By Saunders H.B. No. 2435
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to municipal solid waste source reduction and recycling
1-3 goals.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Amend Section 361.421, Health and Safety Code, to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 361.421. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
1-8 (1) "Compost" is the disinfected and stabilized
1-9 product of the decomposition process that is used or sold for use
1-10 as soil amendment, artificial top soil, growing medium amendment,
1-11 or other similar uses.
1-12 (2) "Composting" means the controlled biological
1-13 decomposition of organic materials through microbial activity.
1-14 Depending on the specific application, composting can serve as both
1-15 a volume reduction and a waste treatment measure. A beneficial
1-16 organic composting activity is an appropriate waste management
1-17 solution that shall divert compatible materials from the solid
1-18 waste stream that cannot be recycled into higher grade uses and
1-19 convert these materials into a useful product that is put to
1-20 beneficial reuse <can serve> as a soil amendment or mulch.
1-21 (3) "Life-cycle cost benefit analysis" means a method
1-22 of comparing the total costs of products over their lifetimes based
1-23 on initial maintenance costs which include the initial cost,
2-1 maintenance costs, and other related expenses.
2-2 (4) "Postconsumer waste" means a material or product
2-3 that has served its intended use and has been discarded after
2-4 passing through the hands of a final user. For the purpose of this
2-5 subchapter, the term does not include industrial or hazardous
2-6 waste.
2-7 (5) "Recyclable material" means material that has been
2-8 recovered or diverted from the non-hazardous solid waste stream for
2-9 purposes of reuse, recycling, or reclamation, a substantial portion
2-10 of which is consistently used in the manufacture of products which
2-11 may otherwise be produced using raw or virgin materials.
2-12 Recyclable material is not solid waste. However, recyclable
2-13 material may become solid waste at such time, if any, as it is
2-14 abandoned or disposed of rather than recycled, whereupon it will be
2-15 solid waste with respect only to the party actually abandoning or
2-16 disposing of the material.
2-17 (6) "Recycled material" means materials, goods, or
2-18 products that consist of recyclable material or materials derived
2-19 from postconsumer waste, industrial waste, or hazardous waste which
2-20 may be used in place of a raw or virgin material in manufacturing a
2-21 new product.
2-22 (7) "Recycled product" means a product which meets the
2-23 requirements for recycled material content as prescribed by the
2-24 rules established by the department described in Section 361.427.
2-25 (8) "Recycling" means a process by which materials
3-1 that have served their intended use or are scrapped, discarded,
3-2 used, surplus, or obsolete are collected, separated, or processed
3-3 and returned to use in form of raw materials in the production of
3-4 new products. Except for mixed municipal solid waste composting,
3-5 that is, composting of the typical mixed solid waste stream
3-6 generated by residential, commercial, and/or institutional sources,
3-7 recycling includes the composting process if the compost material
3-8 is put to beneficial reuse.
3-9 (9) "Source reduction" means an activity or process
3-10 that avoids the creation of municipal solid waste in the state by
3-11 reducing waste at the source. The term includes redesigning
3-12 products or packaging so that less material is disposed of,
3-13 changing a process of producing a good or providing a service so
3-14 that less material is disposed of, or making behavioral changes in
3-15 the use of materials that reduces the amount of waste generated.
3-16 (10) "State agency" means a department, commission,
3-17 board, office, council, or other agency in the executive branch of
3-18 government that is created by the constitution or a statute of this
3-19 state and has authority not limited to a geographical portion of
3-20 the state. The term does not include a university system or
3-21 institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003,
3-22 Education Code.
3-23 (11) <(10)> "Virgin material" means a raw material
3-24 used in manufacturing that has not yet become a product.
3-25 (12) <(11)> "Yard waste" means leaves, grass
4-1 clippings, yard and garden debris, and brush, including woody
4-2 vegetative material not greater than six inches in diameter, that
4-3 results from landscaping maintenance and landclearing operations.
4-4 The term does not include stumps, roots, or shrubs with intact root
4-5 balls.
4-6 SECTION 2. Section 361.422, Health and Safety Code, is
4-7 amended to read as follows:
4-8 Sec. 361.422. STATE SOURCE REDUCTION AND RECYCLING GOAL.
4-9 (a) It is the state's goal to reduce <achieve by January 1, 1994,
4-10 the recycling of at least 40 percent of> the state's total
4-11 municipal solid waste stream that is disposed of as solid waste by
4-12 at least 40 percent by January 1, 1994 through source reduction and
4-13 recycling.
4-14 (b) In this section, "total municipal solid waste stream"
4-15 means the sum of the state's total municipal solid waste that is
4-16 disposed of as solid waste, measured in tons, and the total number
4-17 of tons of recyclable material that has been diverted or recovered
4-18 from the total municipal solid waste and recycled.
4-19 (c) The <By January 1, 1992, the> department shall establish
4-20 rules and reporting requirements through which progress toward
4-21 achieving the established source reduction and recycling goals can
4-22 be measured. The rules may take inot consideration those ongoing
4-23 community source reduction and recycling programs <program> where
4-24 substantial progress has already been achieved. The department may
4-25 also establish a limit on the amount of credit that may be given to
5-1 certain high-volume materials in measuring recycling progress.
5-2 (d) The baseline for the purpose of measuring progress
5-3 toward the municipal solid waste reduction goal shall be the weight
5-4 of the total municipal solid waste stream in 1991. To calculate
5-5 progress toward the municipal solid waste reduction goal for the
5-6 year under comparison, the department shall:
5-7 (1) calculate the total number of tons of recyclable
5-8 material that has been diverted or recovered from the total
5-9 municipal solid waste stream and recycled; and
5-10 (2) calculate the amount by which the total municipal
5-11 solid waste stream has been reduced through source reduction.
5-12 (e) To calculate the amount of waste reduced through source
5-13 reduction, the department may use the results of studies, surveys,
5-14 or reports of the source reduction activities of businesses,
5-15 communities, and other sources of municipal solid waste. The
5-16 department also may estimate the amount of waste reduced through
5-17 source reduction by adjusting the total municipal solid waste
5-18 stream in the comparison year for changes in economic activity that
5-19 contributes to municipal solid waste, for changes in population,
5-20 and for other relevant changes between the baseline year and the
5-21 comparison year. The difference between the actual and the
5-22 adjusted total municipal solid waste stream may be attributed to
5-23 source reduction activities.
5-24 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
5-25 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-1 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-2 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-3 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.