The Legislature finds and declares as follows:

(a) Existing law requires the department and the State Water Resources Control Board to promote the reduction of generated hazardous waste. This policy, in combination with hazardous waste land disposal bans, requires the rapid development of new programs and incentives for achieving the goal of optimal minimization of the generation of hazardous wastes. Substantial improvements and additions to the state’s hazardous waste reduction program are required to be made if these goals are to be achieved.

(b) Hazardous waste source reduction provides substantial benefits to the state’s economy by maximizing use of materials, avoiding generation of waste materials, improving business efficiency, enhancing revenues of companies that provide products and services in the state, increasing the economic competitiveness of businesses located in the state, and protecting the state’s precious and valuable natural resources.

(c) It is the intent of the Legislature to expand the state’s pollution prevention activities beyond those directly associated with source reduction evaluation reviews and plans. The expanded program, which is intended to accelerate pollution prevention, shall include programs to promote implementation of pollution prevention measures using education, outreach, and other effective voluntary techniques demonstrated in California or other states.

(d) It is the intent of the Legislature for the department to maximize the use of its available resources in implementing the pollution prevention program through cooperation with other entities, including, but not limited to, CUPAs, small business development corporations, business environmental assistance centers, and other regional and local government environmental programs. To the extent feasible, the department shall utilize cooperative programs with entities that routinely contact small business to expand its support of small business pollution prevention activities.

(e) It is the goal of this article to do all of the following:

(1) Reduce the generation of hazardous waste.

(2) Reduce the release into the environment of chemical contaminants that have adverse and serious health or environmental effects.

(3) Document hazardous waste management information and make that information available to state and local government.

(f) It is the intent of this article to promote the reduction of hazardous waste at its source, and wherever source reduction is not feasible or practicable, to encourage recycling. Where it is not feasible to reduce or recycle hazardous waste, the waste should be treated in an environmentally safe manner to minimize the present and future threat to health and the environment.

(g) It is the intent of the Legislature not to preclude the regulation of environmentally harmful releases to all media, including air, land, surface water, and groundwater, and to encourage and promote the reduction of these releases to air, land, surface water, and groundwater.

(h) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage all state departments and agencies, especially the State Water Resources Control Board, the California regional water quality control boards, the State Air Resources Board, the air pollution control districts, and the air quality management districts, to promote the reduction of environmentally harmful releases to all media.

(Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 39, Sec. 43. (SB 1018) Effective June 27, 2012.)