TESTIMONY
of
Catherine Plume
Vice Chair, Sierra Club DC Chapter
before the
Transportation and the Environment Committee for
B23-506, the Zero Waste Omnibus Amendment Act of 2019
John A. Wilson Building, Room 123
December 16, 2019
I’m Catherine Plume, the Vice Chair of the DC Chapter of the Sierra Club, a lifelong environmentalist, and a 20-year District resident, and now a proud resident of Ward 4. Thank you, Councilmember Cheh, for convening this hearing and for being a champion of environmental issues in DC.
The Club would like to thank you, and Councilmembers, Gray, Todd, Evans, Nadeau, Grosso, Allen, and Chairman Mendelson for introducing this bill and Councilmember Bonds for co-sponsoring this legislation. The Sierra Club wholeheartedly supports this legislation as we believe that we cannot rely on voluntary efforts alone to address the climate change impacts we face. We have the following comments by Bill category:
Commercial Composting
We are pleased to see a requirement that food service providers in the District would need to compost their food waste. I own a waste reduction business, and as I’ve work with restaurant clients, I’ve found that merely composting food waste will reduce the amount of waste that a restaurant produces by up to 90 percent. Meanwhile, by composting, these businesses are managing their entire waste stream in such a way that:
- reduces the frequency of waste hauling services (and hence the cost of those services);
- reduces vermin, including rats, by managing the food waste versus comingling it with other waste;
- reduces greenhouses gases by keeping food waste out of landfills where it produces methane, a greenhouse gas 84 times more toxic than CO2; and
- doing their part to return vital nutrients to the soil.
We recognize that composting front of the house food waste can result in high contamination rates, so we suggest that the legislation be clarified to indicate that food waste generated back of the house as well as food waste generated by customers but bussed at the back of the house be composted. We suggest that the legislation refer to the EPA food recovery hierarchy of highest and best use of food that includes source reduction, feed hungry people, feed animals, composting, and then landfill or incineration as a final option. DC’s Save Good Food Act even provides tax incentives for businesses to donate food.
We also suggest that the District follow the lead of New York City in adopting commercial waste zones for waste and composting hauling. These zones reduce the number of large vehicles on the streets, improve traffic flow and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while improving overall air quality and reducing asthma rates.
Glass Recycling
While we support the inclusion of glass beverage containers in the legislation, we note that currently, almost all glass recycled in the District is used for landfill cover or roadbeds. We suggest that the mandate for glass recycling also include a requirement that by 2021, the Department of Public Works Office of Waste Diversion will identify a viable glass recycling center where these containers can be taken and either reused or reused in product that has a higher value than landfill cover or roadbed.
Donation and ReUse Center
We support this idea for gently used and surplus materials and the idea of fixit clinics. We suggest that it would be a good to list items that should be included as a part of this program.
Extended Product Responsibility
We are very pleased to see the inclusion of an extended product responsibility program for batteries and sharps. Such programs are long overdue in the District. We would like to see this legislation expanded to cover mattresses. According to the Mattress Recycling Council located in Alexandria, Virginia, up to 80 percent of a mattress can be recycled. But currently, mattresses are discarded in DC’s allies and sidewalks where they become infested by rats. And, we would like to work with your office, the DC Department of Energy and Environment, and the DPW Office of Waste Diversion, and the other area environmental organizations to develop a bottle bill for DC.
Reusable Foodware
In general, we support this legislation though we have concerns about the text beginning on line 791 stating that “(c) Upon the effective date of this section, new business licenses for food service entities shall only be granted to entities that have adequate onsite or offsite dishwashing capacity to comply with subsection (a) of this section”. It is our understanding that this requirement would put several existing businesses out of business. We ask that the final legislation adopted include working with DC’s Department of Health to allow customers to bring in their own reusable service ware at those establishments that do not have onsite dishwashing facilities. The salad restaurant Sweetgreen had a very popular reusable container program that was revoked by the DC Department of Health.
Summary
Again, the Sierra Club wholeheartedly supports this legislation. We feel that it is ambitious but feasible, and necessary. We do have real concerns about how this legislation will be enforced if passed. As you know, there are currently only three staff at DOEE who are responsible for ensuring that the straw ban, bag fee, and compostable carryout materials are abided by. This proposed legislation is much more ambitious and will require a significantly large enforcement force to be viable. This legislation will also require behavior change. We are pleased to see a strong training component embedded in the legislation, but we stress that this training must be provided and adapted at all levels – from DC Government Department Heads to food establishment owners, managers, wait and bussing staff. Training should also be provided in the appropriate language.
We are very pleased to see this legislation that will begin to focus and enforce recycling in DC businesses. However, this legislation will not move the needle on DC’s abysmal residential recycling rate that hovers around 20%. Other municipalities have shown us that a Pay As You Throw program is an excellent tool for reducing waste production and increasing composting and recycling. While we have fought for such a program here in DC for years and your office secured funding for a PAYT pilot, we understand that there are concerns at the highest levels of DPW about even implementing a pilot. This is disturbing. We look forward to a dialogue with DPW about PAYT and we hope your office will be present at those meeting.
As I do presentations on the impact of waste reduction efforts in DC, there’s a data gap and more studies are needed. For example, while there is DOEE data documenting polystyrene waste found in the Nash Run Trash Trap over time, the most recent data on the number of plastic bags found in Anacostia trash traps is from 2012. We need this data to reinforce the impact of these programs, and to encourage other municipalities and states to adopt similar measures.
Finally, while we support this legislation that is designed to reduce waste generated by businesses, we ask that the Councilmember develop similar legislation – or whatever measures are needed to ensure that all DC Government agencies, facilities, and staff abide by these same, if not more rigorous measures. DC agencies, facilities, and staff, whether wittingly or not, serve as role models for the business and citizen community. Seeing high level officials – even those involved directly in waste diversion efforts - continue to demonstrate unsustainable practices makes businesses feel that they are being held to legislation that the DC government is not.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.