Report to Mayor and City Council
Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Consent
SUBJECT:
Title
CONSIDER APPROVAL OF TAKING A POSITION OF SUPPORT AND SENDING A LETTER FOR ASSEMBLY BILL 818 (BLOOM) RELATED TO SOLID WASTE: PRE-MOISTENED NONWOVEN DISPOSABLE WIPES (CITY COUNCIL)
Body
I. SUMMARY
This item transmits a recommendation from the Legislative Ad Hoc Committee (Mayor Davis-Holmes and Councilmember Hicks) for the City to support Assembly Bill 818, which is a reiteration of Assembly Bill 1672 that was previously supported by the City Council.
In 2019, the growing public hygiene issue concerning the disposal of single use wipes on sewer systems came to the attention of the City of Carson, through support action taken by the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts. The Sanitation Districts, at the time, urged cities within the districts to consider taking a support position on Assembly Bill ("AB") 1672, which would have required clear labeling with the phrase "Do Not Flush" and a related symbol on pre-moistened nonwoven disposable wipes. AB 818, which is before the City Council tonight, continues this legislative effort as AB 1672 did not pass when it was considered by the State of California Senate Environmental Quality Committee in November of 2020. The City Council previously approved a letter of support for AB 1672 on May 7, 2019. Currently, the purpose of AB 818 is to mitigate the problems associated with disposable wipes being flushed through the sewer system as this causes a large increase in maintenance costs related to unclogging the system.
Protecting public health, the environment, and public infrastructure is imperative and mitigating the improper flushing of pre-moistened nonwoven disposable wipes by consumers is a positive step that will bring about a statewide solution to combat this serious problem being faced by public sewage agencies.
In support of this continued effort, Assembly Member Richard Bloom introduced Assembly Bill 818, in February 2021. AB 81...
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