Diversion Rate of California Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Diversion Rate of California - Essay Example 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