STAND. COM. REP. NO. 348

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 620

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Energy and Environment and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 620 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ENVIRONMENT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require food service businesses to provide customers with an option to use compostable or reusable food containers provided by the restaurant for food.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from Styrophobia, Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter, Surfrider Foundation, Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, and seventeen individuals.

     Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from Hawaii Food Industry Association, American Chemistry Council, and one hundred individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from Down to Earth and one individual.

     Your Committees find that many food service businesses in Hawaii use expanded polystyrene foam food containers for food that is taken out by customers.  Your Committees find that expanded polystyrene foam food service containers are made from thermoplastic petrochemical materials containing styrene and may leach styrene into food that comes into contact with the containers, posing potential health hazards for people eating food carried in these containers.

Your Committees find that expanded polystyrene foam food containers do not biodegrade and, because of their expanded size, take up significant space in landfills.  Your Committees note the popular support for alternative, compostable food service containers, but also recognize that there is no viable, commercial composting facility in the State.  Because of these challenges, your Committees find it necessary to examine alternatives for non-compostable food service containers that may be used in place of expanded polystyrene foam food service containers.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy and Environment and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 620, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 620, 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 Commerce and Consumer Protection,

____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

____________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair