An Act concerning recycling requirements at commercial and institutional premises and amending P.L.1987, c.102.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. Section 2 of P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.12) is amended to read as follows:

2. As used in sections 1 through 24 and sections 40 and 41 of P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.11 through 13:1E-99.32 and 13:1E-99.33 and 13:1E-99.34):

"Agricultural or horticultural land" means land deemed actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural use pursuant to the "Farmland Assessment Act of 1964," P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.);

"Beverage" means milk, alcoholic beverages, including beer or other malt beverages, liquor, wine, vermouth and sparkling wine, and nonalcoholic beverages, including fruit juice, mineral water and soda water and similar nonalcoholic carbonated and noncarbonated drinks intended for human consumption;

"Beverage container" means an individual, separate, hermetically sealed, or made airtight with a metal or plastic cap, bottle or can composed of glass, metal, plastic or any combination thereof, containing a beverage;

"Commingled" means a combining of nonputrescible source separated recyclable materials for the purpose of recycling;

"County" means any county of this State of whatever class;

"Department" means the Department of Environmental Protection;

"Designated recyclable materials" means those recyclable materials, including metal, glass, paper, or plastic, polycoated paperboard packaging, including beverage containers and aseptic packaging, food waste, corrugated and other cardboard, newspaper, magazines, or high-grade office paper designated in a district recycling plan to be source separated in a municipality pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.13);

"Disposition" or "disposition of designated recyclable materials" means the transportation, placement, reuse, sale, donation, transfer or temporary storage for a period not exceeding six months of designated recyclable materials for all possible uses except for disposal as solid waste;

"District" means a solid waste management district as designated by section 10 of P.L.1975, c.326 (C.13:1E-19), except that, as used in the provisions of P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.11 et seq.), "district" shall not include the Hackensack Meadowlands District;

"District recycling plan" means the plan prepared and adopted by the governing body of a county and approved by the department to implement the State Recycling Plan goals pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.13);

"Eligible commercial or institutional waste" means solid waste generated at a commercial or institutional premises, limited to the following solid waste ID types: Type 10 Municipal; Type 13 Bulky waste; Type 13C Construction and Demolition waste; and Type 27 Dry industrial waste, as defined pursuant to N.J.A.C.7:26-2.13;

"Leaf composting facility" means a solid waste facility which is designed and operated solely for the purpose of composting leaves and shall also include leaf mulching operations on land deemed actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural use as defined in section 5 of P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.5);

"Market" or "markets" means the disposition of designated recyclable materials;

"Materials recovery facility" means a "materials recovery facility" as defined pursuant to section 3 of P.L.2007, c.311 (C.13:1E-96.4);

"Municipality" means any city, borough, town, township or village situated within the boundaries of this State;

"Municipal solid waste stream" means all residential, commercial and institutional solid waste generated within the boundaries of any municipality;

"Paper" means all paper grades, including but not limited to, newspaper, corrugated and other cardboard, high-grade office paper, fine paper, bond paper, offset paper, xerographic paper, mimeo paper, duplicator paper, and related types of cellulosic material containing not more than 10% by weight or volume of non-cellulosic material such as laminates, binders, coatings, or saturants;

"Paper product" means any paper items or commodities, including but not limited to, paper napkins, towels, construction material, toilet tissue, paper and related types of cellulosic products containing not more than 10% by weight or volume of non-cellulosic material such as laminates, binders, coatings, or saturants;

"Plastic container" means any formed or molded and hermetically sealed, or made airtight with a metal or plastic cap, rigid container with a minimum wall thickness of not less than 0.010 inches, and composed primarily of thermoplastic synthetic polymeric material;

"Post-consumer waste material" means any finished product generated by a business or consumer which has served its intended end use, and which has been separated from solid waste for the purposes of collection, recycling and disposition and which does not include secondary waste material;

"Recognized academic institution" means any of the following educational or research institutions located in this State: a duly authorized institution of higher education licensed by the Board of Higher Education; a public school operated by a local school district; a private vocational school; or a nonpublic school satisfying the State's compulsory attendance requirements;

"Recyclable material" means those materials which would otherwise become solid waste, and which may be collected, separated or processed and returned to the economic mainstream in the form of raw materials or products;

"Recycled paper" means any paper having a total weight consisting of not less than 50% secondary waste paper material and with not less than 10% of its total weight consisting of post-consumer waste material;

"Recycled paper product" means any paper product consisting of not less than 50% secondary waste paper material and with not less than 10% of its total weight consisting of post-consumer waste material;

"Recycled product" or "product made from recycled material" means any nonpaper item or commodity which is manufactured or produced in whole or in part from post-consumer waste material;

"Recycling" means any process by which materials which would otherwise become solid waste are collected, separated or processed and returned to the economic mainstream in the form of raw materials or products;

"Recycling center" means any facility designed and operated solely for receiving, storing, processing or transferring source separated recyclable materials; except that "recycling center" shall not include a scrap processing facility;

"Recycling services" means the services provided by persons engaging in the business of recycling, including the collection, transportation, processing, storage, purchase, sale or disposition, or any combination thereof, of recyclable materials;

"Scrap processing facility" means a commercial industrial facility designed and operated for receiving, storing, processing and transferring source separated, nonputrescible ferrous and nonferrous metal, which materials are purchased by the owner or operator thereof, and which are altered or reduced in volume or physical characteristics onsite by mechanical methods, including but not limited to baling, cutting, torching, crushing, or shredding, for the purposes of resale for remelting, refining, smelting or remanufacturing into raw materials or products;

"Secondary waste material" means waste material generated after the completion of a manufacturing process;

"Secondary waste paper material" means paper waste generated after the completion of a paper making process, such as envelope cuttings, bindery trimmings, printing waste, cutting and other converting waste, butt rolls and mill wrappers; except that secondary waste paper material shall not include fibrous waste generated during the manufacturing process, such as fibers recovered from waste water or trimmings of paper machine rolls, fibrous byproducts of harvesting, extractive or woodcutting processes, or forest residue such as bark, or mill broke;

"Source separated recyclable materials" means recyclable materials which are separated at the point of generation by the generator thereof from solid waste for the purposes of recycling;

"Source separation" or "source separated" means the process by which recyclable materials are separated at the point of generation by the generator thereof from solid waste for the purposes of recycling;

"Vegetative waste composting facility" means a solid waste facility which is designed and operated for the purpose of composting leaves, either exclusively or in combination with other vegetative wastes authorized by the department.

