In a move that brings Hawaii closer to establishing an extended producer responsibility (EPR) program for packaging, Hawaii Governor Josh Green last week signed a bill directing the state’s Department of Health to produce a statewide recycling needs assessment by the end of 2027.

The bill in question—House Bill 750—takes effect July 1 and provides the Department of Health $1.5 million a year for the next two years to conduct the study.

The bill expresses concern that solid waste may soon exceed landfill capacity in all of Hawaii’s counties, adding that the state would benefit from reduced waste production by expanding alternative strategies like reuse, refill, composting, and recycling.

“The department of health shall conduct a statewide needs assessment to determine what will be needed to reduce waste generation, increase reuse, improve collection services, and expand local processing of materials through an extended producer responsibility program for packaging materials and paper products,” the bill reads.

The bill adds: “The needs assessment shall detail the resources required in each county to reduce as much as feasible the packaging materials waste and paper products that the county sends to a landfill or power plant that burns municipal solid waste.”

The bill states that the needs assessment will consider—among other things— the following: 

• Waste and recycling characterizations, including baseline studies of what is in the waste stream, what is being recycled, what is being composted, and how these vary across local jurisdictions.
• Existing collection infrastructure, including: (a) What materials are being collected and the processes and procedures for collection; (b) Who currently has access to refuse, recycling, and composting collection services; (c) How collection services are arranged and funded; and (d) Improvements in services needed.
• Markets, including the state of markets for recovered materials and finished compost.
• Education, including the effectiveness of the existing outreach in educating residents.
• Levels of contamination in collected packaging materials and organics for composting.
• The impact of the composition of packaging materials on the reuse, recyclability, and compostability of packaging materials.
• An evaluation of how EPR program laws are designed and work in other states and countries.