SB2005

Report Title:

Beverage Container Recycling

 

Description:

Authorizes the county of Hawaii to conduct a three-year demonstration beverage container fee system.

 

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2005
TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO INTEGRATED SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the current statewide recycling rate is approximately twenty-five per cent – far short of the fifty per cent rate that the State had hoped to reach by 2000. In addition, the department of health estimates that existing drop-off systems are capturing only twenty per cent of beverage containers. One means of increasing the State's recycling rate is a deposit system for beverage containers. Ten states and one municipality that have these "bottle bill" laws achieve far higher recycling rates – in the range of seventy to eighty per cent.

The legislature further finds that businesses have raised legitimate concerns regarding the cost of implementing a bottle bill in Hawaii, particularly from retailers who could be required to establish a process to redeem and then recycle beverage containers.

In testimony before the 2001 legislature regarding proposed bottle bill legislation, the county of Hawaii suggested an alternative, to require retailers to collect the deposit fees, but use the funds generated to pay entrepreneurs to establish or act as redemption centers. While this could result in lower redemption values in the initial stages of the program, the value of having a cooperative relationship between government and business would more than compensate for the partial and temporary diversion of funds.

The mayor of the county of Hawaii also proposed the Big Island as a demonstration site and requested authorization to establish a beverage container deposit system, working with retailers and other interested parties to find an approach that makes the business community a partner in this important approach to litter control and recycling.

The purpose of this Act is to authorize the county of Hawaii to establish a three-year demonstration beverage container deposit system.

SECTION 2. Section 342G-82, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§342G-82[]] Advance disposal fee. (a) Every glass container importer shall pay to the department an advance disposal fee. The fee shall be imposed only once on the same glass container and shall not be assessed on drinking glasses, cups, bowls, plates, ashtrays, and similar tempered glass containers. For the period September 1, 1994, to September 1, 1996, the fee shall be one and one-half cents per glass container. Thereafter, the fee shall be set by the legislature at a rate the legislature determines will permit funding of county glass recovery programs as required to achieve the following glass recovery program goals:

(1) Twenty-five per cent by the end of 1996;

(2) Fifty per cent by the end of 1998; and

(3) By the end of 2000 and thereafter, the maximum amount practicable considering the economic and environmental benefits to be realized.

(b) In January 1995, the department, with assistance from the county solid waste divisions, shall evaluate the amount of glass recovered during the first fifteen months of the program and recommend to the legislature any modification in the fee structure to meet county glass recovery program funding requirements. Thereafter, prior to the convening of the legislative session in each subsequent even-numbered year, the department of health, in coordination with the counties, shall report to the legislature on the effectiveness of the program and make appropriate recommendations for modification of the fee.

(c) The legislature shall have exclusive authority over all matters subject to this chapter.

[(d) No county shall impose or collect any assessment or fee on glass containers for the same or similar purpose that is [the] subject of this chapter.]"

SECTION 3. The county of Hawaii is authorized to establish a three–year demonstration beverage container fee system. The county of Hawaii shall report on the status of the demonstration system to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular sessions of 2003, 2004, and 2005.

SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2002, and shall be repealed on June 30, 2005.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________