Environment Committee
General Law Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING THE RECYCLING OF ORGANIC MATERIALS BY CERTAIN FOOD WHOLESALERS, MANUFACTURERS, SUPERMARKETS AND CONFERENCE CENTERS
SUMMARY: This act requires large generators of source-separated organic materials to begin separating and recycling the materials at a permitted source-separated organic material composting facility. The act specifies that this must occur within six months after at least two such facilities with a combined capacity to accept the generators' materials are established to conduct business in Connecticut. The act does not require notice of the permitting.
Under the act, “source-separated organic materials” include food scraps, food processing residue, and soiled or unrecyclable paper that are separated, at generation, from nonorganic materials. A “composting facility” is land, appurtenances, structures, or equipment where organic materials originating from another process or location and separated at generation from nonorganic material are recovered, using a process of accelerated biological decomposition of organic material under controlled aerobic or anaerobic conditions.
The act requires source-separated organic material composting facilities to include a summary of the fees they charge for receiving source-separated organic materials in their reports to the environmental protection commissioner. By law, these quarterly reports contain any information the commissioner deems necessary, including the amount of waste received from each customer.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2011
SOURCE-SEPARATED ORGANIC MATERIAL RECYCLING
The act requires commercial food wholesalers or distributors, industrial food manufacturers or processors, supermarkets, resorts, and conference centers that generate an average of at least 104 tons of source-separated organic materials a year to (1) separate the organic materials from non-organic materials and (2) recycle the organic materials at a source-separated organic material composting facility permitted to receive such materials located within 20 miles of the generation site. The act does not specify what happens if there is no facility within 20 miles of the generation site.
Under the act, commercial food wholesalers or distributors, industrial food manufacturers or processors, supermarkets, resorts, and conference centers are deemed to have complied with this requirement if they compost source-separated organic materials on-site or treat it on-site with organic treatment equipment as permitted by state or federal law.
OLR Tracking: KLM: JO: JL: ro