HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0482.082 2024-2026COUNTY CLERK
COUNTY OF HAWA1:
20 SEP 15 Pill 2: 35
Aloha Chair and Members of the Policy Committee on Environmental and Natural
Resource Management,
As the state's longest standing and most actively involved organization dedicated to
preventing waste, Recycle Hawaii submits this testimony in strong support of Bill 83. We
thank all those involved in crafting the bill for their efforts to bring it before this body; we
applaud councilmembers Galimba and Villegas for introducing it.
Plastic pollution poses a serious threat to the well being of all life on Planet Earth.
Evidence in the form of published, peer reviewed scientific research supporting this
claim is readily found online; we encourage anyone who doubts its veracity to familiarize
themselves with this body of evidence before taking a position on legislation aimed at
regulating this profoundly damaging pollutant.
Among those who are familiar with this evidence and actively engaged in finding
solutions to the threat posed by plastic pollution, the consensus conclusion is that it can
only be addressed through a steep reduction in plastic consumption and production, sei
at a minimum of seventy-five percent.
When we look at all the ways we use plastic, we can clearly see that some are
necessary and some are not. None of the single use plastic items subject to this
ordinance can be considered necessary. They are all items we use as a matter of
convenience; they are all items that can be substituted -with alternatives that are safer
for humans and less damaging to the planet. They represent the lowest hanging fruit in
our efforts to achieve a steep reduction in plastic usage.
We are greatly disappointed to see that single -use plastic water bottles are not included
in the ordinance, as these items are the single greatest contributor to the plastic waste
stream with approximately 1.3 billion plastic water bottles disposed of every day, a
figure that includes the 60 million disposed of in the U.S. daily.
This deluge of bottles is a relatively recent phenomenon, with many of us able to
remember a time when no one drank water from plastic bottles. We include a link to a
very informative Common Dreams article, titled "The Poison We Pay For," that outlines
the ways that a reliance on water bottled in plastic compromises individual and public
health. https://www.commondreams.orci/opinion/federal-cuts-drinking-water and
encourage you all to read this as you consider our call for an amendment that would
include a ban on single -use plastic water bottles.
Hawaii Island would not be alone in adopting such a ban. South Lake Tahoe, California
Truckee, California, Falmouth, Maine, San Francisco, California, Breckenridge,
Colorado, Hingham, Massachusetts, Concord, Massachusetts, Great Barrington,
Massachusetts, State of Massachusetts have all passed bans on the sale of water in
plastic bottles with a range of specific size restrictions. At the very least the county
could prohibit their use at county facilities and at events funded by the county.
The claim that water bottled in plastic is essential during emergency situations is
completely baseless. Water can be purchased in paper cartons; when those cartons
are lined with bioplastics or polymers made from PHB they are completely
compostable and their usage diminishes the impacts generated by the large volume of
waste that needs to be managed post emergency.
Banning the usage of unnecessary plastic items creates a market for alternatives. Over
the past five years I have dedicated much of my life to finding ways to end the scourge
of plastic pollution. During this time I have been told time and time again by the
manufacturers who make these items and the producers who rely on them to bring
products to market that they will never stop making and using them absent legislation
that prohibits their use.
Banning these items will also lead to an increased use of items made from organic
materials that can be safely composted. While Hawaii County's green waste program is
in dire need of improvement, it remains a highly popular service and has demonstrated
the huge demand for organic soil amendments. Every disposable plastic item that gets
substituted with an item that can be composted increases the volume of organic
material that can be recovered and used to enrich our island's soils.This ordinance, in
conjunction with efforts to expand on -island composting capacity and perfect the
outcomes of our composting program, will significantly decrease the volume of waste
going to landfill, thereby extending the life of the landfill and supporting our efforts to
become more food secure.
We ask each council member to support this bill and to please consider adding an
amendment to include a ban on the sale of water in single -use plastic bottles.
Kristine Kubat
Executive Director
Recycle Hawaii
808-747-4246
director@recyclehawaii.org