California Governor Signs Recyling Legislation Initiated by State Affiliate

California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed a bill, AB 2953 by State Assembly Member Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield), that would facilitate recycling of construction materials by local governments, starting in 2024. Currently, many cities and counties prohibit or limit the use of recycled construction materials for road base, pavement and other applications despite Caltrans allowing them in its specifications. The bill would require cities and counties to have specifications to allow as much or more recycled materials as allowed in the Caltrans specifications. For concrete, this means allowing up to 100% recycled concrete in road base, use of recycled concrete aggregate and crushed concrete aggregate in minor concrete, use of fly ash and other supplementary cementitious materials from recycled products and up to 15% returned plastic concrete in minor concrete.

To address concerns about revenue impact to small cities and counties, the bill exempts cities under 25,000 in population and counties with less than 100,000 in population. A similar bill was vetoed by the Governor last year, but materials producers wrote to the governor to explain the environmental benefits of conserving natural resources, keeping materials out of landfills and preserving the embodied energy of products.

"The use of recycled construction materials is sound, cost-effective, and environmentally responsible, and should be practiced by all state-funded entities helping to build our state’s infrastructure," states a CalCIMA letter to Gov. Newsom.

For questions, please contact Charley Rea at crea@calcima.org.