CONTENT
The bill would add Part 175 (Recycling Reporting) to the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act to do the following:
-- Require a recycling establishment to register annually with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
-- For recycling activities occurring on or after October 1, 2016, require a recycling establishment to report to the DEQ the amount of recyclable material received by and shipped from the establishment, broken down into specified categories.
-- Allow a person that was not a recycling establishment to report to the DEQ voluntarily.
-- Provide for the confidentiality of identifying information contained in a report from a recycling establishment.
-- Allow the DEQ to aggregate report data to determine statewide quantities of recyclable materials that were recycled.
-- By January 31, 2018, and then annually, require the DEQ to report to the Legislature on Part 175.
The bill would take effect 90 days after its enactment.
Registration
The bill would require a recycling establishment annually to register with the DEQ on a form provided by the Department and containing the establishment's name, location, postal mailing address, electronic mail address, and telephone number, as well as the name of the establishment's contact person. The recycling establishment would have to register each year by July 1. A recycling establishment established after the bill's effective date and between June 1 and December 1 would have to first register within 30 days after it was established.
"Recycling establishment" would mean an establishment engaged in recycling of, or brokering of, reportable recyclable materials. The term would exclude all of the following:
-- An establishment that recycles fewer than 100 tons per year.
-- A retail establishment that bales cardboard packaging for off-site shipment.
-- A retail establishment that collects returnable beverage containers for transfer to a recycling establishment.
-- An end user of reportable recyclable materials such as a paper mill, steel mill, foundry, or die caster that converts the materials into new products or raw materials for conversion into new products.
-- A drop-off recycling location that sends all reportable recyclable materials to a registered recycling establishment.
-- An establishment that ships reportable recyclable material to registered recycling establishments but that does not engage in other recycling.
"Recycling" would mean an action or process, such as separation, sorting, baling, or shipping, applied to reportable recyclable materials for the purposes of reuse or conversion into raw materials or new products.
"Reportable recyclable materials" would mean any of the following categories of recyclable materials that are separated from household and/or commercial waste and that are delivered to a recycling establishment for recycling: glass; paper and paper products; plastic and plastic products; ferrous metal, including white goods; nonferrous metal; textiles; and single stream recyclable materials that include any combination of the materials listed above. "Reportable recyclable materials" would not include the following:
-- Materials or products that contain iron, steel, or nonferrous metals and that are directed to or received by a person subject to the Scrap Metal Regulatory Act, or by a reuser of these metals.
-- Materials generated from the shredding or dismantling of motor vehicles or parts of motor vehicles.
-- A beneficial use by-product.
-- A covered electronic device reported under Part 173 (Electronics).
(Part 173 prescribes registration and reporting requirements for manufacturers that sell, and recyclers of, covered electronic devices (i.e., computers and video display devices used primarily for personal or small business purposes).)
"Household waste" would mean any solid waste that is derived from single residences, excluding commercial waste, industrial waste, and construction and demolition waste. "Commercial waste" would mean all types of solid waste generated by stores, offices, restaurants, warehouses, and other nonmanufacturing activities, excluding household waste from single residences, hazardous waste, and industrial waste. The term would include solid waste from any of the following: multiple residences, hotels and motels, bunkhouses, ranger stations, campgrounds, picnic grounds, and day-use recreation areas.
Reporting
A recycling establishment in Michigan would have to report to the DEQ the amount of each category of reportable recyclable material received by and the amount shipped from the establishment. For each State fiscal year, the recycling establishment, at its option, would have to submit either an annual report or four quarterly reports. If the establishment opted to submit an annual report covering the October 1 to September 30 State fiscal year, the report would have to be submitted by the following November 15. If the establishment chose to submit quarterly reports, they would have to be submitted by the following dates:
-- For the October 1 to December 31 quarter, by the following February 15.
-- For the January to March 31 quarter, by the following May 15.
-- For the April 1 to June 30 quarter, by the following August 15.
-- For the July 1 to September 30 quarter, by the following November 15.
A report would have to specify quantities of
reportable recyclable materials in tons. Quantities could be determined using a
volume-to-weight conversion formula provided by the DEQ. A report could provide
only aggregate quantities for multiple recycling establishments if it
identified each establishment covered by the report. A report would have to be
submitted in the manner provided by the DEQ, and would have to comply with any
reporting guidelines
established by the Department to ensure that materials were not counted more than once. A report would not have to cover recycling establishment activities occurring before October 1, 2016. A person that was not a recycling establishment could voluntarily submit reports under proposed Part 175.
Except as otherwise provided, information contained in a report from a recycling establishment under Part 175 would be confidential, could not be disclosed by the DEQ, and would be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
The DEQ could aggregate data contained within the reports for the purpose of determining statewide quantities of reportable recyclable materials that were recycled. The confidentiality requirement would not apply to the aggregated data but would apply to information identifying a recycling establishment.
DEQ Responsibilities
The DEQ annually would have to post on its website the aggregated amount of reportable recyclable materials that were recycled during the preceding State fiscal year, both in total and by category.
By January 31, 2018, and each year after that, the DEQ, after consultation with interested parties, would have to submit to the Legislature a report on Part 175, including the information posted on the Department's website and any recommendations for amendments to Part 175.
Proposed MCL 324.17501-324.17505 Legislative Analyst: Julie Cassidy
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have a minor, but negative fiscal impact on the Department of Environmental Quality, and no fiscal impact on local units of government. Under the bill, the DEQ would have to develop forms for recycling establishments to use for reporting, receive those reports, and publish an annual report aggregating the contents of the reports from recycling establishments that it had received. All of these requirements would introduce some new, but likely minor administrative costs to the DEQ. Beginning in fiscal year 2014-15, the DEQ has been appropriated about $1.0 million annually from the State General Fund for a new recycling initiative intended to increase the availability of residential recycling and to develop markets within Michigan for recycled products. While the bill does not specify how any new costs introduced by the bill would be covered, it is likely that some of the appropriated funds could be used to cover those costs.
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.