STAND. COM. REP. NO.1245

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2001

RE: H.B. No. 1256

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water, Land, Energy and Environment and Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing, to which was referred H.B. No. 1256, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purposes of this measure are to impose beverage container requirements and fees, require beverage distributors to register with the State, establish the beverage container deposit special fund, provide for the redemption of empty beverage containers, and set requirements for recycling facilities and redemption centers.

Testimony in support of this measure was received from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, Department of Health, Office of Environmental Quality Control, University of Hawaii at Manoa Environmental Center, Mayor of Kauai County, a Kauai County Council member, County of Kauai Department of Public Works, County of Maui Department of Public Works & Waste Management, a Maui County Council Member, Island Recycling, Surf Rider Foundation Oahu Chapter, Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, The Estate of James Campbell, Vertical Wind Turbine Technologies, LLC, The Hydrogen Renewable Energy Enterprise, LLC, and seventeen individuals. Anhesuer Busch Companies, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Hawaii, The Pepsi Bottling Group in Hawaii, Retail Merchants of Hawaii, Hawaii Wholesale Liquor Dealers, Hawaii Food Industry Association, Maui Soda & Ice Works, Ltd., Grocery Manufacturers of America, Pacific Allied Products, Ltd., Wine Institute, and two individuals submitted testimony in opposition. The Tax Foundation of Hawaii and TOMRA Pacific, Inc., submitted comments.

Your Committees find that currently, the statewide recycling rate is twenty-four per cent. The recycling goal set by the State in 1991, was reduction in the solid waste stream by fifty per cent by January 1, 2000. Many efforts have been undertaken by the State to reduce the waste stream, such as battery and tire recycling laws, and the glass advanced disposal fee. Yet these measures combined with the individual county's work have not achieved this goal.

Your Committees further find that this measure builds on the experience of existing state and provincial beverage container laws (bottle bills). The Hawaii container deposit legislation is based on successful programs in California and Alberta, Canada, and includes the broadest range of recyclable beverage containers currently available. In addition, any new type of containers brought into Hawaii will need to be approved by the State to ensure that the containers brought to the island are recyclable.

Your Committees have heard that experiences in other states and Canada also provide some guidelines for what redemption rate could be expected in Hawaii. The highest reported redemption rates are in Vermont, Michigan, Maine, and Oregon, with rates greater than ninety per cent. New York, California, and Massachusetts have redemption rates in the mid 70s. The Hawaii program most closely resembles the Alberta, Canada system that has a redemption rate of about eighty per cent in recent years. The start-up period of container deposit programs historically has lower rates until the public has fully learned about the redemption system, but on average, a mature program should generate a rate of at least eighty per cent redemption.

Your Committees have also heard the concerns of the bottle industry. While your Committees find that the issues have merit, Hawaii must improve the efficiency and collection rates of recyclable products.

Your Committees have amended this measure to cap the beverage container fee at 2 cents for the first five years of the program, to begin payment of the fees on October 1, 2002, to provide additional flexibility in the requirements for redemption of empty beverage containers; and to make the effective date 2050, for purposes of further discussion.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, Energy and Environment and Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1256, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1256, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land, Energy and Environment and Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing,

____________________________

RON MENOR, Chair

____________________________

LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair