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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN AWEEMC 2019/02/19 2018-2020Committee on Agriculture, Water, Energy, and Environmental Management 2nd Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokaloele Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawaii February 19, 2019 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Agriculture, Water, Energy, ORDER: and Environmental Management was called to order at 3:03 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Chair Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Ms. Karen Eoff, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. The Chair called Jon Olson, who registered to speak in support of Comm. 69, and came forward when called. CHR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Jon. Seeing no other testifiers, we're going to close public testimony. Mr. Clerk, please read in Communication 69. COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 69: PRESENTATION BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT REGARDING POLYSTYRENE FOAM FOOD CONTAINER AND FOOD SERVICE WARE REDUCTION From Environmental Management Director William A. Kucharski, dated January 11, 2019, providing an outline of the educational program required by Section 20-70, Hawaii County Code. Motion to Close File: Ms. Lee Loy moved to close file on Comm. 69. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz. AWEEMC-2 February 19, 2019 CHR. RICHARDS: Just a quick note. I did get a communication from Director Kucharski, he is under the weather. So we have pinch hitting before us today. So with that I'm going to turn it over to the presentation, thanks. Go ahead and introduce yourself, please for the presentation. (Note: At this time, Recycling Coordinator George Hayducsko, and Recycling Specialist Sanne Berrig came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. HAYDUCSKO: Good afternoon, Chair Richards, and Council Members. I'm George Hayducsko. I'm your Recycling Coordinator, and Sanne Berrig is one of our Recycling Specialists. So she's here to give me support and help me with any questions that you may have. Just so you know that our Project Manager for this, is Chris Chin -Chance. He's a Recycling Specialist, and he's back in Hilo, working very hard. And if you wish, I could proceed with the presentation. Okay. (Note: At this time, Mr. Hayducsko provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is made a part of the record, see Comm. 69.) CHR. RICHARDS: Well, thank you. And what I'm going to do now is open it up to the Committee Members that have any questions. I've already seen part of this presentation as has my Vice Chair, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfleder. Questions from other Council Members? Go ahead, Council Woman Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you so much for that very thorough presentation. You clearly have done a lot of work on it. So nice to hear that you've done it within current budget, and with your staff I do have a couple of questions. You know, I wasn't on the Council when this ordinance was put forward and passed. So I'm just curious why lids, straws, and cutlery was not included. Because there are alternatives, ecofriendly alternatives, to those items. MR. HAYDUCSKO: Thank you for the question. And I'm actually notI'm not sure why that was not included. Maybe this was the first step, maybe other Council Members have more information than I do about that. But sorry, yeah, I'm not aware. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, no worries. You mentioned July 1, 2020, as potentially operation date for a compost facility, and so the intention is by barring Styrofoam we have these more ecofriendly alternatives, biodegradable compostable. But how are we ensuring that once—say I go to a restaurant and I get that to go container, how are we insuring that it's put into its proper place? So Page 2 AWEEMC-2 February 19, 2019 in terms like the compost facility. I mean what's to stop me from just throwing it in my trash, and taking to the landfill. I mean, I thought the whole point was to decrease the amount of trash that's going to the landfill. But in this presentation, I'm just not hearing how, as an end-user of this product, how it's eventually going to be recycled or put to better use? MR. HAYDUCSKO: Very good point. Yeah, there's a lot of reasons to ban polystyrene. And one of them is the negative impact to health and to the environment. I mean those are good reasons to do it. But you're exactly right, the next step for us is to capture that material, and get it to the compost operation. So that's something that we need to start working on. And we have not stepped down that path yet. We've been talking about, discussing it, but we have not developed that plan. Now will all of these certified compostable material reach it to the compost operation? No, it will not. But the goal should be to try and capture as much of that as we can. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And there are other jurisdiction you mentioned that have already done this. So we can potentially study the partnership that counties, municipalities, have with restaurants to streamline and ensure that these materials do end up in the proper location, like a compost facility. MR. HAYDUCSKO: Most definitely. Now we do have challenges here, but yes, we are looking at those other programs. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And I guess, you know, just getting back to the items that were not covered by the ordinance, the lids, the straws, and the cutlery. You know, I'm an end-user, I'm going out to the restaurant say taco bell, right, or wherever, but basically now I'm going to have start separating my trash. What goes into the compostable bin, which verses what goes into the landfill? So I just think, maybe it could have been crafted a little bit better. Last thing I wanted to note was, you know, I think you have a really good communication outreach plan, hitting the radios, TV, social media, and newspaper. And I do think that if you would consider doing a speaker circuit, meeting with the Chambers of Commerce, business groups, rotaries, lots of small business owners. And also even reaching out to local distributers of these kinds of products to let them know this is coming down the pipeline, so that they could communicate to their clientele. Just the opportunities to switch to these ecofriendly alternatives. MR. HAYDUCSKO: Thank you. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, I yield. CHR. RICHARDS: Okay, thank you. Council Woman Eof£ MS. EOFF: Thank you. I think the reason these straws, lids, and cutlery were not included in the ordinance, was because it was focused on polystyrene. And yeah, Page 3 AWEEMC-2 February 19, 2019 maybe we could have added it, but we were focused on polystyrene at the time. And that was controversial enough, but it wasn't a real easy task to get this adopted. But I think we're on the right track, and I really thank you for all the work you put into your education, outreach. And I think Ms. Kierkiewicz, had some really good points to add to that, because the more we can do between now and implementation the smoother it's going to go. I think justeverybody's probably noticed, but in the last couple of years since this was adopted, there are many more choices. And hopefully people will—once the vendors begin looking for the products to replace polystyrene, they'll come across the products to replace the plastic lids, and straws, and cutlery at the same time. So we'll probably see some better products being purchased and used. Thank you. Thanks for the presentation. CHR. RICHARDS: Thank you. Council Woman Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Yes. I also want to add my great appreciation and gratitude for taking this to the next steps, and continuing your commitment to outlining all of the necessary procedures. I just have a quick question about, like Costco. You know, a large box store that sell—you know, I just know a lot of small businesses go buy there polystyrene products from those big box stores. So and forgive me if I missed it in the presentation, but how are they also held accountable and responsible for executing this? MR. HAYDUCSKO: There is no restriction on selling the product. So they are able to sell the product, but the food establishments would not be able to utilize it. And fortunately when I took a look of what's being offered at that particular retail store, they had a good choice of certified compostable materials. So it was nice to see. MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah, thank you. We really appreciate a lot of those different products being available. And I really feel like it is and will continue to become a replacement industry. The science and technology is out there, they're discovering on the daily things to replace Styrofoam and our plastic usage. And being a big advocate for that, I'm extremely grateful and excited, and hopeful that maybe Ms. Kierkiewicz and I, and other members here will have the opportunity to further enhance the direction that we're heading in as a County. Being responsible. Mahalo. CHR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Council Woman. Any other questions or comments? Matt is that a yes? Okay, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, then Ms. Lee Loy. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you guys, for your time on this. I know it was outside of your normal scope of duty, and you guys did a nice job and a nice presentation. And I appreciate what we talked about last time at our Page 4 AWEEMC-2 February 19, 2019 meeting. I do think this is a very good stepping stone to get us going in the right direction, as far as hitting end users like Ashley touched on. And as well as getting to the actual general public who can still use the products at will, and throw in the garbage at the end of the day. So I think it's going to allow us to move into the future nicely, and it's a good start like you said. So thank you. CHR. RICHARDS: Thank you. Council Woman Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. Thank you for being here. Ms. Villegas touched on something, which is why I voted against it when it came up. It's because it targeted just a very specific segment of users. But that being said, moving forward. I actually had a question. And I wanted you to elaborate a little bit more, because we have many people who use our