STAND. COM. REP. NO 433

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1170

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Energy and Environment and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 1170 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PLASTIC PRODUCTS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Require the Department of Health to adopt a standard specification for compostable plastics and that plastic products labeled as "compostable" meet the adopted standard specification;

     (2)  Prohibit a person from selling plastic products labeled as "biodegradable" or implying that a plastic product will break down, fragment, biodegrade, or decompose in a landfill or other environment;

     (3)  Exempt the sale of plastic products labeled as "compostable" if certain criteria are met; and

     (4)  Establish fines for violators.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Surfrider Foundation Oahu Chapter, Rise Above Plastics Coalition, Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii, and six individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health.

     Your Committees find that people often use biodegradable items in their efforts to eliminate the wide use of plastics that present environmental and health hazards.  However, biodegradable plastics are actually more damaging to the environment than regular plastics.  Biodegradable food service items contain plastic and are designed to break down into microplastics, which create a great threat to marine life.  The marketing of products as "biodegradable", "degradable", and "decomposable" misleads the public and is dangerous to the environment.  Implementation of this measure will reduce the consumption of single use plastic products and move the State toward a more sustainable future.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Defining "degradable" and "decomposable";

     (2)  Prohibiting a person from selling a plastic product labeled with the term "degradable" or "decomposable", in addition to "biodegradable";

     (3)  Amending the purpose section to reflect the additional prohibitions; and

     (4)  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 Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1170, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1170, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Judiciary and Labor.

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

____________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair

____________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair