A5721

An Act concerning district recycling plans and amending P.L.1987, c.102.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. Section 2 of P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.12) is amended to read as follows:

2. As used in sections 1 through 24 and sections 40 and 41 of P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.11 through 13:1E-99.32 and 13:1E-99.33 and 13:1E-99.34):

"Agricultural or horticultural land" means land deemed actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural use pursuant to the "Farmland Assessment Act of 1964," P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.);

"Beverage" means milk, alcoholic beverages, including beer or other malt beverages, liquor, wine, vermouth and sparkling wine, and nonalcoholic beverages, including fruit juice, mineral water and soda water and similar nonalcoholic carbonated and noncarbonated drinks intended for human consumption;

"Beverage container" means an individual, separate, hermetically sealed, or made airtight with a metal or plastic cap, bottle or can composed of glass, metal, plastic or any combination thereof, containing a beverage;

"Compostable waste" means biodegradable food waste, paper products, and yard trimmings. "Compostable waste" shall not include leaves.

"Commingled" means a combining of nonputrescible source separated recyclable materials for the purpose of recycling;

"County" means any county of this State of whatever class;

"Department" means the Department of Environmental Protection;

"Designated recyclable materials" means those recyclable materials, including metal, glass, paper, or plastic, polycoated paperboard packaging, including beverage containers and aseptic packaging, food waste, corrugated and other cardboard, newspaper, magazines, or high-grade office paper designated in a district recycling plan to be source separated in a municipality pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.13);

"Disposition" or "disposition of designated recyclable materials" means the transportation, placement, reuse, sale, donation, transfer or temporary storage for a period not exceeding six months of designated recyclable materials for all possible uses except for disposal as solid waste;

"District" means a solid waste management district as designated by section 10 of P.L.1975, c.326 (C.13:1E-19), except that, as used in the provisions of P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.11 et seq.), "district" shall not include the Hackensack Meadowlands District;

"District recycling plan" means the plan prepared and adopted by the governing body of a county and approved by the department to implement the State Recycling Plan goals pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.13);

"Leaf composting facility" means a solid waste facility which is designed and operated solely for the purpose of composting leaves and shall also include leaf mulching operations on land deemed actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural use as defined in section 5 of P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.5);

"Market" or "markets" means the disposition of designated recyclable materials;

"Municipality" means any city, borough, town, township or village situated within the boundaries of this State;

"Municipal solid waste stream" means all residential, commercial and institutional solid waste generated within the boundaries of any municipality;

"Paper" means all paper grades, including but not limited to, newspaper, corrugated and other cardboard, high-grade office paper, fine paper, bond paper, offset paper, xerographic paper, mimeo paper, duplicator paper, and related types of cellulosic material containing not more than 10 [%] percent by weight or volume of non-cellulosic material such as laminates, binders, coatings, or saturants;

"Paper product" means any paper items or commodities, including but not limited to, paper napkins, towels, construction material, toilet tissue, paper and related types of cellulosic products containing not more than 10 [%] percent by weight or volume of non-cellulosic material such as laminates, binders, coatings, or saturants;

"Plastic container" means any formed or molded and hermetically sealed, or made airtight with a metal or plastic cap, rigid container with a minimum wall thickness of not less than 0.010 inches, and composed primarily of thermoplastic synthetic polymeric material;

"Post-consumer waste material" means any finished product generated by a business or consumer which has served its intended end use, and which has been separated from solid waste for the purposes of collection, recycling and disposition and which does not include secondary waste material;

"Recognized academic institution" means any of the following educational or research institutions located in this State: a duly authorized institution of higher education licensed by the Board of Higher Education; a public school operated by a local school district; a private vocational school; or a nonpublic school satisfying the State's compulsory attendance requirements;

"Recyclable material" means those materials which would otherwise become solid waste, and which may be collected, separated or processed and returned to the economic mainstream in the form of raw materials or products;

"Recycled paper" means any paper having a total weight consisting of not less than 50 [%] percent secondary waste paper material and with not less than 10 [%] percent of its total weight consisting of post-consumer waste material;

"Recycled paper product" means any paper product consisting of not less than 50 [%] percent secondary waste paper material and with not less than 10 [%] percent of its total weight consisting of post-consumer waste material;

"Recycled product" or "product made from recycled material" means any nonpaper item or commodity which is manufactured or produced in whole or in part from post-consumer waste material;

"Recycling" means any process by which materials which would otherwise become solid waste are collected, separated or processed and returned to the economic mainstream in the form of raw materials or products;

"Recycling center" means any facility designed and operated solely for receiving, storing, processing or transferring source separated recyclable materials; except that "recycling center" shall not include a scrap processing facility;

"Recycling services" means the services provided by persons engaging in the business of recycling, including the collection, transportation, processing, storage, purchase, sale or disposition, or any combination thereof, of recyclable materials;

"Scrap processing facility" means a commercial industrial facility designed and operated for receiving, storing, processing and transferring source separated, nonputrescible ferrous and nonferrous metal, which materials are purchased by the owner or operator thereof, and which are altered or reduced in volume or physical characteristics onsite by mechanical methods, including but not limited to baling, cutting, torching, crushing, or shredding, for the purposes of resale for remelting, refining, smelting or remanufacturing into raw materials or products;

"Secondary waste material" means waste material generated after the completion of a manufacturing process;

"Secondary waste paper material" means paper waste generated after the completion of a paper making process, such as envelope cuttings, bindery trimmings, printing waste, cutting and other converting waste, butt rolls and mill wrappers; except that secondary waste paper material shall not include fibrous waste generated during the manufacturing process, such as fibers recovered from waste water or trimmings of paper machine rolls, fibrous byproducts of harvesting, extractive or woodcutting processes, or forest residue such as bark, or mill broke;

"Source separated recyclable materials" means recyclable materials which are separated at the point of generation by the generator thereof from solid waste for the purposes of recycling;

"Source separation" or "source separated" means the process by which recyclable materials are separated at the point of generation by the generator thereof from solid waste for the purposes of recycling;

"Vegetative waste composting facility" means a solid waste facility which is designed and operated for the purpose of composting leaves, either exclusively or in combination with other vegetative wastes authorized by the department.

(cf: P.L.1994, c.122, s.1)

2. Section 3 of P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.13) is amended to read as follows:

3. a. Each county shall prepare and adopt a district recycling plan to implement the State Recycling Plan goals. Each district recycling plan shall be adopted as an amendment to the district solid waste management plan required pursuant to the provisions of the "Solid Waste Management Act," P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-1 et seq.) and subject to the approval of the department. Each district recycling plan may be modified after adoption pursuant to a procedure set forth in the adopted plan as approved by the department.

b. Each district recycling plan required pursuant to this section shall include, but need not be limited to:

(1) Designation of a district recycling coordinator;

(2) Designation of the recyclable materials to be source separated in each municipality which shall include, in addition to leaves, compostable waste and at least three other recyclable materials separated from the municipal solid waste stream;

(3) Designation of the strategy for the collection, marketing and disposition of designated source separated recyclable materials in each municipality;

(4) Designation of recovery targets in each municipality to achieve the maximum feasible recovery of recyclable materials from the municipal solid waste stream which shall include, at a minimum, the following schedule:

(a) The recycling of at least 15 [%] percent of the total municipal solid waste stream by December 31, 1989;

(b) The recycling of at least 25 [%] percent of the total municipal solid waste stream by December 31, 1990; and

(c) The recycling of at least 50 [%] percent of the total municipal solid waste stream, including yard waste and vegetative waste, by December 31, 1995; and

(5) Designation of countywide recovery targets to achieve the maximum feasible recovery of recyclable materials from the total solid waste stream which shall include, at a minimum, the recycling of at least 60 [%] percent of the total solid waste stream by December 31, 1995.

Within 24 months of the effective date of P.L.2007, c.311 (C.13:1E-96.2 et al.), each district recycling plan shall be modified to include the designation of a district certified recycling coordinator.

No later than 24 months after the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), each district recycling plan shall be modified to designate compostable waste as a recyclable material to be source separated.

