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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0482.341 2024-2026COUNT Y CLEW( COUNTY OF Hh11VAi; 2025 DEC -2 AM 10: 16 Recycle Hawaii Testimony IN SUPPORT of Bill 83, Draft 2 Aloha Chair Inaba and Distinguished Members of the Hawai'i County Council, In addition to the testimonies Recycle Hawaii has submitted regarding this issue in the past, we take this opportunity to focus solely on remarks made by the Department of Environmental Management in its memo to the council dated November 28, which serves as an easy to comprehend and even easier to refute compilation of every possible excuse that could be made for failing to support Bill 83. To that end, we begin with the assertion that the bill will require "a significant enhancement to departmental capacity." This statement's intended meaning, that DEM will have to hire additional staff to fulfill its obligations under the bill, is utterly false. Since the department was first created, it has routinely contracted nonprofit organizations and private businesses to provide the services needed as new county and state legislation is passed. These contracted services, which have been and continue to be provided at greatly reduced cost to the county, include public education, outreach and even management of new programs involving a wide variety of waste streams, some of which, like used motor oil, are deemed hazardous by the department of health. The RFPs Recycle Hawaii bid on regularly included boiler plate language which DEM could revive for this purpose. With few edits, issuance of a new solicitation for Bill 83 would be a relatively easy process. Of course these contracts will have to be funded, and we stand ready to support efforts that will include line items for them in future budgets. In the meantime, council members can award discretionary funds to nonprofits eager to assist with education efforts and county Waiwai grant funds can be similarly appropriated. What is completely ignored in DEM's analysis is the huge, cost-free assist the new ordinance will get from vendors who sell compostable food ware. Once Bill 83 passes, these private sector interests will, immediately, of their own accord and at their own expense, reach out to every last business impacted by the bill to inform them about its provisions in an attempt to garner sales. Instead of inventing excuses, DEM could be strategizing on ways to collaborate with both nonprofits and the private sector to effectuate the tasks needed to make the ordinance a success. Next, we move on to the assertion that until the county develops commercial composting capacity all food ware items that meet the bill's requirements will go to landfill. This too is false. Across the wide varietyof materials that meet the bill's requirements, there is but a single class of items, specifically those made from PLA bioplastics, that require special treatment. Every other class of compostable materials —including plates made from leaves, food contaminated paper, chopsticks, wooden utensils, and straws, cutlery, and cups made from PHA and PHB (which together constitute a greater percentage of this particular waste stream than PLA bioplastics)—can be readily composted either in backyards or low tech community based operations that already exist. Problematic bioplastics can be easily sorted from this waste stream and taken to landfill over an interim period as in -vessel units are brought on line. These in -vessel composting units, which are commercially available in a variety of sizes and readily deployed, process PLA bioplastics overnight. Declaring that the entire stream of materials will go to landfill because a single component of it requires capacity the county is remiss in providing is pure deceit. This assertion intentionally ignores the role the informal waste sector currently plays in diverting these materials and is based on the irresponsible and unjustifiable position DEM takes with regards to compostables—that the only plausible strategy for Comm. �• Ref. To: Ref. Dote - 3 2025 managing them is one that mimics a hand off in a relay race. The fact that some volume of compostable materials will go to landfill during an interim period as composting capacity builds does not condemn all compostables to this fate for eternity. This assertion also ignores the trend away from PLA bioplastics towards items made with PHA, PHB and alginate which are already in use throughout Hawaii and are readily composted in backyard and other low tech settings. As for DEM's obligation to assist businesses, the department's assertion that it needs more than a year to convene an advisory group, when it previously convened one for similar legislation in a matter of months, is illogical. What we find most disturbing within this compilation of illogical excuses is DEM's call for the allowance of plastic reusables in an ordinance specifically designed to reduce plastic pollution. This statement exposes a lack of understanding, or worse yet a lack of caring, about the impacts of micro and nanoplastic pollution (MNP) and how it is generated. Each time a plastic container is washed, it generates MNP that is sent first into local watersheds and then on to near shore waters. We find the claim that "nearly all successful reuse operations in the U.S. and Europe utilize plastic containers" unconvincing for two reasons. The first being the use of the word"nearly" when referring to the minuscule number of reuse operations in existence, and the second being the logic that could just as easily apply to the assertion that since all the successful U.S. presidents have been men, no women should ever run for that office. Finally, concerning enforcement, we assert that a shift away from plastic food ware items will require no more actual enforcement than the transition away from plastic shopping bags and polystyrene takeout containers has required. Has DEM ever had to fine a single retail establishment for failing to abide by these ordinances? Within the bounded retail environment known as Hawaii Island, noncompliance is readily observed and easily called out. An anonymous tip line set up to report noncomplying businesses to DEM that is attended by a chatbot and uses At to issue a warning to the owners is likely all that's needed to bring what will undoubtedly be a small fraction of recalcitrant businesses into compliance. Despite its imperfections, Bill 83 lays the foundation for Hawaii Island's sustainable future in two critical ways. The first is by moving us away from unnecessary plastic usage; the second is by generating a volume of compostable materials significant enough to compel the establishment of the capacity we need to turn organic waste into high value agricultural inputs. At the start of this testimony, I alluded to the intended meaning of DEM's claim that the bill would require "a significant enhancement to departmental capacity." In closing, I suggest an alternative interpretation that would render it utterly truthful. The significant enhancement of DEM capacity required to make Bill 83 both meaningful and successful is a shift in the department's attitude towards the opportunity it presents. Each and every effort we make to reduce the production and consumption of plastic is a gift to ourselves and future generations. Don't let DEM's failure to realize this cloud your judgment. Stand firm. Imua. Kristine Kubat Executive Director Recycle Hawaii INi