Bill Text: HI HB2648 | 2016 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Solid Waste; Food; Advisory Committee; Appropriation ($)

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2016-03-22 - The committee on EET deferred the measure. [HB2648 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2016-HB2648-Amended.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2648
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016		H.D. 2
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO FOOD WASTE DISPOSAL.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Department of Agriculture, food waste is the second largest component in our waste stream and accounts for twenty-five per cent of all materials sent to our landfills.  The city and county of Honolulu alone disposes of 20,000 tons of food waste per year to HPOWER, and incinerating wet food waste requires additional energy to process and dry, resulting in HPOWER's reduced operational efficiency.

     High disposal tipping fees due to food waste weight are passed on to consumers and can be reduced through food waste diversion strategies.  The city and county of Honolulu is already operating a successful model program that requires food waste diversion from the municipal solid waste stream for commercial food waste generators.

     Recycling food waste and turning it into compost has high environmental benefits, such as improving soil health, increasing drought resistance, and reducing the need for supplemental water, fertilizers, and pesticides.  Furthermore, applying compost and organic matter to soils sequesters carbon from the atmosphere, forming the largest land-based carbon sink, mitigating climate change, and effectively reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  The legislature believes that food waste diversion will help move Hawaii toward the Aloha+ Challenge commitment of seventy per cent waste stream reduction by 2025.

     The purpose of this Act is to create an advisory committee to investigate existing solid waste management infrastructure and resources necessary to support a food waste disposal reduction program.

     SECTION 2.  (a)  The office of solid waste management shall convene a solid waste infrastructure advisory committee to:

     (1)  Review the current solid waste management infrastructure in the State;

     (2)  Evaluate the sufficiency of existing solid waste management infrastructure to meet the requirements for eliminating food waste in the municipal solid waste stream by 2025; and

     (3)  Recommend development or construction of new solid waste management infrastructure in the State.

     (b)  The solid waste infrastructure advisory committee shall be composed of the following members, to be appointed by the director of health:

     (1)  Four representatives from the solid waste management districts from Oahu, Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii island;

     (2)  One representative from the solid waste collection industry, who shall own or operate a material recovery facility;

     (3)  Two representatives from the solid waste commercial hauling industry; provided that one of the representatives shall serve rural or underserved areas of the State;

     (4)  One representative from the recycling industry for food residuals or leaf and yard residuals;

     (5)  One representative from a Hawaii institution or business subject to the requirements of food waste diversion from the municipal solid waste stream;

     (6)  One representative from the food industry; and

     (7)  One representative from the community.

     The state solid waste management coordinator or the coordinator's designee shall serve as an ex officio member of the advisory committee.

     (c)  The solid waste infrastructure advisory committee shall:

     (1)  Review the existing systems analysis of the State waste stream to determine whether the existing solid waste management facilities operating in the State provide sufficient services to comply with the requirements of food waste diversion from the municipal solid waste stream by 2025, and meet any demand for services;

     (2)  Summarize the locations or service sectors where the State lacks sufficient infrastructure or resources to comply with the requirements of food waste diversion from the municipal solid waste stream by 2025, including the infrastructure necessary for compliance in each location;

     (3)  Estimate the cost of constructing the necessary infrastructure identified in paragraph (2);

     (4)  Review options for generating the revenue sufficient to fund the costs of constructing necessary infrastructure; and

     (5)  Review and determine additional needs for enforcement of food waste diversion from the municipal solid waste stream.

     (d)  No later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2017, the solid waste infrastructure advisory committee shall submit, to the subject matter committees in the senate and the house of representatives that have jurisdiction over solid waste management issues, a report of its findings and recommendations, including the information identified in subsection (c).

     (e)  Members of the solid waste infrastructure advisory committee shall serve without compensation but shall be reimbursed for all expenses necessary for the performance of their duties.

     (f)  The solid waste infrastructure advisory committee shall be dissolved on January 1, 2025.

     SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2030.

Report Title:

Solid Waste; Food; Advisory Committee; Appropriation

 

Description:

Establishes an advisory committee to evaluate solid waste infrastructure needs.  (HB2648 HD2)

 

 

 

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