Diversion Rate of California - Essay Example

Diversion rate has been defined by environmental agencies as the percentage proportion of waste matter diverted from waste disposal sites like landfills and is recycled or taken back for reusing. California State has achieved great milestones in efforts to reduce waste production, setting objective goals and achieving them consistently over the past two decades (Coleman, 2012). Diversion rate is calculated by percentage after dividing the number of tons taken for recycling with the total number of tones collected for recycling and tones of refuse collected (Coleman, 2012).

In efforts to increase diversion rates in California, in the year 2005, the state passed legislation that requires city and county jurisdictions to ensure that half of the solid wastes generated should not end up in landfills but rather are diverted through other means (Granger, 2009). Coleman (2012) highlights that there are many ways of diverting solid waste materials such as recycling, treating with compost, reusing and other acceptable waste conversion methods. With this view, California’s diversion rates have continually increased since 1990 due to enactment of stiff laws on waste management (Granger, 2009).

In California, there is a national state agency called CalRecycle, which has authority on matters of recycling, waste reduction and waste reusing (Stephens, 2012). It has the main objective of overseeing waste management programs and guiding the use of resources by promoting innovativeness through technology, which encourages sustainable economy and environment. CalRecycle has initiated various legislations and rules regarding waste management (Schenkman, 2003). One of the regulations is the AB 939 Act enacted in 1989, which is focused on recycling.

Its main objective was to reduce landfill waste capacity and reduce waste matter disposed off in them (Stephens, 2012). It demanded relevant agencies to ensure 25 percent diversion rates by the year 1995 and double of that t by the year 2000.AB 2020 or the California bottle bill is the second regulation to be used in California. This law provides mechanisms for minimum money refunds for qualified bottle containers. It seeks to reduce the number of bottles ending up in landfills rather than being recycled (Recycle works, 2009).

The third legislation is the AB1305 or the newsprint Act. It has been in force since 1989, and it requires printers to use at least 40% of used newsprint material in half of their new newsprints. SB 2003 or the electronics-recycling bill is the other legislation (Schenkman, 2003). This law was enacted in 2003 with a main objective of creating a system by which to recycle computers, TVs and other video equipments, which had their useful life expired. The fifth regulation is the AB 2901, which is the cell phone recycling bill, which was enacted in 2004 with, and objective of ensuring recycling of cell phones (Recycle works, 2009).

The retailers collect and return used mobile phones to the manufacturers on behalf of the consumer at no charge. California universal waste law was enacted in 2006 to help increase diversion rate. This regulation covers the hazardous wastes such as batteries, lighting bulbs and tubes and other dangerous electronic devices, which contain wastes that are hazardous to human health. It requires these wastes to be recycled rather than disposing them in landfills.The other law is the AB 2449 bill, which is concerned with recycling of plastic bags.

It was enacted in 2007 and it requires all stores to collect plastic bags for recycling and to pack their goods in reusable bags (Recycle works, 2009). Lastly, the AB 32 Act or the California global warming Act is a regulation that was developed in 2006 to increase diversion rates. It is concerned with reduction of green house gas emissions to the year 1990 levels through the development of commercial recycling waste diversion programs to improve diversion rates (Recycle works, 2009).ReferencesColeman, B. (2012). Waste Reduction.

Carlifonia Chamber of Commerce.Retrieved from http://www.calchamber.com/governmentrelations/issuereports/documents/2012-reports/wastereduction_2012.pdf Granger, T. (2009). California Reaches over 50% waste diversion. Earth 911.com Retrieved from http://earth911.com/news/2009/02/20/california-reaches-over-50-waste-diversion/ .Recycle works. (2009, April 4). State Recycling Laws. Retrieved from http://www.recycleworks.org/ab939.html Schenkman, L. (2003, February 19). California Diversion Rate Climbs.

Waste 360. Retrieved from http://waste360.com/news/waste_california_diversion_rate Stephens, L. (2012, June 19). Diversion Rates Statistics. Retrieved, from http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/lgcentral/goalmeasure/disposalrate/Graphs/EstDiversion.htm