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Yesterday, I testified in front of the House Environment and Transportation Committee for HB42, one of our top priority bills, which would create a collection of new grants for Zero Waste programs and infrastructure with dedicated new funding. Check out my testimony below, watch the recording of the hearing here, and take a moment today to contact your own Senator and Delegates to support the Wasted Food Reduction and Diversion Fund

 

HB42
Solid Waste Disposal Surcharge and 
Wasted Food Reduction and Diversion Fund and Grant Programs 
House Environment and Transportation Committee
January 29, 2025

Position: Favorable 

In recent years, Maryland has made great legislative progress on composting, passing the organic food waste diversion mandate and the on-farm compost permit exemption. But the big issue for small businesses and communities pursuing these projects is funding. This issue is not unique to Maryland.

In 2024, the University of Texas and the University of California-San Diego released a report analyzing the impact of state organic waste diversion bills on reducing landfill methane emissions. The report cites Massachusetts as a nationwide leader in food waste reduction.

Massachusetts has made enormous progress. Its efforts have led to a 25.7% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions from landfills. Massachusetts is diverting 380,000 tons of food waste annually.

One major reason the researchers believed this has occurred in Massachusetts is because Massachusetts invested in businesses and communities to support infrastructure and programs to make the policy a success. This investment in local businesses created new jobs. Maryland can achieve the same results by investing in food waste reduction and diversion programming, by passing HB42. 

Once concern we've heard is a fear that the surcharge included in the bill to fund these programs would drive trash disposal out of the state, so we did some analysis. What we found is that in many cases, the $2 surcharge is a small enough portion of the tipping fee that the transportation costs play a more significant role in determining final disposal cost. 

For example, Maryland’s average tipping fee is $64.25, while Virginia and West Virginia are $65 and Pennsylvania comes in at $92, according to a database maintained by the Environmental Research & Education Foundation. This is the fee that waste haulers pay per ton of trash to dispose of it at a landfill, incinerator, or tipping station. These figures and the fuel and personnel costs show that the $2 per ton surcharge that will fund these great grant programs won't drive haulers to bring trash out of the state instead of to destinations in Maryland.

Creating the infrastructure and programming to divert more waste out of our landfills not only reduces methane emissions, but it also reduces the volume going into the landfill - extending its life. The 2023 Maryland Solid Waste Management and Diversion Report estimates 21 years of landfill life remaining, not including population growth. Passing HB42 will help stretch those years and give us more landfill capacity in the coming decades.

For these reasons and many of the others you have already heard today, we urge a favorable report.
 

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