An Act To Create a Sustainable Solution to the Handling, Management and Disposal of Solid Waste in the State

CONCEPT DRAFT SUMMARY

This bill is a concept draft pursuant to Joint Rule 208.

This bill proposes to implement recommendations from the Department of Environmental Protection relating to solid waste handling, management and disposal issues identified in a letter dated March 24, 2014 to the Department of Environmental Protection from the Joint Standing Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.

Specifically, this bill would enact measures designed to:

1. Provide incentives for and encourage the increased use of methods of source reduction, reuse, recycling and composting as a means of achieving the state-mandated recycling goal of 50% under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 38, section 2132, together with a method for accurately measuring future achievements toward that goal;

2. Achieve economic stabilization of the 3 existing waste-to-energy facilities in the State by January 1, 2016, with options for funding that stabilization;

3. Develop a plan to minimize the need for future expansion of landfill capacity in Maine, including state-owned landfills;

4. Identify additional strategies to increase the beneficial use of waste materials, particularly where there are potential economic benefits to be derived from these materials; and

5. Develop other components of an overall comprehensive implementation plan necessary and appropriate to better advance the goals of the State's solid waste management hierarchy under Title 38, section 2101.