Recyclers Wary in Washington

Proposed Washington State Senate Bill S-5788 looks to increase record keeping for transporters of commercial recyclables and requires all recycling facilities to register with the state and to pay a fee for the registration.

The Washington State Recycling Association as well as many private processing facilities, haulers, and even some solid waste companies with transfer stations and MRFs are concerned parts of the law are written to benefit a select group of waste haulers to the detriment of anyone else hauling recyclables in the state.

Recyclers are also concerned about a “private right of action” clause that allows for third-party enforcement of some of the bill’s statutes through the court system. Critics also say there is no funding for the state to enforce the extra provisions, although it would add another layer of local health jurisdiction over processing facilities.

The “Recycling Enforcement and Accountability Law (REAL)” purports to help the state increase its recycling rate from around 35 percent to a statutory goal of 50 percent. To do that, that bill says the state needs two things: “reliable collection and transporting of commercial recyclables and the [assurance] that recycling facilities are recycling the materials delivered to them.”

According to David Whitley of Construction Materials Recycling Association (CMRA) member company Nuprecon Inc., Snoqualmie, Wash., “The material processing side of this bill is reasonable as it levels the playing field to make sure facilities are monitored, and health and fiscal responsibilities are addressed,” says Whitley. “The real problem lies with the transporter requirements. It seems like a self-serving attempt by the hauler association to flow control all waste materials into their hands and away from the free market solutions innovation. The lack of definitions and the hastily-drafted law is rife with unintended consequences; the baby can be thrown out with the bath water,” he comments.

Under the proposed bill, only haulers certified by the state can handle waste materials, including C&D to be recycled. The bill does allow generators working at their own sites to haul recyclables, but that is all. Otherwise the transporter must have a Section G certificate, which is a solid waste hauling license issued by the state.

Whitley adds that if the transporter and processor requirements were designed to capture data on diverted C&D materials that would count towards state goals, which would require state laws to be changed to allow C&D to be included in the state’s recycling criteria, “then we might be getting somewhere.” But, “Otherwise, these proposed rules and requirements would seem to exist to protect special interest solid waste companies and their claim on the material stream, an area that is well protected and currently covered by local municipalities anyway.”

Those wishing to see the entire bill can go to www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2005-06/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5788.htm. The bill is currently in the state senate’s Water, Energy & Environment Committee. A companion bill is in the house’s Natural Resources, Ecology, and Parks Committee.