HomeMy WebLinkAboutDiscussion Draft ordinance- Recyclables landfill banDraft ordinance for Council: Recyclables landfill ban
7/25/23 Georjean Adams for EMC discussion with comments
An [DRAFT] ordinance amending THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII CHAPTER 20, 1
ARTICLE 3, OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION AS AMENDED), RELATING TO 2
PROHIBITION OF LANDFILLING OF DESIGNATED RECYCLABLE WASTES. 3
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BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII: 5
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SECTION 1. Purpose. The Council of the County of Hawai‘i on December 19, 2007, 7
adopted Resolution No. 356-07, Draft 2, which stated the County shall embrace and adopt the 8
zero-waste philosophy of solid waste management. Waste diversion is the prevention and 9
reduction of generated waste going to landfill through source reduction recycling, reuse and 10
composting, which creates a host of environmental, financial and social benefits, including 11
conserving energy, reducing disposal costs, and reducing the burden on landfills and other waste 12
disposal methods. [modified 9/14/23] 13
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The County has shown the feasibility of diverting, recycling and/or reusing waste resources for 15
certain recyclable wastes in ways that meet sustainability goals, but those markets and 16
technologies change over time. This ordinance is in accordance with Resolution No. 356-07, 17
Draft 2, and the 2019 Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan that commits the County to 18
divert, as much as feasible, commercial and municipal solid waste, including but not limited to, 19
green waste, metals, plastics, paper, paperboard, and glass, to help achieve goals related to 20
climate resiliency, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and zero waste. 21
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Section 20-01-03 Definitions 23
“Designated Recyclable Waste” is waste that is defined by department rule that is prohibited 24
from disposal in a County sanitary landfill because the director finds that a) collection locations 25
and/or services are available to designated recyclable waste generators at a price that is less 26
than the cost of solid waste disposal [how much less? current greenwaste only 25% tipping fee], 27
b) the life cycle environmental costs are less than or the same as those of landfilling for the 28
designated recyclable waste, and c) diversion from landfill for the designated recyclable waste 29
Draft ordinance for Council: Recyclables landfill ban
7/25/23 Georjean Adams for EMC discussion with comments
would represent a reasonable [>5% or more?] reduction in landfill volume. The list of 30
designated recyclable wastes is expected to change as criteria situations change over time. 31
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“Designated Recyclable Waste Generator” is any person or entity that is subject to department 33
rules issued under this section [20-07-03(a)] who discards designated recyclable wastes. 34
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“Recyclable” when used in this section includes reuse “as is” or after refurbishment as well as 36
waste that is processed to recover component parts or materials. 37
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Section 20-03-01. Disposal of solid waste. Every owner or occupant of any residence or 39
business or premises within the County shall dispose of solid waste in a County approved SWD 40
facility in accordance with department rules, unless prohibited by department rule. 41
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Section 20-07-03 Prohibition of Landfill of Designated Recyclable Wastes 43
a) Persons identified by department rule are prohibited from intentionally disposing of, or 44
causing to be disposed of, designated recyclable wastes in Hawaii County landfill(s). 45
1) The department shall identify categories of persons who are designated recyclable 46
waste generators who can reasonably be expected to be able to access collection locations 47
and/or services at a price that is less than the cost of solid waste disposal. Categories of persons 48
and effective dates shall be modified as feasibility conditions warrant. Categories of persons 49
subject to the prohibition of this section may include large businesses, multifamily subdivisions, 50
county facilities, schools, nonprofits, small businesses, and residents who have access to 51
transfer stations and/or curbside collection of designated recyclable wastes. 52
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b) The department shall issue rules to allow small businesses and nonprofits to use recycling 54
facilities at designated county transfer stations for deposit of recyclable materials currently 55
accepted at the transfer station for residents. The department may require a reasonable fee 56
and/or license of a small business or nonprofit to use a transfer station for purposes o f 57
recycling. Small businesses and nonprofits are prohibited from disposing of trash at transfer 58
stations, unless authorized by the director. 59
Draft ordinance for Council: Recyclables landfill ban
7/25/23 Georjean Adams for EMC discussion with comments
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c) The department shall by rule require reporting from large commercial and governmental 61
organizations on an annual basis to document their waste reduction and/or landfill diversion 62
programs, including total volume waste and percent of each designated recyclable waste 63
