1 Ap
ril 9, 2024
Senator Caballero, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee State Capitol, Room 412
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: SB 1280 (Laird) Waste Management: Propane Cylinders: Reusable or Refillable -
SUPPORT
Dear Senator Caballero,
On behalf of the listed organizations, we are pleased to support SB 1280 ( Laird), which would prohibit the sale of disposable propane cylinders, as defined, and would make the violation of this provision subject to specified civil penalties.
Local government solid waste and recycling operations are responsible for the collection, processing, recycling, and disposal of various forms of waste. Local agencies and their contractors – funded by local ratepayers – are responsible for managing residential and commercial waste streams. Some consumer products are expensive to process while others pose significant environmental, public health, or occupational safety and health concerns.
One consumer product that has been a longtime concern is the single-use 1 lb. propane cylinder (also known as propane tank), typically used in camping stoves, lanterns, welding equipment, and more. It is estimated that between 40-60 million of these single-use 1 lb. propane cylinders are sold in the United States every year. California accounts for more than 10% of the population of the United States, so we can safely estimate that somewhere between 4 and 7 million single- use 1 lb. propane cylinders are sold into California each year. These small 1 lb. propane cylinders are the only propane cylinders that are sold as single-use. All other propane cylinders 5 gallons (20 lb.) or Attachment 1
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Disposable propane cylinders are also problematic from a safety perspective. In most situations, it is impossible to know whether a cylinder is completely empty. If a cylinder ends up at a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) with complex machinery used to separate materials, there is a risk of explosion that could cause injury to personnel and damage to infrastructure. This is part of what contributes to the exorbitant cost of collecting and recycling these cylinders. In order to be safely recycled, each cylinder must be evacuated and then punctured using special equipment to ensure that they are safely processed.
Local, state, and national parks have long struggled with the impacts of improperly disposed single-use 1 lb. propane cylinders. A 2019 article from Waste 360 reported that the Yosemite National Park collects between 20,000 and 25,000 tanks a year and trucks them more than two hours away to a facility that processes low -grade hazardous waste. One of Yosemite’s recent sustainability initiatives focused on reducing improper disposal of propane tanks by promoting use of refillable tanks. As a result, the only cylinders now available for purchase inside of Yosemite are refillable cylinders.
For the many reasons described above, we strongly SUPPORT SB 1280 (Laird) and urge your support when the bill is heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Sincerely,
Doug Kobold, Executive Director
California Product Stewardship Council
La
rry Klein, Mayor
City of Sunnyvale
Nat
e Miley, President
Alameda County Board of Supervisors
Da
vid E. Fahrion, President
California Waste & Recycle Association
Leslie Lukacs, Executive Director
Zero Waste Sonoma
La
uren Molinari, Director of Administration
California Resource Recovery Association
Jona
than Simpson, Director of Advocacy
Little Kamper LP
Ti
mothy Burroughs, Executive Director
StopWaste
Attachment 1
3 Ni
ck Lapis, Director of Advocacy
Californians Against Waste
Sh
ell Cleave, Founder
Sea Hugger
Ch
ris Hanson, President
Solid Waste Association of North America
Legislative Task Force
La
rry Klein, Chair
Recycling & Waste Reduction Commission of
Santa Clara County
Suz
anne Hume, Educational Director & Founder
CleanEarth4Kids.org
Joe L
a Mariana, Executive Director
RethinkWaste
Ke
vin Bell, Executive Director
Western Placer Waste Management Authority
Sus
y Borlido, Co-Executive Director
Sustainable Works
Da
vid Bender, Chief Executive Officer
Circular Polymers
Bl
ake Inscore, Chair
Del Norte Solid Waste Management Authority
Mi
guel A. Villapudua, Chairman
San Joaquin County
Mic
hael Caprio, Director of Government Affairs
Republic Services
Fe
lipe Melchor, General Manager
ReGen Monterey
Ch
ristine Wolfe, Director of Government Affairs,
California, Hawaii, and Nevada
WM
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