SB514

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the human-induced global climate crisis requires a thoughtful, bold, and coordinated response on many fronts to reverse global warming and make the State's communities more resilient to the impact of storms, floods, fire, and sea level rise that threaten the very survivability of these fragile islands. The Green New Deal, a proposed package of United States legislation that aims to address climate change and economic inequality, is one such response. Lest Hawaii lose its leadership position in meeting the future, and in the arenas of labor, justice, and equity, the legislature embraces aloha aina to decarbonize Hawaii's systems of food, energy, and transportation, and to sequester carbon through systems of agriculture, waste management, and ecosystem restoration. The quality of jobs resulting from these efforts also expand access to health, housing, and education, ensuring justice and equity for Hawaii's citizens. This Act represents a forward step in adapting Hawaii to inevitable change.

As evidence mounts that survival depends on transitioning away from carbon-based fuels, a greater understanding of the relationship between human activities and the earth's natural systems points to the additional need for an equally ambitious effort to remove carbon from the atmosphere by increasing the carbon sequestration capacity of earth's soils. The rationale for this strategy can be found in long-standing soil science and current sober assessments that greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction efforts alone would be inadequate to restore livable climatic conditions.

Even if humans stop emitting GHGs immediately, the volume of GHGs already present in the atmosphere is enough to ensure increased warming for thirty years. While climate scientists have determined that 106.25 gigatons of carbon must be withdrawn from the atmosphere to reverse global warming, soil scientists have demonstrated that the potential for earth's soils to absorb carbon far exceeds this amount. Scientific studies demonstrate that because healthy soils can hold twice the carbon stocks of plants, the key to building soil carbon sequestration capacity lies in building healthy soil.

The legislature also finds that the use of composted organics with their vast stores of macro- and micro- nutrients greatly improves the health of all soils in ways that protect and enhance natural systems, while imported, petroleum-based and energy-intensive fertilizers destabilize a healthy soil microbiome.

The legislature also acknowledges that actions taken to improve soil health to reverse climate change support Hawaii's goal, as outlined in the Aloha+ Challenge, of a seventy per cent reduction in the State's solid waste stream.

Although the exact percentage varies from island to island, organics constitute the largest single component of Hawaii's waste stream, and account for at least fifty per cent of the materials discarded each year, with this category including food, food-contaminated paper, and yard trimmings. As grassroots initiatives like the city and county of Honolulu's recent single-use plastics ban expand statewide, and as businesses voluntarily adopt earth-friendly plastic substitutes, the percentage of organics in the waste stream will grow, making the diversion of waste organics into composting programs the least costly and most direct method for the State to meet its solid waste reduction goals.

The legislature further finds that because organics in landfilled waste are the largest source of human-generated methane, and because methane is a GHG with a global warming potential thirty-six times that of carbon dioxide over a twenty-year period, the diversion of waste organics into composting programs offers the least costly and most direct method for significantly reducing the amount of methane emitted from Hawaii's landfills.

The legislature further seeks to acknowledge the economic benefits that accrue to Hawaii's farmers when they include compost sales and carbon sequestration incentives to their income streams.

The purpose of this Act is to address the urgent need to expand the State's capacity for capturing and processing the organic waste its residents and visitors generate to reduce landfill waste while supporting local farmers and the State's commitment to take effective climate action by exempting artisan-scale composting operations from department of health regulations.

SECTION 2. Chapter 225P, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§225P- Artisan-scale composting operations. (a) Artisan‑scale composting operations that are sited on land zoned industrial or agricultural shall be exempt from department of health rules; provided that such operations do not produce vectors, dust, or odors that unreasonably impact neighbors of the operation, as determined by the department; provided further that no waste accepted shall remain on-site for more than thirty-six months.

(b) No more than one artisan-scale composting operation shall be located on geographically contiguous land owned or operated by the same person.

(c) Sufficient bulking agent shall be used to provide proper aeration and control leachate migration. Precipitation, surface water, and groundwater that has come in contact with yard trimmings or the resultant product of an artisan-scale composting operation shall not be considered leachate if it is managed within the site and is allowed to enter a surface waterbody or a conveyance to a surface waterbody and does not cause a violation of state water quality standards.

(d) For purposes of this section, "artisan scale composting operation" means a facility that accepts, measured on a monthly average, not more than one cubic yard of non-pathogenic organic materials, at a site controlled and owned by the waste generator with the finished compost applied and controlled by the same waste generator."

SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2023.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	514
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII