S3419-2013 Actions

• Mar 5, 2013: PRINT NUMBER 3419A
• Mar 5, 2013: AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
• Feb 1, 2013: REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION

S3419-2013 Memo

BILL NUMBER:S3419

TITLE  OF BILL:   An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in
relation to food service waste reduction

PURPOSE:  The purpose of the bill is to discourage the use of disposable
Styrofoam food service ware by any person or entity that has a  contract
with an agency or municipality, and to study the feasibility of a Styro-
foam ban in New York State.

SUMMARY  OF  SPECIFIC  PROVISIONS:   Requires that any state department,
agency, board, public benefit corporation, public authority, commission,
municipality, and their contractors  and  lessees  use  disposable  food
service  ware  made  from  material  other than polystyrene foam, unless
there is no compostable or recyclable alternative available at  a  price
not more than 15 percent higher.

Requires the Department of Environmental Conservation to conduct a study
on the desirability, feasibility and environmental impact of a statewide
ban on the use of disposable styrofoam food service ware.

EFFECTS OF PRESENT LAW WHICH THIS BILL WOULD ALTER:  This bill would add
a new title 28 to Article 27 of the Environmental Conservation Law.

JUSTIFICATION:    Styrofoam is a liquid hydrocarbon that is commercially
manufactured from petroleum, a quickly disappearing commodity. Each year
Americans throwaway 25,000,000 styrofoam cups, or 1,369 tons  of  Styro-
foam products every day. A single Styrofoam cup can take up to 500 years
to fully disintegrate.

Styrofoam is a notorious pollutant that is very difficult to recycle due
to its light weight and low scrap value. It is generally not accepted in
curbside  programs, is seldom able to be reused, takes up a considerable
amount of space in landfills, and takes a very long time to fully decom-
pose. Due to the physical properties of  Styrofoam,  the  United  States
Environmental  Protection  Agency  states  "that such materials can have
serious impact on human health, wildlife, and the aquatic  environment,"
because the product breaks down and can clog waterways, or to be mistak-
en for food by wildlife.

One  of  the  components  of  Styrofoam,  styrene  is  a known hazardous
substance which is a suspected carcinogen and neurotoxin. Many people do
not realize that when they re-heat food in a Styrofoam product  using  a
microwave, toxins may be released into their food.

This  bill  would  address  the environmental impacts of Styrofoam while
allowing for exceptions in cases where there is  no  viable  alternative
product of comparable cost.

FISCAL IMPACT ON THE STATE: Minimal.

EFFECTIVE DATE:  This act shall take effect immediately provided, howev-
er,  that  sections one and two of this act shall take effect on the one
hundred twentieth day after it shall have become a law.

S3419-2013 Text

 S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 
 
                                         3419
 2013-2014 Regular Sessions
 I N  SENATE
 February 1, 2013
 
 Introduced by Sens. KRUEGER, SQUADRON -- read twice and ordered printed,
 and  when  printed  to  be committed to the Committee on Environmental
 Conservation
 

AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to  food
 service waste reduction
 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

 

Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
 the "food service waste reduction act".
 

S  2.  Article  27 of the environmental conservation law is amended by
 adding a new title 28 to read as follows:

 TITLE 28
 FOOD SERVICE WASTE REDUCTION
 SECTION 27-2801. DEFINITIONS.
 27-2803. REQUIRED  COMPOSTABLE  OR  RECYCLABLE  DISPOSABLE  FOOD
 SERVICE WARE.
 27-2805. POWERS OF MUNICIPALITIES.
 

S 27-2801. DEFINITIONS.
 FOR  THE  PURPOSES  OF  THIS TITLE, THE FOLLOWING TERMS SHALL HAVE THE
 FOLLOWING MEANINGS:

 1. "AFFORDABLE" MEANS PURCHASABLE FOR NOT MORE  THAN  FIFTEEN  PERCENT
 MORE  THAN  THE  PURCHASE  COST OF THE NON-COMPOSTABLE OR NON-RECYCLABLE
 ALTERNATIVE.
 2.  "AGENCY" MEANS ANY STATE DEPARTMENT, AGENCY, BOARD, PUBLIC BENEFIT
 CORPORATION, PUBLIC AUTHORITY, OR COMMISSION.
 3.  "COMPOSTABLE" MEANS ALL THE MATERIALS IN THE  PRODUCT  OR  PACKAGE
 WILL  (A)  UNDERGO DEGRADATION BY BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES DURING COMPOSTING
 TO YIELD CARBON DIOXIDE, WATER, INORGANIC COMPOUNDS, AND  BIOMASS  AT  A
 RATE  CONSISTENT WITH OTHER KNOWN COMPOSTABLE MATERIALS AND (B) LEAVE NO
 VISIBLE, DISTINGUISHABLE OR TOXIC RESIDUE, INCLUDING NO  ADVERSE  IMPACT
 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD01237-01-3
 
       S. 3419                             2
 ON  THE  ABILITY  OF  COMPOSTS TO SUPPORT PLANT GROWTH ONCE THE FINISHED
 COMPOST IS PLACED IN SOIL.
 4.  "CONTRACTORS  AND  LESSEES"  MEAN  ANY PERSON OR ENTITY THAT HAS A
 CONTRACT WITH AN AGENCY OR A MUNICIPALITY FOR PUBLIC WORKS  OR  IMPROVE
 MENTS TO BE PERFORMED, FOR A FRANCHISE, CONCESSION OR LEASE OF PROPERTY,
 FOR  GRANT  MONIES  OR GOODS AND SERVICES OR SUPPLIES TO BE PURCHASED AT
 THE EXPENSE OF THE AGENCY OR MUNICIPALITY OR TO BE PAID  OUT  OF  MONIES
 DEPOSITED  IN  THE  TREASURY OR OUT OF TRUST MONIES UNDER THE CONTROL OR
 COLLECTED BY THE AGENCY OR MUNICIPALITY.
 5. "DISPOSABLE FOOD SERVICE WARE" MEANS ALL CONTAINERS, BOWLS, PLATES,
 TRAYS, CARTONS, CUPS, LIDS, STRAWS, FORKS, SPOONS, KNIVES,  NAPKINS  AND
 OTHER  ITEMS  THAT  ARE  DESIGNED  FOR  ONE-TIME USE FOR PREPARED FOODS,
 INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, SERVICE  WARE  FOR  TAKEOUT  FOODS  AND/OR
 LEFTOVERS  FROM  PARTIALLY  CONSUMED MEALS PREPARED BY FOOD VENDORS. THE
 TERM "DISPOSABLE FOOD SERVICE WARE"  DOES  NOT  INCLUDE  ITEMS  COMPOSED
 ENTIRELY OF ALUMINUM OR POLYSTYRENE FOAM COOLERS AND ICE CHESTS THAT ARE
 INTENDED  FOR  REUSE  NOR DOES THIS TERM INCLUDE RECYCLABLE FOOD SERVICE
 WARE.
 6. "MUNICIPALITY" MEANS A VILLAGE,  TOWN,  CITY,  OR  COUNTY,  OR  ANY
 DESIGNATED AGENCY THEREOF.
 7. "POLYSTYRENE FOAM" MEANS BLOWN POLYSTYRENE AND EXPANDED AND EXTRUD
 ED  FOAMS (SOMETIMES CALLED STYROFOAM TM) WHICH ARE THERMOPLASTIC PETRO
 CHEMICAL MATERIALS UTILIZING A STYRENE  MONOMER  AND  PROCESSED  BY  ANY
 NUMBER  OF  TECHNIQUES  INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, FUSION OF POLYMER
 SPHERES (EXPANDABLE BEAD POLYSTYRENE), INJECTION MOLDING, FOAM  MOLDING,
 AND  EXTRUSION-BLOWN  MOLDING  (EXTRUDED  FOAM POLYSTYRENE). POLYSTYRENE
 FOAM IS GENERALLY USED TO MAKE CUPS,  BOWLS,  PLATES,  TRAYS,  CLAMSHELL
 CONTAINERS, MEAT TRAYS AND EGG CARTONS.
 8. "RECYCLABLE" MEANS MATERIAL THAT CAN BE SORTED, CLEANSED AND RECON
 STITUTED  USING  AVAILABLE RECYCLING COLLECTION PROGRAMS FOR THE PURPOSE
 OF USING THE ALTERED FORM IN THE MANUFACTURE OF A NEW PRODUCT. RECYCLING
 DOES NOT INCLUDE BURNING, INCINERATING, CONVERTING, OR  OTHERWISE  THER
 MALLY DESTROYING SOLID WASTE.
 

S  27-2803.  REQUIRED  COMPOSTABLE OR RECYCLABLE DISPOSABLE FOOD SERVICE
 WARE.
 AGENCIES, MUNICIPALITIES, AND THEIR CONTRACTORS AND LESSEES SHALL  USE
 DISPOSABLE  FOOD SERVICE WARE MADE FROM MATERIAL, OTHER THAN POLYSTYRENE
 FOAM, THAT IS COMPOSTABLE OR RECYCLABLE UNLESS THERE  IS  NO  AFFORDABLE
 COMPOSTABLE  OR  RECYCLABLE  PRODUCT  AVAILABLE. NOTHING IN THIS SECTION
 SHALL BE CONSTRUED TO GOVERN THE ACTIVITIES OF CONTRACTORS  AND  LESSEES
 THAT  OCCUR OUTSIDE OF THE STATE OR ACTIVITIES OF CONTRACTORS OF LESSEES
 THAT OCCUR WITH ENTITIES OTHER THAN AGENCIES OR MUNICIPALITIES.
 

S 27-2805. POWERS OF MUNICIPALITIES.
 ANY AGENCY OR MUNICIPALITY MAY PROMULGATE REGULATIONS, ORDINANCES,  OR
 LAWS  TO  TAKE ANY AND ALL REASONABLE ACTIONS NECESSARY TO IMPLEMENT AND
 ENFORCE THIS TITLE.
 

S 3. The department of  environmental  conservation  shall  conduct  a
 study  on  the  desirability,  feasibility and environmental impact of a
 statewide prohibition on the use of disposable food  service  ware  that
 contains  polystyrene foam. The department shall issue a report contain
 ing the results of the study to the legislature no later than the  thir
 ty-first  of  January  next  succeeding the date on which this act shall
 have become a law.
 

S 4. This act shall take effect immediately; provided,  however,  that
 sections  one  and  two of this act shall take effect on the one hundred
 twentieth day after it shall have become a law.

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