Cal. Code Regs. tit. 14 § 17943

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 49, December 6, 2024

Section 17943 - Definitions

The following definitions, as well as the definitions found in Public Resources Code Sections 42300- 42345, apply to the regulations in this Article.

(a) "Calendar Year" means a year beginning January 1 and ending December 31.

(b) "Concentrated Product" means a product which has been intensified, or made denser or stronger, to achieve more uses per unit.

(c) "Container Line" means a group of rigid plastic packaging containers manufactured with identical plastic resin(s), layers, style, shape, volume and weight.

(d) "Container Manufacturer" means a company or a successor company that manufactures and sells any rigid plastic packaging container subject to this Article to a product manufacturer that sells or offers for sale in California any product held in that container.

(e) "Curbside Collection Program" means a recycling program that collects materials set out by households for collection at the curb at intervals not less than every two weeks. "Curbside collection program" does not include redemption centers, buyback locations, drop-off programs, material recovery facilities, or plastic recovery facilities.

(f) "Department" means the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery.

(g) "Director" means the Director of the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery.

(h) "Final End User" means the person or entity that removes the product from the rigid plastic packaging container and discards or recycles the rigid plastic packaging container.

(i) "Material Type" for purposes of this Article means feedstock categories, such as, but not limited to, paper, glass, aluminum and individual plastic resins.

(j) "May" means a provision is permissive.

(k) "Measurement Period" means the calendar year for which compliance is being determined as part of the certification or auditing process described in Sections 17945.1, 17945.2, 17945.3, 17945.5, 17947, and 17948.1 of this Article. For products introduced for sale in California after January 1 of a measurement period, their first measurement period shall be the remainder of that calendar year.

(l) "Must" or "Shall" means a provision is mandatory.

(m) "Newly Introduced Product" means any product held in a rigid plastic packaging container that is first sold or offered for sale in California after January 1, 1995. Products for which such claims as "new" or "improved" are made and products for which the rigid plastic packaging container has been changed by such criteria as size, color, or labeling, are not "newly introduced" packages or products.

(n) "Non-Source Reduced Container" means a rigid plastic packaging container that is not considered source-reduced under the criteria established for this program as found in Sections 17943(af) and 17945.3(d)(2)-(5) of this Article.

(o) "Original Rigid Plastic Packaging Container" means a rigid plastic packaging container that is holding a product when initially sold to the final end user and which may later be reused or refilled, as stated in Section 17945.3(d)(6) and (d)(7) of this Article.

(p) "Particular Type Rigid Plastic Packaging Container" means a rigid plastic packaging container which holds a single type of generic product, such as all purpose cleaner or detergent.

(q) "Postconsumer Material (PCM)" means a material that would otherwise be destined for solid waste disposal, having completed its intended end-use and product life cycle.

(1) Rigid plastic packaging containers holding obsolete or unsold products that are commonly disposed, and not commonly reused within an original manufacturing process, shall be considered postconsumer material when used as feedstock for new rigid plastic packaging containers or under the alternative compliance method in Section 17944.1.

(2) Finished plastic packaging that has been rejected by a container or product manufacturer, and that is commonly disposed, may be considered postconsumer material if it is later used in a process other than the original manufacturing and fabrication process.

(3) Postconsumer material does not include materials and by-products generated from, and commonly reused within, an original manufacturing and fabrication process.

(r) "Product Associated Rigid Plastic Packaging Container" means a brand-specific rigid plastic packaging container that may have one or more sizes, shapes or designs and that is used in conjunction with a particular generic product line. A product associated rigid plastic packaging container holds a brand-specific product such as Brand "X" liquid hand soap or Brand "Y" automotive oil.

(s) "Product Line" means a family of related products. Products within a line may be:

1) the same type of product,

2) sold to the same type of customer, and/or

3) sold through similar outlets. A product line may include more than one container line.

