Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has signed contentious waste and recycling bill HB 6664 into law despite voicing concerns that it won’t provide sustainable waste management solutions compared with the version he introduced in January.
Lamont, along with Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes, first introduced the sweeping bill as a way to maximize waste reduction and prevent significant amounts of waste from leaving the state, but the bill has undergone numerous major changes since then. The bill was drafted after last year’s closure of a major waste-to-energy facility owned by the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority, which left the state wondering how to handle about 720,000 tons of annual disposal capacity.
In a letter accompanying the signed law, Lamont expressed disappointment with many of the changes, saying the version he proposed would have “returned Connecticut to self-sufficiency and significantly reduced, if not eliminated, our reliance on out-of-state landfills to manage our waste.” The state ships about 860,000 tons of solid waste out of state each year, mainly to landfills in Pennsylvania and Ohio, which is “both environmentally and fiscally irresponsible,” he wrote.
Lamont said the signed law will help divert “at best” 45,000 tons a year and offers “no clear path for developing new disposal infrastructure, addressing only 5% of this pressing problem.”
The final law establishes an expanded organics separation program, including at institutions like hospitals and schools, and sets mandatory rates for recycled content for certain plastic beverage containers. It also includes details on restructuring major state solid waste management services and giving the state more authority to manage MIRA’s board.
The law calls for exploring new systems for processing waste within the state, and financing could eventually come from up to $500 million in bonds from the Connecticut Green Bank, a quasi-public agency meant to fund renewable energy projects.
The law also calls for DEEP to issue a request for information on systems for managing solid waste generated in the state that isn’t otherwise diverted from the waste stream. That RFI process could include information on waste gasification systems, which some environmental groups have criticized.
Lamont called the state’s waste-to-energy plants “partners” that are necessary to helping the state meet solid waste management goals. Yet he voiced concerns with a provision that raises electric rates to collect an additional $5 million a year in subsidies for WTE operations “with no guarantee that providing those subsidies will extend the life or preserve the capacity of those facilities.”
He also criticized the structure of the bill’s provisions outlining how to wind down MIRA, saying leadership wouldn’t be required to have “relevant expertise” and that taxpayers would likely have to fund remediation costs at MIRA sites. Plus the bill gives too much authority to one municipality, he said; the CT Mirror reported this is likely a reference to Hartford, since the city has a closed waste-to-energy plant that had been operated by MIRA.
Other notable changes to the bill included deleting an extended producer responsibility program for packaging and removing a provision that would have required municipalities to provide food scrap separation and collection by 2028.
Lamont called for the legislature to “work collaboratively” in the next session on more comprehensive solutions. One approach he supports is expanding municipal organics diversion programs DEEP has funded in recent years.
