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Home My WebLink AboutDiscussion Draft bill- Recyclables landfill banProposed Dra� of Bill to Begin the Banning of Landfill of Recyclable Materials November 29, 2023 – Conceptual Dra� A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 20, ARTICLE 3, OF THE HAWAI‘I COUNTY CODE 1 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO PROHIBITION OF LANDFILLING OF 2 DESIGNATED RECYCLABLE WASTES. 3 4 BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII: 5 6 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 14 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 22 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 Proposed Dra� of Bill to Begin the Banning of Landfill of Recyclable Materials November 29, 2023 – Conceptual Dra� 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 32 “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 35 “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 38 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 42 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 53 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 of 57 recycling. Small businesses and nonprofits are prohibited from disposing of trash at transfer 58 stations, unless authorized by the director. 59 Proposed Dra� of Bill to Begin the Banning of Landfill of Recyclable Materials November 29, 2023 – Conceptual Dra� 60 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 other 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 collection 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 85 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 Proposed Dra� of Bill to Begin the Banning of Landfill of Recyclable Materials November 29, 2023 – Conceptual Dra� 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 Proposed Dra� of Bill to Begin the Banning of Landfill of Recyclable Materials November 29, 2023 – Conceptual Dra� [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??? 119 120 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. 137 138 139 140