debris; household and lead acid batteries; PVC plastics and plastics containing metals used as a pigment, coloring agent or stabilizer, as labelled in sec. ——; yard wastes; tires; specified household hazardous wastes; consumer electronics.

9. Enhance the management of incinerator ash:

i. Regulate ash from existing incinerators as a hazardous waste under Subtitle C of RCRA;

ii. The ash should be deposited in a monofill used only for incinerator ash;

iii. The monofill must meet minimal technical requirements for hazardous waste landfills (e.g., double composite liner systems with dual leachate collection systems); iv. Existing facilities should comply with the above standards within three years; v. Prohibit any utilization of incinerator ash.

10. Standardize waste management costing and capacity measurements:

Establish nationally consistent costing criteria and guidelines. This should include a standard methodology for States to measure, by volume, weight, and/or British thermal units, as appropriate, the waste management capacity of landfills, recycling facilities (including intermediate processing facilities for recyclable and end-use manufacturing facilities), and incinerators; and criteria for assessing the life-cycle costs and costeffectiveness of recycling, incineration and landfilling, including, inter alia, the costs of environmental remediation, capital costs, debt service, insurance liabilities, etc.

11. No Federal overrides:

Provisions for any override of local zoning ordinances to site solid waste facilities must be avoided and would be unprecedented.

that would not be available without virgin paper production.

For further information contact Allen Hershkowitz or Jonathan Kimmelman at (212) 727-4479.

STATEMENT OF THE SOLID WASTE COMPOSTING COUNCIL

The Solid Waste Composting Council supports the recycling of all organic id inorganic materials in the solid waste stream. Paper, which is organic, should be recycled as paper whenever practical. Composting, a form of recycling, provides a means of reclaiming the organic fraction of the solid waste stream for reuse in agriculture, horticulture, id landscaping. The naturally occurring microorganisms that do the work of composting require only controlled doses of air id water to convert organic wastes into humus-rich compost.

In Beyond 40 Percent, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance examined record-setting recycling programs in communities of all sizes. A major conclusion of the report is that composting is the key to achieving high material recovery rates. In diverting waste from landfills, id in recycling organic waste, it has no equal. It is the recycling method that addresses the largest portion of the waste stream.

The compost produced from solid waste has consistently met existing State standards and proposed EPA standards for safety. Further, compost use has many environmental benefits. It has been shown to promote plant growth, suppress plant disease, and reduce soil erosion. It is recommended by the EPA as a method of reducing non-point source pollution.

The many academics active in the Council have considerable experience in compost safety and application. In a letter written to the EPA, Dr. Wayne Smith of the University of Florida described composting as “an environmentally benign id economically sound recycling alternative". His experiments noted that compost "significantly benefitted a forest planting without any detectable adverse impact after 16 years". Dr. Francis Gouin, Chairman of the Department of Horticulture at the University of Maryland, wrote that

I have been conducting research on the utilization of composted products since 1973. I can assure you that compost, generated by adopting composting as a primary method for recycling, would have a beneficial effect on the environment, help reduce our trade deficit as well as significantly reduce the amount of solid waste entering landfills. In addition to reducing our fertiler needs, the use of compost in agriculture ad in urban horticulture would reduce chances for potential ground ad surface water containination by chemical fertilers.

The Council supports and hopes to work further with the Environmental Protection Agency in setting standards for contaminants in compost, in developing procurement guidelines for State and Federal agencies, in developing markets for compost, and in encouraging public officials to consider composting when designing their recycling programs.

The Council favors maximum separation of compostables from other recyclables and contaminants, whether that separation happens at the curbside, at the facility, or (as is the rule) with the help of both. In all cases, household hazardous waste should be separated at the source.

Further, we strongly support the EPA's hierarchy of waste management, explained in their The Municipal Solid Waste Dilemmas: Challenges for the 90's, which is as follows: 1st, Source Reduction; 2nd, Recycling/Composting; 3rd, Incineration; and 4th, Landfills. Composting should be a part of any integrated waste management system: The separation of recyclables before composting improves the purity of both the recyclable and compostable materials; wet organic materials are problematic to incinerators and lead to methane emissions (an ozone depleting gas) in landfills.

In the U.S., there are now close to 1500 yard waste composting facilities, over 100 sludge composting facilities, and 13 solid waste composting facilities. Rapid growth is expected for all: for example, over 40 solid waste facilities are in advanced development, over 100 in early planning, with 6 more coming on-line in 1991 alone.

Minnesota and Florida together have half of the existing solid waste facilities, and about a quarter of projects in development. As a first step these States put enabling legislation and regulation in place, including mandates for high levels of landfill diversion. They have defined solid waste composting as a form of recycling and have tilted the economics in favor of preferred solutions. They've initiated compost market development, including mandates for compost use by State agencies.

The Council encourages the Committee to seriously consider the role composting should play in a comprehensive recycling and waste management program. As stated by Congressman Hochbrueckner, it is the "sleeping giant of waste management". And as State and national recycling goals become increasingly aggressive,

the recycling of organic into compost for beneficial reuse should, with the help of guiding legislation, become an important part of the picture.

SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS TO S.976

Sec. 102 Sec. 1003 (b)(1) insert "/composting" after "recycling”.

Sec. 102 Sec. 1003 (b) (3) insert "/composting" after "recycling" each time it ap

pears.

Sec. 104 Sec. 1004(44) insert", composted" after "separated".

Sec. 104 Sec. 1004(45) insert "/composted" after "recycled" each time it appears. Sec. 104 Sec. 1004(47) insert "or organic matter" after "elements", and insert "or agronomic" after "industrial".

Sec. 104 Sec. 1004(51) (new) “The term 'organic waste' moans the portion of the solid waste stream consisting largely of carbonaceous materials, including yard waste, food waste, soiled paper waste, and other unrecycled paper waste.”

Sec. 104 Sec. 1004(53) (new) "The term 'composting' moans the controlled biological decomposition of organic matter into a humus-like product."

Sec. 203 Sec. 5009 (a) strike "eleven", insert in lieu thereof "twelve".

Sec. 203 Sec. 5009 (a) (7) strike "and".

Sec. 203 Sec. 5009 (a) (8) strike the period following "plastic", insert "; and" after "plastic".

Sec. 203 Sec. 5009 (a) (9) (new) “An individual with expertise in the recycling and composting of packaging.'

Sec. 203 Sec. 5009 (b) (1) (C) strike "recycling and reuse", insert "reuse, recycling and composting"

Sec. 203 Sec. 5009 (b) (3) (S) strike "and" after "recyclability", insert in lieu therecompostability,

of."

Sec. 203 Sec. 5009 (c) (2) (C) strike “recycling and reuse", insert "reuse, recycling and composting"

Sec. 301 Sec. 6005 insert "/composted" after "recycled" each time it appears, and strike "yard wastes". Strike "25" and insert in lieu thereof "35", strike "50" and insert in lieu thereof "60".

Sec. 302 Sec. 6006 (a) insert", organic wastes" after "products".
Sec. 302 Sec. 6006 (a) (2) insert "/composting" after "recycling".

Sec. 302 Sec. 6006 (b) (4) is renumbered as (5).

Sec. 302 Sec. 6006 (b) (4) (new) "Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), the minimum annual recovery and utilization rate of organic wastes, recovered as compost, shall be no less than 25 per centum by December 31, 1995."

Sec. 302 Sec. 6006 (b) (5) (D) (new) "Not later than April 31, 1992, the Administrator shall compile and publish a list indicating the average annual amount of recycled material (in the form of compost) used by Federal and State agencies in landscaping, erosion control, land reclamation, or similar activity."

Sec. 302 Sec. 6006 (c) insert "/composting" after "recycling" each time it appears. Sec. 302 Sec. 6006 (c) (2) insert "/composted" after "recycled" each time it ap

pears.

Sec. 303 Sec. 6007 (a) (1) insert "/composting" after "recycling".

Sec. 303 Sec. 6007 (a) (2) (A) insert "/composting" after "recycling" each time it appears, insert "(including compost)" after "materials".

Sec. 303 Sec. 6007 (a) (2) (S) insert "(including composting)" after "goals". Sec. 303 Sec. 6007 (b) insert "and compostable" after "recyclable" each time it appears. Sec. 303 Sec. 6007 (e) insert "/composting" after "recycling' the first time it appears, strike "yard waste" and insert in lieu thereof "organic wastes', insert ",composting facilities" after "facilities", and insert "/composted" after "recycled". Sec. 304 Sec. 6002 (i) strike "fertilizer" each time it appears, insert each time in lieu thereof "soil amendments". Strike "USDA", insert in lieu thereof "Federal Agency". Strike "The Secretary of Agriculture", insert in lieu thereof "The Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior"; strike "a program”, insert in lieu thereof "programs"; insert "of the Interior, respectively, or" after "or"; insert "or the Secretary of the Interior" after "by the Secretary of Agriculture". Insert "The Secretary of Transportation shall establish guidelines for the Federal Highway Administration to include the purchase of soil amendments made with composted solid waste or secondary materials." after "materials".

Sec: 307 Sec. 6009 (a) (1) (A) insert "/composted" after "recycled", strike "an item", insert in lieu thereof "a product".

Sec. 401 Sec. 4001 (b)(5) insert "(including compost)" after "materials".
Sec. 402 Sec. 4003 (a) (4) (S) insert "/composting" after "recycling".
Sec. 402 Sec. 4003 (a) (4) (C) (ii) insert "/composted" after "recycled".