House Bill 6006
Sponsor: Rep. Patricia Birkholz
Committee: Conservation, Environment
and Recreation
Complete to 9-21-98
A SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 6006 AS INTRODUCED 7-2-98
By-products that are processed from, or are a residual from, fruits, vegetables, sugar beets, or field crops are excluded from the definition of "solid waste" under Part 115 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA), which regulates solid waste management. House Bill 6006 would amend the NREPA to redefine these by-products, and to specify that they could be included in composting operations. Under the bill, they would be defined, in part, as "source separated materials", which could be either "food processing residuals" or "forest products."
Food Processing Residuals. "Food processing residuals" would be defined under the bill to mean any of the following:
** Residuals of fruits, vegetables, aquatic plants, or field crops.
** Otherwise unusable by-products from the processing of fruits, vegetables, aquatic plans, or field crops.
** Otherwise unusable food products which do not meet size, quality, or other product specification and which were intended for human or animal consumption.
Forest Product Residuals. "Forest product residuals" would be defined under the bill, to mean bark, wood chips, sawdust, wood fines, or other wood fiber by-products resulting from the processing of logs or other raw wood materials used in conjunction with the manufacture of paper, furniture, or other wood products. "Forest product residuals" would not include residuals from the processing of logs or other raw wood materials with paint, chemical treatments, or glue.
Other. Under the bill, "solid waste," would not include aquatic plants that were applied on -- or composted and applied on -- farmland or forestland for an agricultural or silvicultural purpose. Also, a composting plant would not be considered a solid waste processing plant, regardless of the volume of materials handled, if it otherwise satisfied Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) rules.
MCL 324.11503 and 324.11506
Analyst: R. Young