County facilities. Beach Parks, Community Centers, for baby luaus and parties. And so what I heard you say is, if someone comes and rents one of our County facilities for a steak fry, or baby luau, graduation party we would hold them—or through this checklist, user checklist, kind of encourage is it encourage or ask them to go with non - polystyrene? MR. HAYDUCSKO: Right now the ordinance mandates that the material be either recyclable, which again it's not on the island right now, or certified compostable. So they would have to utilize a certified compostable container at those events. If they were to reserve the spot, the pavilion, so it's reserved, then they would have to do that, according to the current ordinance. MS. LEE LOY: So T -ball is big right now, so we have a lot of, you know, clubs doing concession, so they would need to bring in biodegradable, or some other product to have their chili? MS. BERRIG: First thank you for your time on this. One thing I wanted to mention on the BPI (Biodegradable Products Institute) website, you know, because we're used to seeing at the restaurants like the more expensive compostable products, you know, the ones that are restaurants. So last month we got talking in the office about, well about, you know, those big stacks of 260 plates. You know, that we all know, the ones you have to double up because their just paper plates. Well those as well are BPI certified. It's not just the higher end, it's made with, you know, all these different newer technology products they are more expensive. But a lot of the things that we've seen for years, and years, and years, that qualify under the compostable certification, they are also BPI certified. So it doesn't go from the inexpensive Styrofoam plates to the very—they're not very much more expensive, but they are more expensive. But a lot of the single -use paper plates, and paper products they also are in the certified category. Just to clarify that. Page 5 AWEEMC-2 February 19, 2019 MS. LEE LOY: And we're just holding them accountable at County facilities, because I'm thinking about our DOE (Department of Education) programs where they have chili and rice, and I see them in that warm Styrofoam bowl. So, you know, there's clearly a lot of work ahead, but I think that's where the confusion is coming in. They can buy it in the store, they can use it in certain places and not in others. So I really do appreciate what Ms. Kierkiewicz is saying about the educational piece, the speaker circuit piece. Never forget Na Leo TV there's an opportunity there to do roundtable discussions. I know personally over the holidays, I got a lot of questions about, you know, "Hey Sue we got contraband," you know, these Styrofoam things, or the coffee cups. So it really was a running joke over the holidays about the type of supplies that were on table. So the more we could message, the more we could educate, and being very clear what a food vendor is. I know we're trying to like have these restaurants establishments do it, but does that apply to someone with the Ho`olaule`a, are they considered—is the senior class doing a laulau plate considered a vendor? You know, all these nuances that I think the educational component that you have really will do a lot. And so taking it a step further, I also think we need to get into our schools but specifically the fundraising part of volleyball, football. You know, all of those parent organizations who are raising money for their kids. You know, I buy steak fry tickets all the time. You know, we really need to educate if we're truly going to move the needle on reducing our waste. Thank you, Mr. Richards for bringing this forward. I yield. CHR. RICHARDS: Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Council Woman Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I had a couple more questions. So I'm going to piggyback off of what Ms. Lee Loy mentioned with events at County facilities, and how you said this program would be complaint driven. So let's say there's a baby luau and they use Styrofoam plates and containers. Is Parks and Rec or somebody going to go through the trash and notice the violation and give you a call, or who is the genesis of the complaint when you take action? MR. HAYDUCSKO: Alright. We would be able to receive a complaint from anybody. So it could be a county employee, it could be a participant, it could be a bystander. Our plan right now is just to respond to any complaint, from any entity. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, thank you. And I see here in the brochure you've listed the various signs depending how big the event is, great. I had one more question, about your Small Business Advisory Committee. What is that looking like? Page 6 AWEEMC-2 February 19, 2019 MR. HAYDUCSKO: With the Small Advisory Committee, we're looking at first reaching out to organizations. So there's a restaurant organization, there's a Chamber of Commerce, we have a whole list of them. The Hawaii Food Industry, the Tourist Industry, we're going to reach out to. And Food Service ware, so who's actually—who's generating those, or selling them. So we're reaching out to the associations, right now we're looking at a seven -member committee. But again, we're trying to establish, it's taking more time than what we anticipated, so we are open for suggestions also. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, so seven -member committee comprised of those groups. Anybody from the Council say the Chair of this committee or Vice Chair? Because my understanding is this committee will help to draft the rules. MR. HAYDUCSKO: They will be reviewing the draft of the rules, and then putting those comments into the rules. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. So your office is drafting the rules, this body will review based on their real world experience in the industry. And then that is the draft that will be submitted to these various review boards, and then put out to the public for hearing and comment. MR. HAYDUCSKO: Yes. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Excellent. Thank you. Just wanted to make sure I had it right. I yield the floor, thank you, Chair. CHR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Council Woman. Any other Council Members? Seeing none, I just want to make a few comments. First of all, thank you very much for coming forward. For the freshmen that weren't sitting on Council when this came forth, just a couple of things. Probably the initial reason for bringing this forward was, it's increased awareness and it's an educational process. I don't think anybody is under the illusion this is actually going to solve a whole bunch. I think if you actually look at the amount of polystyrene foam that is used, coming to our county, this will affect about one percent, somewhere in that ballpark. But it's a start, and that's the idea. And there was a lot of conversations back and forth and as Council Woman Eoff pointed out, it was a bit contentious going forward. One of things that I think this highlighted—we had some varying opinions on this, and what worked extremely well was ad hoc committee. And this was taken to the ad hoc committee for the exact reason of sorting out those differences, or giving the form to actually work some out these different concerns. One of them was the initial legislation brought forth was to exempt the county from being subject to the perimeter of this, and we worked that out in ad hoc, so everybody is on the same playing field. So I think that worked out well. Page 7 AWEEMC-2 February 19, 2019 Some other exemptions had to do like with the meat trays for retail sale and all. There are things that practically we have to be mindful as we go forward. And this is not a onetime pau piece of legislation, this is going to be evolving over sometime. And I think Council Woman Eoff pointed out and she is accurate that the reason other things weren't put into this is because it was focused. This is just trying to get the ball rolling. So I want to remind people that this isn't the end product, this is just a product in motion. And I do appreciate the comments made from Environmental Management. I had a few quick questions as far as timelines. And when I looked at your timeline, ordinance through rules, I have to commend you. You know, normally we stick to with three letters, we went up to five on this one. SBRRB (Small Business Regulatory Review Board), I'm impressed. I thought three letters for this County and State and four for the Fed's, but apparently we do a fifth one here on the Big Island. Long story short on that, and again, flopping back and forth. What is your thought process? And then we'll go toyou have on your ordinance through rules a circle, I'm looking that we'll have the public hearings in March-ish, correct? And I realize you guys are pinch hitting on this. MR. HAYDUCSKO: Yeah, thank you for asking that. When we drafted this, which was a month ago or so, that was our plan. Now we believe it's going to be April, the public hearing in April. CHR. RICHARDS: Okay. Probably the real question is, are we on task to hit the July 1, 2019? Are you comfortable with that at this point? MR. HAYDUCSKO: At this point, yes. CHR. RICHARDS: Okay. Alright, so then we can do a little bit of calculating backwards to see where we are with the timelines. Again, I appreciate you coming forward, and I do appreciate comments coming forward from the Council. And so with that, I don't have any further questions or comments. Anything else from the Committee? Seeing none, take a vote to close file. All signify by saying Ic aye. Vote on Comm. 69: The motion to close file on Comm. 69 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Villegas, and Chair Richards — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. Page 8 AWEEMC-2 February 19, 2019 ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. (There were none.) BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. (There were none.) ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 3:44 p.m., Ms. Lee Loy moved to MENT: adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Ms. Poindexter and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kaneali `i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Villegas, and Chair Richards — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. RICHARDS: We stand adjourned. Approved: Mr. Werbert M. 'Tim' chards, III, Chair (Date) Agriculture, Water, Energy and Environmental Management Committee HR/rk Page 9