For the purposes of this subsection, "district certified recycling coordinator" means a person who shall have completed the requirements of a course of instruction in various aspects of recycling program management, as determined and administered by the department; "total municipal solid waste stream" means the sum of the municipal solid waste stream disposed of as solid waste, as measured in tons, plus the total number of tons of recyclable materials recycled; and "total solid waste stream" means the aggregate amount of solid waste generated within the boundaries of any county from all sources of generation, including the municipal solid waste stream.

c. Each district recycling plan, in designating a strategy for the collection, marketing and disposition of designated recyclable materials in each municipality, shall authorize municipalities that adopt a recycling ordinance pursuant to subsection b. of section 6 of P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.16) to limit the collection of designated recyclable materials to specified operating hours in order to preserve the peace and quiet in neighborhoods during the hours when most residents are asleep.

d. A district recycling plan may be modified to require that each municipality within the county revise the ordinance adopted pursuant to subsection b. of section 6 of P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.16) to provide for the source separation and collection of used dry cell batteries as a designated recyclable material.

e. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2008, c. 130)

(cf: P.L.2008, c.130, s.19)

3. Section 4 of P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.14) is amended to read as follows:

4. a. Each county shall, within six months of the adoption and approval by the department or a modification of the district recycling plan required pursuant to section 3 of [this amendatory and supplementary act] P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.13) , solicit proposals from, review the qualifications of, and enter into contracts or agreements on behalf of municipalities with persons providing recycling services or operating recycling centers for the collection, storage, processing, and disposition of recyclable materials designated in the district recycling plan in those instances where these services are not otherwise provided by the municipality, interlocal service agreement or joint service program, or other private or public recycling program operator.

b. In the event that a county is unable to enter into contracts or otherwise execute agreements to market specific designated recyclable materials in order to achieve the designated recovery targets set forth in the district recycling plan, the county may petition the department for a temporary exemption from the provisions of subsection a. of this section for these specified materials. The department is authorized to grant, deny or conditionally grant the exemption. If the exemption is denied, the department shall assist the county in identifying and securing markets for the recyclable materials designated in the district recycling plan. Any exemption granted by the department shall not exceed one year in duration, and shall be granted or renewed only upon a finding that the county has made a good faith effort to identify and secure markets for its recyclable materials. Each county shall continue to solicit those recycling services necessary to achieve the maximum feasible recovery targets in each municipality as set forth in the district recycling plan.

(cf: P.L.1987, c.102, s.4)

4. Section 5 of P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.15) is amended to read as follows:

5. Any county which has prepared and adopted a district recycling plan as an amendment to the district solid waste management plan required pursuant to the provisions of the "Solid Waste Management Act," P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-1 et seq.), and the district recycling plan has been approved by the department prior to January 1, 1987, shall be exempt from the provisions of sections 3 and 4 of [this amendatory and supplementary act] P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.13 and C.13:1E-99.14) . To be eligible for an exemption pursuant to this section, a county shall have established and implemented a county-wide mandatory source separation and recycling program for at least three recyclable materials, in addition to leaves and compostable waste , and shall have demonstrated that it has secured markets for these materials.

(cf: P.L.1987, c.102, s.5)

5. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill would amend the “New Jersey Statewide Mandatory Source Separation and Recycling Act,” P.L.1987, c.102 (13:1E-99.11 et seq.), to include compostable waste among the recyclable materials that are required to be source separated and recycled under district recycling plans.

For the purposes of the bill, the term "compostable waste" means biodegradable food waste, paper products, and yard trimmings. Leaves are excluded from the definition, since they are collected and recycled in a different manner than other recyclable materials.

The bill would require each solid waste management district to update its recycling plan within 24 months after the bill's date of enactment to reflect the new requirement. The bill would also require counties, or the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority in the case of the Hackensack Meadowlands district, to solicit proposals from, review the qualifications of, and enter into contracts or agreements on behalf of municipalities with persons providing recycling services for the collection, storage, processing, and disposition of recyclable materials each time the district recycling plan is updated. Under current law, counties, or the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, as appropriate, are only required to do so upon the adoption of a district recycling plan.