This Bill Is Not Garbage

The lack of industrial recycling in California is creating a garbage crisis that poses an unsightly health threat. According to studies by environmental agencies, discriminatory taxation is to blame.

Manufacturers can deduct as much as 50% of the cost of virgin materials from their taxes, but, because there are no tax incentives for using recycled materials, landfills are opening, filling and closing at an alarming rate. Assembly Bill 1109 would encourage the recycling of scrap paper, glass, oil and plastics by applying the same tax incentives to recycled materials that virgin materials now enjoy. The Assembly passed AB 1109 by 68 to 1, and the bill’s next hearing will be held on Aug. 23 before the Senate Appropriations Committee. We urge the committee and the governor to help clean up California and pass this bill.

Introduced by Assemblyman Robert J. Campbell (D-Richmond), AB 1109 initially would cost the state $13 million a year in lost taxes, and later $6 million a year. But in return the bill would divert 400,000 tons of garbage from the state’s landfills and create 1,400 new jobs in the glass, paper, oil and plastics industries. Local governments would save money by buying recycled materials and by keeping landfills open longer. The environmental improvements would be priceless.

This legislation is supported by many waste-management organizations, industrial recyclers and municipalities throughout the state. The Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee passed the bill 5 to 1. Right now the only opposition comes from the Department of Finance, but that opposition is powerful and needs to be overcome. AB 1109 should not end up in the legislative trash heap.