Summary Minutes As Approved on 12/15/2016
Ohio Materials Management Advisory Council (MMAC)
October 20, 2016
Lazarus Government Center
50 West Town Street, Suite 700
Columbus, OH 43215
The following members were present:
Michael Dinneen, Private Sector
Jenna Hicks, Solid Waste Management Districts
Kimberly McConville, Private Sector
Kathy Trent, Private Sector
Kelly Bensman, General Public
Paul Wise, Townships
Colin Gallagher, Private Sector
Jason Johantges sat in for Brian Winter, Private Sector. Also in attendance were Holly Christmann (Hamilton County SMWD), Jamie Zawila (Resource Recycling Systems), and Belinda Jones and Kyle O’Keefe (SWACO).
Approval of August 18, 2016 Minutes
Council members reviewed the draft summary minutes from the August 18th 2016 meeting. Kathy moved to accept the minutes as revised. Kimberly seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
Senate Bill 333
Terrie TerMeer, Ohio EPA-DMWM, provided information on Senate Bill 333, which includes some provisions that are pertinent for OMMAC. Portions of the bill, which was introduced by Senator Hite, address Construction and Demolition Debris (C&DD) processing facilities. The bill would help to alleviate issues related to sites that were supposedly “recycling” material and ended up leaving piles of abandoned material behind. Specifically, the bill refers to facilities that transfer, process or recycle C&DD. The law clarifies the ability for these facilities to have recycling operations and specifies an exception for clean hard fill. The bill also lays out financial assurance requirements and establishes setbacks for those facilities and requires a program to deliver operator certification for those facilities.
Senate Bill 333 also includes other environmental provisions. It clarifies Ohio EPA’s ability to use funds for environmental clean-ups. It also addresses the use of dredge material from Lake Erie, including beneficial use projects. The bill allows funds from environmental penalties to be used to help clean up abandoned and closed landfill sites in Ohio.
Kathy made a motion to send Senator Hite a letter in support of the C&DD provisions in Senate Bill 333. Michael seconded the motion. Motion was approved on voice vote.
Overview of the State Solid Waste Management Plan
Ernie Stall, Ohio EPA-DMWM, provided a presentation providing an overview of the State Solid Waste Management Plan (state plan). Key Facts about the state plan include that it is required by law, was established when House Bill 592 was adopted and MMAC and Ohio EPA are collaboratively responsible for the state plan. Ohio Revised Code prescribes the contents of the state plan and establishes goals for local solid waste management district (SWMD) plans and guides state level efforts. These statutory requirements have not changed since they were originally adopted.
As specified in ORC 3734.50, the state plan is required to do the following:
1. Reduce reliance on landfills;
2. Establish recycling/reduction/reuse goals;
3. Establish restrictions on materials that can be landfilled;
4. Establish siting criteria;
5. Examine alternative method for disposing of ash from MSW incinerators;
6. Establish strategy for managing scrap tires;
7. Establish a strategy for developing markets for products containing recycled materials; and
8. Establish a program for household hazardous waste
The Materials Management Advisory Council (MMAC) is required to review the state plan every three years.
It was discussed how the situation today is different compared to when the statute was written. For example, Ohio currently has more than 30 years of disposal capacity and the scrap tire program has matured. In the late 80s there was diminishing landfill space, no formal structure for solid waste planning, and there was not a comprehensive system for recycling or waste reduction.
The current state plan, the 2009 State Plan, was adopted in March 2010. One new initiative found in the 2009 State Plan was changing the focus of education programs away from just awareness to effectively changing behavior. It has ten chapters plus an executive summary. Chapters 3 through 9, marked with asterisks below, are required by Ohio Revised Code:
1. Introduction/Background
2. Progress
3. Goals*
4. Landfill Restrictions*
5. Siting Criteria*
6. Ash Management*
7. Scrap Tire Management*
8. Household Hazardous Waste Management*
9. Market Development*
10. Waste-to-Energy
The goals referenced in Chapter 3 are specifically:
1. ACCESS: Demonstrate access to infrastructure for at least 90% of the SWMD’s population.
2. RATES: Demonstrate recycling rates of 25%+ for residential/commercial and 66%+ for industrial.
3. EDUCATION: Minimum requirements – website, inventory of infrastructure, comprehensive resource guide, presentation/speaker.
