to readily, accurately, and economically
				  identify the type of carpet polymer to facilitate reuse and recycling, e.g.,
				  labeling on the back of carpet, affordable laser detection devices, or other
				  technology.
(D) General description
				  of best management practices to be followed by the service providers, including
				  any training that the manufacturer or stewardship organization intends to
				  provide to or require of service providers to ensure proper collection and
				  management of post-consumer carpet.
(E) Description of how each consumer that
				  pays a carpet stewardship assessment, including but not limited to those in
				  rural areas, will be provided reasonably convenient opportunity(ies) in each
				  county to manage their post-consumer carpet.
(6) Market Development. Describe incentives
				  or methods to increase recycling of carpet into secondary products.
(7) Financing Mechanism. Include a funding
				  mechanism that provides sufficient funding to recover, but not exceed, the cost
				  of the carpet stewardship program, including the administrative, operational,
				  and capital costs of the plan. The funding mechanism includes the following:
(A) A carpet stewardship assessment per
				  square yard of carpet sold in the state, or by some other unit, as approved by
				  the department.
(B) A budget for
				  the program that includes revenue estimates from the assessment, full program
				  costs, and administrative costs; including those pursuant to Section
				  18948 regarding service payments
				  to the department.
(C) A
				  requirement that any surplus funds will be put back into the program to reduce
				  the costs of the program, including the assessment amount.
(D) An assessment amount that is sufficient
				  to meet, but not exceed, the anticipated cost of carrying out the
				  plan.
(E) An assessment amount that
				  does not create an unfair advantage in the marketplace.
(F) An allocation of funds that support the
				  solid waste management hierarchy and program goals identified in the
				  stewardship plan.
a. Funds designated for
				  CAAF, must be supported with documentation that provides evidence of a net
				  environmental benefit over landfilling and that without an incentive more
				  materials would be landfilled.
b. A
				  carpet stewardship organization shall not expend funds from the assessment for
				  engineered municipal solid waste conversion, as defined in Public Resources
				  Code Section
				  40131.2,
				  the use of cement kilns to burn carpet, or transformation, as defined in Public
				  Resources Code Section
				  40201.
(G) Stewardship organization and
				  manufacturers shall allocate revenues and expenditures applicable to this
				  program in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
(H) The stewardship plan shall describe how
				  the collection and expenditure of carpet assessment funds shall be kept
				  separate from other activities of the stewardship
				  organization.
(8)
				  Education and Outreach. Include education and outreach efforts to consumers,
				  commercial building owners, carpet installers, and retailers to promote their
				  participation in achieving the purposes of the carpet stewardship plan. The
				  description shall include how the outreach and education methods will be used
				  and distributed, and how effectiveness of these activities will be measured.
				  Educational information may include, but is not limited to, signage, written
				  materials, advertising or other promotional materials pursuant to Section
				  42972 (a)
				  (5).
(9) Program Performance Measurement. Describe
				  how attainment of the goals will be measured per §
											18943(a)(3)(c).
				  Program data shall be collected for purposes of annual report submittal (see
				  §
											18944 Annual Report Compliance
				  Criteria). Information to be provided includes, but is not limited to:
(A) Specific information on the measurement
				  methodology, assumptions, conversion factors, if used, and data
				  sources.
(10) Stakeholder
				  Consultations. A manufacturer or stewardship organization that submits a plan
				  shall include a process of consultation with affected stakeholders and consider
				  the existing infrastructure in the development of the plan. Stakeholders may
				  include, but are not limited to, other manufacturers and stewardship
				  organizations, service providers, state and local governments, non-governmental
				  organizations, haulers, demolition or other contractors, recyclers, retailers
				  and wholesalers, installers, and consumers.
(11) Audits. Include a process by which the
				  financial activities of the stewardship organization and individual
				  manufacturer that are related to implementation of the stewardship plan will be
				  subject to an independent audit, results of which will be submitted in the
				  manufacturer or stewardship organization's annual report and reviewed by the
				  department.
(12) Environmental
				  information. Plans shall be accompanied with information to assist in
				  completing an initial study under the California Environmental Quality
				  Act.