ASSEMBLY ENVIRONMENT, NATURAL RESOURCES, AND SOLID WASTE COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 4902

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JANUARY 27, 2025

      The Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste Committee reports favorably, and with committee amendments, Assembly Bill No. 4902.

      This bill, as amended, would direct the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to select a qualified consultant, though a competitive bidding process, to conduct a Statewide needs assessment to assess recycling, composting, and reuse conditions for packaging in the State.  The bill would appropriate $500,000 to the DEP to finance the needs assessment, and it would provide for the final needs assessment to be completed and submitted, to the Governor and the Legislature, no later than June 1, 2027.

      The bill would establish various requirements for what would be included in the needs assessment, as enumerated in section 2 of the bill, including the program costs and capital investments required to achieve optimal recycling rate goals by 2035 for each material type, including paper, plastic, glass, and metal, and including investment into existing and future reuse, recycling, and composting infrastructure for packaging.  The bill would require the consultant contracted by the DEP to provide, no later than December 31, 2026, a draft needs assessment to the "Statewide Recycling Needs Assessment Advisory Council" (established by the bill).  The advisory council would be required to provide written comments to the consultant no later than 90 days after receipt of the draft needs assessment.  The consultant would then incorporate those comments into a final needs assessment, to be submitted to the DEP no later than May 1, 2027.

      The bill would establish a temporary "Statewide Recycling Needs Assessment Advisory Council" within the DEP.  Members of the council would be appointed by the DEP commissioner, and the commissioner would determine the number of members on the council.  However, the bill would establish certain minimum requirements for the council's membership, as enumerated in section 3 of the bill.  The bill would establish certain duties for the council, including submitting a report to the Governor and Legislature with recommendations on the State's recycling laws and programs.  The council would be dissolved 30 days after the final needs assessment is submitted by the DEP to the Governor and the Legislature.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill:

      (1)  to expand the council membership to include one additional member, who is to be a representative of the plastics manufacturing industry and associated plastics manufacturers; and

      (2)  to incorporate minor technical changes to correct punctuation, remove unnecessary subdivision numbering, correct various citations and cross-references, and make other clarifying changes.