Good News for Disposers of Treated Wood Waste
September 5, 2021
CLCA-Supported Assembly Bill 332 Signed into Law
You may remember the start of the year when Governor Newsom’s veto of Senate Bill 68 meant that local landfills could no longer accept treated wood waste.
This made the management and disposal of treated wood waste more difficult, expensive, and environmentally unsustainable.
As treated wood waste was piling up at landscape contractor businesses, CLCA shared good news a few months later that a stop-gap variance program, the work of the California Department of Toxic Substance Control, would allow local landfills to obtain variances and begin accepting treated wood waste once again.
In the meantime, CLCA supported Assembly Bill 332, which re-establishes the ability of local landfills to collect treated wood waste without needing variances or work arounds. We are happy to share that in a rare showing of strong bi-partisan support, AB 332 sailed through the California Assembly and State Senate and was signed into law by Governor Newsom a day later. Unlike many laws that do not go into effect until the start of the year, AB 332 goes into effect immediately.
As this is a new law, the Department of Toxic Substance Control and local landfills are working to update their operations to reflect the new alternative management standards (AMS) for treated wood waste. The good news is that the new AMS are similar to the rules that applied since Spring 2021’s variance program so landscape contractors should not see any changes.