generated and methods they employed to achieve waste reduction and diversion from landfill. 64
[allow or require reports on all wastes reduced/diverted whether or not designated?] 65
c) Exemptions 66
1) Undue hardship. Undue hardship includes, but is not limited to, situations unique to 67
the designated recyclable waste generator that generally do not apply to oth er persons in their 68
category. Application for undue hardship may be made to the director [mirror that for 69
polystyrene HCC Ch 20-05-03(b)] 70
2) Occasional, small volume contamination of solid waste with designated recyclable 71
wastes disposed in routine trash intended for landfill is considered exempt if the generator can 72
show that it maintains an active program of education and makes collection services available 73
for those who contribute to their trash. [Require education and collection programs by large 74
businesses and subdivisions in HCC?] 75
3) Subsets of designated recyclable wastes that are not suitable for recycling as 76
approved by the director. [examples – contaminated, with hazardous materials, hard to clean, 77
presenting physical handling characteristics – although this can be part of the definition of the 78
designated recyclable] 79
4) temporary exemptions may be published by the director when col lection facilities or 80
transport are not available or other short term market disruptions arise that are not under the 81
control of the designated recyclable waste generator. (eg, emergencies, weather, labor 82
shortages, equipment breakdown, eruptions, 3rd party recyclers go out of business or become 83
subject to local bans.) 84
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Section 20-07-04 Performance Targets for the Department 86
a. The department shall report annually to the Council its plans and progress to reduce 87
the volume [weight?] to less than 100 ton/day disposed in county landfills by [year] 88
Draft ordinance for Council: Recyclables landfill ban
7/25/23 Georjean Adams for EMC discussion with comments
b) The department may accomplish the reduction in volume accepted by county landfills with 89
various means, but is encouraged to use the following priority order: 90
1. reduction in the generation of waste by reducing the use of a product, as long as it 91
does not result in substituting products that would present greater net adverse life 92
cycle impact. (E.g., Educate consumers to use only as much as they need or to use 93
alternate products and technologies with less impacts.) 94
2. recovery and reuse of resources with lesser life cycle impact than landfill [preferably 95
with the least processing and upscaling rather than downscaling] 96
3. conversion to mulch or compost 97
4. recovery of raw materials by chemical recycling (e.g., by using pyrolysis) to be used in 98
the manufacture of other products not including fuel 99
5. conversion to fuel 100
6. incineration with recovery of energy [WTE] 101
7. incineration to reduce volume landfilled should be only a last resort (e.g,, if remaining 102
county landfill capacity will last less than 5-10 years). 103
c) The department shall review and update its lists of designated recyclable wastes and 104
generators subject to the landfill prohibition and report the basis for its decisions [that they 105
meet the criteria for these terms as defined in Section 20-07-03 ] to the Council at least 106
annually. The department shall evaluate the following candidates that are currently accepted at 107
transfer stations as designated recyclable wastes for the first year of implementation: 108
1. HI5 109
2. Old Corrugated Cardboard (OCC) 110
3. NonHI5 Glass (as currently accepted at transfer stations) 111
4. Greenwaste 112
5. Scrap metal 113
The department will review and report to Council at least one new additional recyclable waste 114
each year so that it will meet the reduction/diversion targets in this section. 115
Draft ordinance for Council: Recyclables landfill ban
7/25/23 Georjean Adams for EMC discussion with comments
[there are many additional recyclable candidates to look at but each has its own challenges re 116
markets at this time - paper, paperboard, textiles, ewaste, plastics, food waste, construction 117
wastes. I don’t think we should load code with long lists] 118
d) Incentives to meeting targets??? 119
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Section 20-07-05 Budget 121
a) Additional staff for landfill diversion program TBD (including education and technical 122
assistance staff for designated recyclable waste generators) 123
b) $$ is allocated to the department to implement this ordinance 124
c) The department shall renegotiate contracts with vendor(s) so that they are not based solely 125
on landfill volumes. [need to research municipal waste management programs that 126
accommodate reduced revenue from tipping] 127
d) The department shall establish and/or renegotiate contracts with organics recycling 128
vendor(s) to reduce costs to the county. 129
e) The department shall encourage private vendors to collect and process designated recyclable 130
wastes 131
f) The department shall apply for applicable federal grants to assist in landfill diversion 132
programs. 133
g) $$ for county grants to organizations to develop landfill diversion programs - education 134
programs, waste audits, piloting reuse/recycle operations 135
i)The department will explore opportunities to provide credits to haulers and recycling 136
companies using savings from reduced landfill costs, if feasible. 137
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