Several news stories this morning described the unintended effects of climate change regulations on Australian paper recycler Visy.

“The company, renowned as one of the nation's greenest, says the government's proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) would force it to immediately close two recycling and paper manufacturing plants, News Limited newspapers report.

'The CPRS does not recognise the carbon benefits from recycling, leading to severe collateral impacts on Australia's domestic recycling/remanufacturing industries,' Visy said in its submission to the government.” (The Australian)

These types of stories underscore the urgent need for standardized protocols and methodologies for quantifying the GHG benefits of recycling.

The ARB is set to release its AB 32 Scoping Plan this Friday, and we are hoping to see a significant strengthening of the plan’s recommendation on waste reduction, recycling, and composting. The 3 key elements that we are looking to see in the plan are:

• Mandatory commercial recycling
• A targeted effort to increase composting and anaerobic digestion
• A plan to quantify the GHG benefits of recycling

The plan will be posted on the ARB’s website at: http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/cc.htm.

The San Joaquin Air Quality Management District has temporarily suspended its rulemaking for greenwaste composting. In response to comments submitted by CAW, the CIWMB and other stakeholders, the district has decided to reexamine the science behind the proposed rule and to reevaluate the effectiveness of the measures proposed.

The following is an excerpt form a district report released last week outlining the reasons for extending the rule adoption date:

“Based on new data, District staff has determined that the emissions from this source category are much less than estimated in the 2007 Ozone Plan. More importantly, the District is concerned over the lack of information on the effectiveness of the best management practices (BMPs). … District staff believes it is imperative to conduct further evaluation of the technical and economic feasibility of the proposed BMPs, as well as the likely environmental impacts of the draft rule prior to adoption.”

CAW, along with several other environmental organizations, has submitted a letter asking the ARB to significantly strengthen its AB 32 Scoping Plan. The first draft of this document, which will serve as a blue print for achieving California’s landmark greenhouse gas goals, largely ignored the cost-effective and proven greenhouse gas benefits that can be achieved through waste reduction, recycling and composting. The environmental community urged the state to strengthen this plan before it is adopted in November.

You can read the letter here.