Aloha,
Welcome to WasteLine, a bimonthly e-newsletter which profiles successful community and business recycling programs, innovations and technology, and opens discussions on new directions in the City's waste management and recycling programs. You can stay in the loop, talkin' trash, connected to the resources with a click of your mouse.
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2013 Legislative Watch
The 2013 Hawaii State Legislature is considering numerous bills related to improving recycling. Please consider voicing your opinion to your legislators and members of the committees hearing these bills. It's easier than ever to track bills and committee hearings online at www.capitol.hawaii.gov.
The City's Department of Environmental Services supports:
 HB904 and SB1135 Related to Recycling amends the current statute to further define the minimum requirements for the manufacturer-financed electronic waste recycling program. ENV participated in the task force which contributed to the provisions outlined in these bills, and believes that these new measures would go a long way to strengthening the program by defining clear recovery goals and requiring the manufacturers to provide greater convenience to the consumer. Under the existing law, manufacturers can submit a simple mail-back program, which is woefully inadequate to address any significant diversion of electronic waste from county landfills. Manufacturers should be required to provide on-island collection sites and to be accountable for capturing a specified portion, or market share, of the electronics sold within the state. We believe that the responsibilities for collecting and recycling electronic waste are best managed by the industry, and support the evolution of this law to strengthen those requirements. Click here to watch a video of Best Buy's model e-waste recycling program.
 HB900 and SB1131 Relating to Recycling increases the advance disposal fee collected on non-deposit glass containers. The glass ADF was set at 1.5 cents per container more than 15 years ago and has not been adjusted to accommodate changes in recovery rates or costs. Current revenue levels do not cover needed expenditures to subsidize glass recycling efforts. The cost to ship glass to West Coast facilities to be remanufactured into new container glass exceeds the market value of the glass. Without sufficient funding support for non-deposit glass containers through a subsidy program, the opportunities for glass recycling are very limited. Insufficient funding affects the ability to collect non-deposit glass in curbside recycling programs, condo recycling programs, drop-off recycling centers, and bars and restaurants where glass recycling is mandatory on Oahu. Recycling of beverage container glass is supported under the beverage container deposit program, also referred to as HI-5, but non-deposit glass, which includes food containers, wine and spirits, is separately supported by the advance disposal fee addressed in this bill.
You can find the bill documents and track their progress online at www.capitol.hawaii.gov. For more recycling related bills, use the search option.
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