STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2007

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: S.B. No. 1298

S.D. 2

H.D. 2

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred S.B. No. 1298, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RECYCLING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to amend the laws relating to electronic device recycling by:

(1) Expanding the scope of covered electronic devices to include electronic device peripherals and certain legacy devices;

(2) Requiring manufacturers' recycling plans to describe communication efforts with the State and counties to facilitate consumer education efforts;

(3) Repealing the deadline for recycling plan implementation;

(4) Amending the recycling goal for calendar year 2025, and specifying new recycling goals for calendar year 2026 and calendar years 2027 and thereafter;

(5) Requiring additional information to be included in manufacturers' reports containing information for calendar years 2025, 2026, and 2027;

(6) Requiring collectors to report certain information regarding recyclers and refurbishers and allowing the Department of Health to require submission of bills of lading and recycler receiving reports; and

(7) Requiring the Department of Health to submit a report to the Legislature on electronic device recycling prior to the Regular Session of 2028.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Environmental Management of the County of Hawaiʻi; Hawaiʻi Reef and Ocean Coalition; Climate Protectors Hawaiʻi; Chamber of Commerce Hawaii; Consumer Technology Association; IT Reuse Hawaiʻi; and one individual. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from Mr. K's Recycle and Redemption Center and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health.

Your Committee finds that electronic waste may contain hazardous materials and, consequently, should be recycled appropriately. To encourage electronic recycling, Act 151, Session Laws of Hawaii 2022, established annual goals for electronic device manufacturers to collect and recycle electronic devices by weight. This mandate motivated manufacturers to increase their recycling efforts with seventy-four percent successfully meeting the goal for 2023 and seventeen percent exceeding the goal.

Your Committee further finds that electronic device manufacturers are concerned that the existing goal for calendar year 2025 may be unattainable due to electronic devices becoming lighter over time. To address this concern, this measure delays the calendar year 2025 goal to calendar year 2027 and establishes intermediate goals for calendar years 2025 and 2026.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Amending existing law that provides the Department of Health with discretion, rather than making it mandatory, to determine additional penalties and impose certain fines;

(2) Deleting the requirement that the reports for calendar years 2025, 2026, and 2027, include the average age of electronic devices collected by each collector for one month of the year; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1298, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1298, S.D. 2, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce,

____________________________

SCOT Z. MATAYOSHI, Chair