(cf: P.L.1994, c.122, s.1)

2. Section 6 of P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.16) is amended to read as follows:

6. Each municipality in this State shall, by January 13, 2012, designate one or more persons as the municipal certified recycling coordinator. For the purposes of this section, "municipal certified recycling coordinator" means a person who shall have completed the requirements of a course of instruction in various aspects of recycling program management, as determined and administered by the department.

Each municipality shall establish and implement a municipal recycling program in accordance with the following requirements:

a. Each municipality shall provide for a collection system for the recycling of the recyclable materials designated in the district recycling plan as may be necessary to achieve the designated recovery targets set forth in the plan in those instances where a recycling collection system is not otherwise provided for by the generator or by the county, interlocal service agreement or joint service program, or other private or public recycling program operator.

b. The governing body of each municipality shall adopt an ordinance which requires , except as otherwise provided pursuant to paragraph (2) of subsection d. of this section, persons generating municipal solid waste within its municipal boundaries to source separate from the municipal solid waste stream, in addition to leaves, the specified recyclable materials for which markets have been secured and, unless recycling is otherwise provided for by the generator, place these specified recyclable materials for collection in the manner provided by the ordinance.

c. The governing body of each municipality shall, at least once every 36 months, conduct a review and make necessary revisions to the master plan and development regulations adopted pursuant to P.L.1975, c.291 (C.40:55D-1 et seq.), which revisions shall reflect changes in federal, State, county and municipal laws, policies and objectives concerning the collection, disposition and recycling of designated recyclable materials.

The revised master plan shall include provisions for the collection, disposition and recycling of recyclable materials designated in the municipal recycling ordinance adopted pursuant to subsection b. of this section, and for the collection, disposition and recycling of designated recyclable materials within any development proposal for the construction of 50 or more units of single-family residential housing or 25 or more units of multi-family residential housing and any commercial or industrial development proposal for the utilization of 1,000 square feet or more of land.

d. The governing body of a municipality may exempt persons occupying commercial and institutional premises within its municipal boundaries from the source separation requirements of the ordinance adopted pursuant to subsection b. of this section if those persons have otherwise provided for the recycling of the recyclable materials designated in the district recycling plan from solid waste generated at those premises. To be eligible for an exemption pursuant to this subsection, a commercial or institutional solid waste generator annually shall provide written documentation to the municipality of the total number of tons recycled.

(2) (a) In addition to any exemption provided by a municipality pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection, persons occupying commercial and institutional premises shall be exempt from the source separation requirements of any municipal ordinance adopted pursuant to subsection b. of this section for eligible commercial or institutional waste, provided that:

(i) the commercial or institutional solid waste generator otherwise provides for the processing of the eligible commercial or institutional waste at a materials recovery facility certified pursuant to subparagraph (b) of this paragraph in a manner sufficient to ensure the recycling of any recyclable materials designated in the district recycling plan; and

(ii) the commercial or institutional solid waste generator annually provides written documentation to the municipality of the total number of tons recycled from the eligible commercial or institutional waste pursuant to this paragraph.

(b) The department shall provide for a certification process by which a materials recovery facility achieving recycling rates consistent with the goals of the Statewide solid waste management plan adopted pursuant to section 6 of P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-6) may be designated as a certified materials recovery facility for purposes of processing eligible commercial or institutional waste pursuant to subparagraph a. of this paragraph.

e. The governing body of each municipality shall, on or before July 1 of each year, submit a recycling tonnage report to the New Jersey Office of Recycling in accordance with rules and regulations adopted by the department therefor.

f. The governing body of each municipality shall, at least once every six months, notify all persons occupying residential, commercial, and institutional premises within its municipal boundaries of local recycling opportunities, and the source separation requirements of the ordinance. In order to fulfill the notification requirements of this subsection, the governing body of a municipality may, in its discretion, place an advertisement in a newspaper circulating in the municipality, post a notice in public places where public notices are customarily posted, include a notice with other official notifications periodically mailed to residential taxpayers, or any combination thereof, as the municipality deems necessary and appropriate.

The governing body of a municipality that adopts a recycling ordinance pursuant to subsection b. of this section may limit the collection of designated recyclable materials to specified operating hours in order to preserve the peace and quiet in neighborhoods during the hours when most residents are asleep.

(cf: P.L.2009, c.164, s.1)

3. This act shall take effect on the 180th day after the date of enactment.

STATEMENT

This bill would provide an exemption from the source separation requirements of municipal recycling ordinances for persons occupying commercial and institutional premises so long as the materials required to be recycled are otherwise recycled in accordance with certain conditions and requirements set forth in the bill. Specifically, the commercial or institutional solid waste generator would be required to provide for the processing of the recyclable materials at a materials recovery facility that is certified by the Department of Environmental Protection as achieving recycling rates consistent with the goals of the Statewide solid waste management plan. In addition, the commercial or institutional solid waste generator would be required to annually provide written documentation to the municipality of the total number of tons recycled from any commercial or institutional waste that is exempted from municipal source separation requirements under to the bill.