The Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee is drafting a bill to increase the per ton trash disposal fee to fund the state’s universal recycling overhaul, which is set to phase in this summer.
The money will be placed into a special fund to support infrastructure and capital costs of collecting and processing a new flow of materials that will have to be recycled.
Act 148, the state’s universal recycling law, aims to increase the state diversion rate, or the amount of material kept out of the landfill, from a stagnant 36 percent to 50 percent. The law sets a timeline to incrementally remove materials from the waste stream over the next five years.
Starting July 1, large food waste producers will be required to compost their scraps if they are located within 20 miles of a composting facility. Next year, recyclables will be banned from the landfill.
But money is needed for the state’s solid waste districts – some of which are better prepared than others to begin picking up the recyclables, lawmakers say.
The bill increases the waste disposal franchise tax from $6 to $7. The tax, which has not changed since the 1980s, is placed on each ton of trash brought to a transfer station.
Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner David Mears testified before the committee Tuesday. He said about 50 percent of what is dumped into the landfill could be reused or recycled for cash.
“We’re throwing away a lot of stuff that is economically valuable,” he told the committee. He said some districts expect the new mandates to encourage business growth by guaranteeing a steady stream of recyclable materials.
However, some cash-strapped districts are looking for money to pick up and process these new materials.
“There is a question about whether or not the state could do more to help finance and fund some of the smaller businesses that are stepping into this arena or who are affected by it,” Mears said. “Your smaller haulers, for instance, that have to retrofit their trucks, to be able to handle the organics material, which is wetter, or to … create a truck that can handle both recyclables and trash at the same time.”
In an October 2013 report, the Agency of Natural Resources said $2.5 million could be raised annually if the franchise tax were doubled to $12 per ton.
Starting July 1 next year, under Act 148, municipalities will charge residents for the amount of trash put into a landfill through a variable rate pricing system, commonly known as “pay as you throw.”
The bill also cuts liquor and large containers from the state’s bottle bill by July 1 next year, partly because collecting liquor containers is costing the state money. The bottle bill puts a 5 cent deposit on carbonated drinks and a 15 cent deposit on liquor containers.
Environmental groups and beverage distributors are at odds over the bottle bill’s fate: the former say the bill increases the state’s diversion rate while the latter say the redemption process adds unnecessary cost to the beverage industry.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Bob Hartwell, D-Bennington, chair of the Natural Resources and Energy Committee, said the committee will discuss the liquor deposit component of the bill later this week.
