Schwarzenegger Vetoes Aggregates Recycling Bill

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed California Senate Bill 735, which was sponsored by Senator Patricia Wiggins (D – Santa Rosa). The bill called for the state Department of Transportation to track the use of recycled aggregate materials.

According to a statement by the Senator’s office, the bill would have required CalTrans (and all entities contracting with Caltrans) to track the type, amount and percentage, city, county, Caltrans district and completion date of the project in which of recycled and/or virgin materials were used for sub-base, base and lean concrete base for all highway and street construction and repair projects.

Caltrans would also be required to submit that information in a report to the Legislature every two years beginning on April 1, 2010.

A state auditor’s report in 2006 determined that although Caltrans is encouraging the use of recycled materials in its highway projects, its collection of data is scant with regard to the department’s recycling and solid waste diversions efforts.

This past June, the California Integrated Waste Management Board released a waste characterization study of construction and demolition material in four major metropolitan areas of the state. That study found that the largest recoverable category of disposed material was recyclable aggregates, which made up about 27 percent of disposed construction and demolition material.