4. EDUCATION: Outreach Plan including target audiences, priorities and best practices.
5. RESTRICTED (SPECIAL) WASTES: Provide strategies for scrap tires, yard waste, lead-acid batteries, household hazardous waste and electronics.
6. ECONOMIC INCENTIVES: Explore programs to incentivize source reduction and recycling programs.
7. MEASURE GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION: Use U.S. EPA’s WARM model to determine impact of recycling programs on greenhouse gases.
8. MARKET DEVELOPMENT (optional): Develop programs to foster the development of end uses for recycling commodities and the use of recycled products.
9. REPORTING: Provide annual report to Ohio EPA.
MMAC has expressed desire to make changes to the solid waste planning program. The state plan is likely MMAC’s most direct route to make changes. Examples of how the state plan provides opportunities for improvement include strengthening market development efforts and developing organics management infrastructure (particularly for food waste). Improving participation and recovery through the existing recycling infrastructure, reducing contamination of recovered materials, as well as improving data quality and availability should be other potential areas to focus on.
Ernie also provided the group with a list of ideas to consider when looking at the state plan goals. They included:
• Eliminate industrial recycling goal – replace with minimum programming
• Different goals for urban vs rural areas
• Reduction in per capita disposal
• Material-specific goals (such as food waste, fiber, glass...)
• Greenhouse gas emission reductions
• Source reduction/reuse
• Multi-family housing
• Commercial sector
• Increase recycling goal target (U. S. EPA’s goal is 35%)
He also provided the group with a plea to give some aspects of the 2009 State Plan a chance to become realized. Goal four, the outreach and marketing plan, is the crux to move education programs’ focus away from awareness toward changing behavior. It encourages SWMDs to provide their outreach in the context of the resources that are available locally and borrows from the principles of social marketing. Hopefully, efforts related to goal four will increase recycling participation and will increase the quantity and quality of the material recovered.
An outline of the tasks ahead to achieve the rewrite of the state plan was provided. These included significant amounts of research, stakeholder outreach, numerous MMAC meetings, lots of negotiating/compromising, preparing/writing the document, public hearings, and eventually adoption of the rules.
The group discussed potential changes that could be made. Specifically, it was asked what changes could be made that would not require rule changes. The state plan does need a thorough review and it would be good to make changes that encourage recycling before the review is completed. The goal of contracted waste/recycling services for communities was identified – to encourage negotiation of contracts that make sense. It was noted that SWANA and NWA have developed a model contact that is available.
Relating to the recycling and litter prevention grants, the group is charged with advising the Director on the criteria and focus of the grants. Therefore, the grant monies are another way to potentially make opportunities to further recycling in Ohio. For example, more focus could be made on making more opportunities available to businesses, or the group could identify best practices or materials to focus on.
It was also mentioned that the group could look to change the access goal. Look at other states and try to minimize the emphasis put on certain goals or sections of the state plan. Specific to rural areas, recycling infrastructure can be a challenge because of the transportation costs. Recycling transfer facilities were mentioned as a solution. Work should be done to evaluate what does work and to utilize member resources to help with that research.
The idea of looking in depth at each individual goal was discussed. Can the group somehow do more work outside the bi-monthly meetings? The idea of an archived webinar was brought up – one that could be reviewed at any time. The group decided to schedule webinars to review the goals and the group made a priority list for the items to be discussed. The first priority is to discuss Goal 1, or the access goal. The second priority is to discuss Goal 2, or the recycling rates. Priority three is education programs (both goals), and the fourth priority is to discuss market development and economic incentives. It was suggested to use maps to see the qualitative data (for recycling rates and access percentages). Another idea was to solicit SWMDs to ask what their recommendations are.
Report to the Legislature
Discussion next focused on the required report from MMAC to the Legislature. A draft version of the report was provided. Suggestions of content to add to the report included: adding the Agency’s development of the new Format and adding a reference to the letter to be sent in support of S.B 333.
Next Steps and Wrap Up
December 15th will be the next meeting. The report to the legislature will be finalized at that meeting.
Colin Gallagher moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Kathy Trent. The motion passed unanimously.
Respectfully submitted: ___________________________________________
Chair
Minutes approved on: ___________________________________________
Certified by: ___________________________________________ Secretary
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