(t) "Product Manufacturer" means any person, partnership, association, corporation or any other entity that, through its own action or through contract or control, is primarily responsible for causing a product to be produced that is held inside of a rigid plastic packaging container and sold or offered for sale in California.

(1) The Department shall consider the following factors in identifying a product manufacturer:

(A) The ownership of the brand name of the product in the rigid plastic packaging container;

(B) Primary control or influence over the design of the product in the rigid plastic packaging container; and

(C) Primary control or influence over the design specifications of the rigid plastic packaging container.

(2) Any entity that has a legally recognized corporate relationship (i.e., parent/subsidiary or affiliate relationship) with a product manufacturer shall be allowed to assume the responsibilities of the product manufacturer as they relate to the requirements of this Article.

(u) "Product Sub-Line" means a group of related products within a product line. Product sub-lines may vary from one another due to factors such as container size, fragrance, or level of concentration. A product sub-line may include more than one container line.

(v) "Recycled" means a product or material that has been diverted from disposal and has been reused in the production of another product.

(w) "Recycling Rate" means the proportion (as measured by weight, volume or number) of one of the following types of containers sold or offered for sale in California and being recycled in a given calendar year:

(1) Particular type rigid plastic packaging containers.

(2) Product-associated rigid plastic packaging containers.

(3) Single resin specific rigid plastic packaging containers as defined in Public Resources Code Section 42301(i)(3).

(x) "Refillable Rigid Plastic Packaging Container" means a rigid plastic packaging container that is routinely returned to and refilled by the product manufacturer or its agent at least five times to replenish the contents of the original rigid plastic packaging container.

(y) "Replacement Product" means a product that is sold by a product manufacturer with the intent to replenish the contents of the original rigid plastic packaging container sold by that same product manufacturer.

(z) "Reusable Rigid Plastic Packaging Container" means a rigid plastic packaging container that is routinely reused at least five times where the reuse is to hold a replacement product. A reusable rigid plastic packaging container does not refer to a container that is intended to be used or may be used to permanently hold the original product sold in that container.

(aa) "Rigid Plastic Packaging Container (RPPC)" means any plastic packaging container having a relatively inflexible finite shape or form, with a minimum capacity of eight fluid ounces or its equivalent volume and a maximum capacity of five fluid gallons or its equivalent volume, that is capable of maintaining its shape while holding other products, including, but not limited to, bottles, cartons, and other receptacles, for sale or distribution in California.

(1) Rigid plastic packaging containers are capable of at least one closure (including but not limited to closure occurring during the production or manufacturing process), are sold holding a product, and are composed entirely of plastic except that rigid plastic packaging containers may have:

(A) Caps, lids, labels, handles, hinges, and other incidental packaging elements made of non-plastic material; and

(B) Additives such as pigments, colorants, fillers, and stabilizers that are part of the plastic polymer compound.

(2) Plastic caps, lids, handles, and hinges may be included as part of a rigid plastic packaging container at a product manufacturer's discretion.

(3) A plastic packaging container shall be considered to have a "relatively inflexible or finite shape or form" if:

(A) It has essentially the same shape empty as full. A plastic packaging container may be considered to have the same shape empty as full even if it is designed to be folded or collapsed into a more compact form when not holding a product, such as, but not limited to, collapsible acetate boxes or tubes; and

(B) It is not flexible plastic packaging composed entirely of film plastic as defined by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D6988.8 Guidelines for film plastic. Examples include, but are not limited to, grocery and merchandise carryout bags, pouches, or bubble, shrink, or stretch wrap.

(4) The capacity of a rigid plastic packaging container shall be determined as follows:

(A) For those containers measured in liquid or fluid volume, such as fluid ounce, gallon, milliliter, or liter, the product manufacturer may use either the labeled fluid volume or the equivalent volume. The metric equivalent for the following U.S. liquid measures is as follows: eight (8) fluid ounces is equivalent to 236.5882365 milliliters, and five (5) gallons is equivalent to 18.92705892 liters.

