ISRI Secures Injunction Against California’s New Reporting Regulations

On July 1, AB 901, a law that changes how organics, recyclable material and solid waste are reported to the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), went into effect. The regulations require recycling facilities, composting facilities, disposal facilities including landfills, transformation facilities, engineered municipal solid waste conversion facilities, transfer/processor facilities, contract haulers, food waste self-haulers, brokers and transporters to report directly to CalRecycle on a quarterly basis on types, quantities and destinations of materials that are disposed, sold or transferred inside or outside of the state.

CalRecycle claims the new regulations also apply to Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) scrap metal recycling members, but ISRI disagrees. On May 30, ISRI filed a lawsuit in state court, and on July 9, a Sacramento Superior Court judge issued a temporary injunction that blocks CalRecycle from requiring ISRI members to register and provide data to the state, according to a Resource Recycling report.

Resource Recycling has more:

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries has won a court order temporarily shielding its scrap metal recycling members from having to relay their tonnage data to California regulators.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge on Tuesday, July 9 issued a temporary injunction blocking the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) from requiring ISRI members to register and provide data to the state.

The legal dispute centers on the state’s change in how it collects disposal and diversion rate data. Previously, solid waste and recycling figures were reported to county governments, which then forwarded them to CalRecycle. Under a bill signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown in fall 2015, companies will now report their data directly to the state.

CalRecycle implemented regulations to create the new reporting system, called the Recycling and Disposal Reporting System (RDRS). As part of the approved regulations, CalRecycle is now requiring ISRI’s scrap metal recycling members, including companies that process scrap vehicles and appliances, to register and provide materials shipment data to the state. Essentially, CalRecycle says those companies meet the definition of “recyclers” required to register and report.

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