(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) The management of solid waste can pose a wide range of hazards to public health and safety and to the environment.
(2) Packaging comprises a significant percentage of the overall solid waste stream.
(3) The presence of heavy metals in packaging is a part of the total concern regarding the disposal of hazardous constituents in the solid waste stream, in light of the presence of heavy metals in emissions or ash when packaging is incinerated, or in leachate when packaging is disposed of in a solid waste landfill.
(4) Lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium, on the basis of available scientific and medical evidence, are of particular concern.
(5) It is desirable, as a first step in reducing the toxicity of packaging waste, and reducing the hazardous materials that may be disposed of in solid waste landfills, to eliminate the addition of these heavy metals to packaging.
(6) The intent of this article is to achieve this reduction in toxicity without impeding or discouraging the expanded use of recycled materials in the production of packaging and its components.
(b) This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the “Toxics in Packaging Prevention Act.”
(Added by Stats. 2003, Ch. 679, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2004.)