(B) Containers for products which are labeled and sold by weight or an item count must be measured for their equivalent volume.

(ab) "Signature" or "Signed" means either of the following:

(1) An original handwritten signature; or

(2) An electronic signature. An electronic signature includes an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with an electronic record, executed or adopted by a party with the intent to represent an original handwritten signature. An electronic signature:

(A) Shall consist of a unique username and password or other security measures as required by the Department;

(B) May not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely on the ground that it is electronic; and

(C) Shall be binding on all persons and for all purposes under the law, as if the signature had been handwritten on an equivalent paper document.

(ac) "Similar Rigid Plastic Packaging Containers" means rigid plastic packaging containers that are alike in material type, shape, and volume.

(ad) "Single Resin Type" means made up of only one of the types of plastic resin outlined in Public Resources Code Section 18015.

(ae) "Sold or Offered for Sale" means direct sales, retail sales, and remote sales such as through distributors, wholesalers and the internet.

(af) "Source Reduced Container" means:

(1) A rigid plastic packaging container whose container weight per unit or per number of product uses has been reduced by 10 percent when compared with one of the following:

(A) The rigid plastic packaging container used for the product by the product manufacturer as of January 1, 1995.

(B) The rigid plastic packaging container used for the product by the product manufacturer over the course of the product's first full year of commerce in California.

(C) The rigid plastic packaging container used in commerce during the same year for similar products in similar rigid plastic packaging containers by the product manufacturer or other product manufacturers that are held by "particular type rigid plastic packaging containers," as defined in this Article, whose containers have not been considered source reduced.

(2) A rigid plastic packaging container is not a source reduced container for the purposes of this Article if the reduction was achieved by any of the following:

(A) Substituting a different material type for a material that previously constituted the principle material of the container.

(B) Increasing a container's weight per unit or per number of product uses after January 1, 1991.

(C) Packaging changes that adversely affect the potential for the rigid plastic packaging container to be recycled or to be made of postconsumer material. The Department may review any information provided by the product manufacturer, as well as other available information, to determine if the packaging change adversely affects the potential for the rigid plastic packaging container to be recycled or to be made of postconsumer material.

(3) Any source reduction achieved by changing the rigid plastic packaging container to a non-rigid plastic container may be credited to other containers as part of the averaging method of compliance described in Section 17944(b).

(4) If a rigid plastic packaging container for a specific product is entirely eliminated and that product is sold in California without any packaging, the source reduction may be credited to other regulated containers used by the product manufacturer as part of the averaging method of compliance described in Section 17944(b).

(ag) "Successor Company" means the legal entity that is developed by a merger, sale, hostile takeover, or other acquisition process, thus replacing the prior legal entity.

Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 14, § 17943

1. New section filed 11-4-94; operative 12-5-94 (Register 94, No. 44).
2. Change without regulatory effect amending subsections (b)(12)(B) and (b)(22) filed 3-24-97 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 97, No. 13).
3. Amendment of subsections (b)(26)(A)-(B) filed 9-17-2001 as an emergency; operative 9-17-2001 (Register 2001, No. 38). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 1-15-2002 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.
4. Amendment of subsections (b)(26)(A)-(B) refiled 1-16-2002 as an emergency; operative 1-16-2002 (Register 2002, No. 3). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 5-16-2002 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.
5. Certificate of Compliance as to 1-16-2002 order transmitted to OAL 2-28-2002 and filed 4-10-2002 (Register 2002, No. 15).
6. Change without regulatory effect repealing subsections (a)(26)(A)-(B) and relettering subsections filed 1-31-2005 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2005, No. 5).
7. Amendment of section heading and section filed 6-28-2012; operative 1-1-2013 (Register 2012, No. 26).

Note: Authority cited: Sections 40502 and 42325, Public Resources Code. Reference: Sections 40170, 42300, 42301, 42310, 42330 and 42340, Public Resources Code.