Recycling Advocates Seek Reform

The 105th Congress was recently sworn in, and many members are vowing to work together to craft legislation in a more cooperative environment. With a number of recycling and recycling-related bills being discussed, many in the recycling industry are wondering whether this more harmonious Congress will allow for federal legislation to be passed into law, or whether political rhetoric will slow the process.

President Clinton is stressing the need for joint cooperation in drafting legislation to steer the country forward. Leaders of the opposition, at least initially, are calling for the same bipartisan support from both Democrats and Republicans. Senator Trent Lott (R-MS), the senate majority leader, announced that passing environmental legislation would be one of this Congress’ top ten priorities.

This looks like a positive sign for getting legislation through Congress, but observers say that’s not necessarily true – while initial indications show more willingness to work out compromises on many legislative issues, extreme partisan differences are still the norm.

For many recyclers, the most crucial bill for this Congress is the reauthorization of Superfund. Sen. Bob Smith, (R-VT), chairman of the subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Control and Risk Assessment, introduced Senate Bill 8, reauthorizing Superfund, in January. There is expected to be a full committee hearing this month. Smith has worked on various Superfund bills with other members of the full committee since he was named to the Committee on the Environment and Public Works.

The Superfund bill submitted includes an exemption for recyclers who properly handle and process materials. The bill, which ISRI has been lobbing hard for, makes a clear distinction between the definitions of waste and recyclables. Clare Hessler, director of federal and state policy for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Washington, says the exemption for recyclers is similar to one that was included in Superfund legislation in both the 103rd and 104th Congress.

What the exemption does is clarify that any recycler involved in a bona fide recycling transaction is exempt from third-party liability. This may include being paid for a material, meeting industry specifications, or showing that the material supplied to the site was used as a substitute for virgin material. According to Hessler, under present EPA definitions, recyclers are included as a solid waste, and could be drawn into a third-party liability situation if a site they are supplying is deemed a Superfund site.

The bill doesn't specifically list ways to define who is a recycler, although, Hessler points out, there are ways for the regulatory agency to show it. "There are records of the transaction – documentation for prices paid and material supplied. Even if the recyclable is delivered to the end consumer at no charge, the material clearly has value."

Negotiations between Democrats and Republicans already have resulted in the bill "moving to the middle," according to Lisa Harrison, a spokeswoman for Sen. Smith. She echoes the sentiment others have expressed that leaders from both parties are becoming ideological moderates.

In addition to Smith, key senators on the Environment Committee include Sen. John Chafee, (R-RI), chairman of the committee; Sen Max Baucus, (D-MT), minority leader of the full committee; and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), minority leader of the Superfund subcommittee.

Tom Wolfe, counsel and managing director of government relations for ISRI, is heartened by the re-introduction of the reform bill. "Democrats and the Clinton administration say it is a good place to start," he says.

Adding to the initial optimism, Wolfe points out that leaders of the committee – on both the Democratic and Republican side – have been on the committee in the past, are moderate, and have already worked through many of the areas to come up with a compromise position.

But Chip Foley, general manager of federal relations for the Steel Recycling Institute’s Washington office, is less optimistic about Superfund’s passage. "I give it a 50-50 chance of passing," he says. Only a small portion of the bill – about 1 percent – has a direct connection to the scrap recycling industry, he adds.

In the minority position, Sen. Lautenberg, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has been praised by numerous organizations for his work in the area of recycling and the environment. Steve Goldstein, press officer for Lautenberg, says there is not a huge discrepancy between Lautenberg’s previous bill and the one now being presented for debate.

In addition to playing a key role in Superfund reauthorization, Lautenberg has introduced a bill aiming to clean up brownfield sites (former industrial sites often located in cities). Goldstein says the Senator is confident some version of the brownfields bill will pass.

Diane Shea, associate legislative director for the National Association of Counties, Washington, says her association supports much of this year’s Superfund bill, although there are areas of concern. "Superfund should recognize that local governments bringing waste to landfills as a public service should not be held liable to the degree private companies are," she says.

Foley adds that recycling less of a central concern for much of the public, and as a result, there is less impetus to pass legislation regarding the industry. As a result, few other legislative issues have any direct impact on recycling so far this Congress.

What appears to be growing, however, is the pressure on the Congress to come up with standards and policies in regards to solid waste, which often has an effect on recyclables. Two key issues which will likely see some action in this Congress are flow control policies and interstate transportation of solid waste.

While no legislation has yet been submitted, chances are good that bills addressing both of these issues will be introduced into the House Commerce Committee. This committee, chaired by Rep. Thomas Bliley (R-VA), was the scene of heavy lobbying in last year’s Congress over both these topics.

More action in the recycling legislative arena may take place on a state or local level, according to Edgar Miller, a spokesman for the Recycling Advisory Council, Fairfax, Va. This philosophy is consistent with a trend on the part of legislators to give more power and authority to the individual states. Despite this move, Miller says, "there are some issues that only Congress can address."

The overall upbeat feeling on the Senate side for Superfund and other solid waste and recycling legislation is not echoed on the House side. The difference is caused, in part, by the diverging approaches taken by the two sides, according to Wolfe. The difference is caused, in part, by the diverging approaches taken by the two sides, according to Wolfe. Members of the Senate are more active in more of the issues, and the process they follow is more flexible than that in the House of Representatives. As a reult, bills in the Senate are allowed a much faster track. On the other hand, the House follows more of a regimented approach, which often slows down the process.

ISRI’s position on flow control is clear. Materials that have been diverted or removed from the solid waste stream for recycling are the property of their generator. Efforts by government to take possession of, or obtain title to, those materials by imposing restrictions on the generator’s ability to sell or donate them are prohibited by the Constitution as a taking of property without just compensation unless and until the owner relinquishes title to the government. The owner may do this by abandoning or discarding them into the solid waste system or by placing them in government-sponsored curbside or collection center recycling programs, for example. Owners of such materials must be free to decide who will receive them. Private recycling enterprises must be free to accept, purchase, transport, and process these materials in a free and competitive marketplace.

Supporters of flow control and solid waste policies, however, are equally determined to push through legislation. The National Association of Counties attempted to convince the U.S. Senate to attach an amendment to the omnibus spending bill that combined the remaining fiscal year 1997 appropriations bills. However, according to Diane Shea, associate legislative director for the NACo, Commerce Committee Chairman Bliley opposed both positions, resulting in the rider being pulled from the bill.

Despite this failure, the NACo is expected to push to have both these policies included in some bill in the future. While last year these two bills were introduced in concert by Rep. Mike Oxley, (R-OH) chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment and Finance, the chances are this year the two issues will be split, according to Peggy Peterson, communications manager for Rep. Oxley.

Environmental legislation affecting recyclers will likely come out of one Senate committee or two House committees. Majority and minority leaders in both these committees will have a tremendous influence on national legislation involving recyclers.

In the Senate, the Committee on Environment and Public Works will be the starting point for any progress on Superfund, as well as a myriad of other Senate bills affecting recyclers. The Committee consists of 10 Republicans and 8 Democrats.

Under the committee are four subcommittees: Superfund; Waste Control and Risk Assessment; Transportation and Infrastructure; Clean Air, Wetlands, Private Property and Nuclear Safety; and Drinking Water, Fisheries and Wildlife.

Chaired by Sen. Chafee, who is in his fourth term, the committee is steeped with members who have vast experience in environmental legislation. Chafee was one of the senators that helped craft the Clean Air Act of 1990 which strengthened pollution emissions standards. According to Chafee’s office, the senator "has won every major environmental award available."

The author of the recently submitted Senate Bill 8 reauthorizing Superfund legislation is Senator Bob Smith, a Vermont Republican and chairman of the subcommittee. Smith has also been a member of the Senate for several terms, and has experience working on previous version of the Superfund bill.

On the Democratic side, Max Baucus has significant input on environmental issues, being one of the original authors of early drafts of Superfund legislation. The time Baucus has spent on the committee working on the legislation with Republicans could give this version of the bill a better chance of passing.

Top Senators on both sides of the aisle (Baucus and Lautenberg, Democrats; Chafee and Smith, Republicans) are deemed moderate, which may also help the chances of Superfund.

In the end, whether this Congress will be able to live up to its cooperative ideas remains to be seen. But recyclers seeking relief from oppressive Superfund regulation are fervently hoping it will.