STAND. COM. REP. NO. 580

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 927

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Energy and Environment and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 927 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RECYCLING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to preserve the environment by managing the flow of electronic waste and reducing landfill refuse volume.

     The measure accomplishes this purpose by establishing a Cathode Ray Tube Recycling and Reuse Program and prohibits the disposal of cathode ray tubes in landfills after January 1, 2009.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from Covanta Energy Group and the Electronics Manufacturers Coalition for Responsible Recycling.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Health, Recycle Hawaii, and the Hawaii Open Source Education Foundation.

     Your Committees find that disposing e-waste into landfills threatens to overwhelm available landfill space and is toxic to the environment.  Components of cathode ray tubes, cell phones and other electronics are released as the units are compacted and broken in the landfilling process.  Most landfills have liners, but there is mounting concern that as the waste degrades, the toxins pose a serious threat to air and groundwater and ultimately to human health.

     Your Committees find that establishing a Cathode Ray Tube Recycling and Reuse Program is a key element of environmental health and sustainability.

     Your Committees amended this measure by:

     (1)  Minimizing the recordkeeping requirement to require facilities accepting cathode ray tubes to maintain the number and weight of the cathode ray tubes that are received per day;

     (2)  Exempting from the recordkeeping requirement, facilities that reuse the cathode ray tube equipment for charitable purposes;

     (3)  Requiring the Department of Health, with the assistance of the counties, to adopt rules for a Cathode Ray Tube Special Waste Recycling Program;

     (4)  Extending the period for a wholesaler accepting units in transfer from a retailer from ninety days to one hundred eighty days to remove the units from the retail point of collection;

     (5)  Including a disposal surcharge to be deposited into the Environmental Management Special Fund in a separate account;

     (6)  Changing the disposal in landfills date from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2008;

     (7)  Changing the effective date to encourage further discussion; and

     (8)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy and Environment and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 927, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 927, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy and Environment and Health,

____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

____________________________ RON MENOR, Chair