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PI COu:vc COMM. 101 Murashige, Laura From: Ardena Saarinen <ardena@hawaii.edu> Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2017 10:24 AM To: Council Testimony Cc: Chung,Aaron; Kanuha, Dru; Eoff, Karen; David, Maile; Ohara, Eileen; Lee Loy, Sue; Ruggles,Jennifer; Richards,Tim;COH Mayor;Toguchi; Marcie Subject: Bill#13 support COUNTY CLERK Pp COUNTY OF HAWAII RECEIVED Timed /a.' Oar/ By `,� Aloha, Date f,9 61/7 My name is Ardena Saarinen and I am a resident of Hilo, Moku o Keawe. I am writing in full support of Bill #13, to ban polystyrene on Hawai'i island. I personally do not believe there should be any exemptions, but I do understand we start with compromise. The externalities we as residents of this island and this world end up paying are enormous. Manufacturing companies have not been held responsible for cradleto grave costs of their polystyrene/styrofoam products, and certainly have ignored the ethics of malama aina in favor of profits. Here are a few externalities that concern me, and should concern you too: Themes: Cleanup Costs & Economic Benefits •Plastic is costing cities, counties, states, & countries millions of dollars and our global economy billions. Costs are passed to the taxpayers by burdening our storm water management systems with the need for expensive best management practices and the costs of cleanups. •Hawaii State Department of Transportation has produced a trash plan that shows styrofoam and plastic bags as the top two contributors to the waste stream. •The Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) created a plastic cleanup valuation study for 90+ counties in California: oCA taxpayers are paying $428 million per year to clean up plastic through storm drain management, street sweeping, and cleanups. oSan Diego County (with population of 1.3 equivalent to Hawaii) spends $14 million alone on plastic cleanup •United Nations Environmental Program Global Estimates are in the billions for the global cost to cleanup plastics, $14 billion for marine plastic alone. • oThis cost is closer to $78 billion annually if all costs are considered, including the cost lost in fossil fuel production and loss of resources. •Burden on the public oAccording to cleanup hours recorded across Hawaii's beach cleaning organizations and volunteer hour base rates, we spent $750,000 - $1 million on beach cleanups in 2016 alone Environmental Impact •Further, for each ton of polystyrene not produced, 2.5 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions are avoided. This directly supports Hawaii's greenhouse gas reduction goals as stated in the Aloha + Challenge and as mandated by the US EPA. •The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Waste Reduction Model (WARM) report shows that burning polystyrene emits more carbon dioxide equivalent than other plastics. For each ton of polystyrene incinerated, 1.64 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent are emitted. 1 Ref. To: . ..IJIr .: Ref. Date i.R 0 8 209