Environment Committee

JOINT FAVORABLE REPORT

Bill No.:

HB-6437

Title:

AN ACT CONCERNING A MATTRESS STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM.

Vote Date:

3/18/2013

Vote Action:

Joint Favorable Substitute

PH Date:

3/8/2013

File No.:

SPONSORS OF BILL:

Environment Committee, CT Mattress Stewardship Group, City of Hartford, Rep. Pat Widlitz

REASONS FOR BILL:

Connecticut currently disposes of over 350,000 mattresses at a municipal cost of over $1.3 million annually. Mattresses can damage trash-to-energy plants while providing minimal BTU value, are expensive to ship to landfills, and are highly recyclable. Recycling creates local jobs, but needs reliable feedstock to be economically viable. Many are dumped illegally to avoid tipping fees in both rural and urban areas, where they cause a nuisance and add municipal costs. Connecticut has established an Extended Producer Responsibility program for electronics and, more recently, paint. This bill would establish a similar program for mattresses, mandating that by July 1, 2014, all mattress producers join a non-profit “recycling council” (also open to retailers) which would submit a plan for a mattress stewardship program to the Commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) for approval and ongoing audits. The program would be charged with minimizing public center involvement, providing for the free receipt, storage, and collection of mattresses and box springs.

It is anticipated that the program would largely work with the existing collection system while shifting costs to the manufacturers that produced the mattresses. Along with the environmental benefits and cost savings, it is anticipated that the program would create jobs in Connecticut through the expansion and creation of recycling facilities.

SUBSTITUTE LANGUAGE:

LCO No. 4778 The substitute language made minor and technical changes and added provisions: (1) Establishing a requirement for the plan to provide for the receipt of mattresses from participating covered entities that accumulate and segregate a minimum of fifty discarded mattresses and municipal transfer stations that discard a minimum of thirty mattresses at one time, and (2) providing for the approval of proposed substantial changes to the plan if the commissioner does not disapprove of such changes within ninety days of receipt of notification of such proposed substantial changes.  

Technical changes include: in Section 1, subsection 3, the definition of “covered entity” is expanded in line 8 of the new language to cover waste-to-energy facilities, and in lines 9-10, correctional facilities and military bases; Section 2 of the raised bill has been changed from subsection 2, line 115 to the end of the section, line 135, to establish the stewardship program; in subsection (f) of Section 2 on line 188, after the word “mattresses,” to line 192 is new, setting a timetable for the commissioner of DEEP to approve any changes the Stewardship Council submits; Section 2, subsection (i), lines 240 after the word “above,” ending with the word “fee” on line 242, establishes how the collection fee will appear on a customer's invoice when they purchase a mattress; on line 244 the word “Any” is changed from the word “No” in the raised bill.

RESPONSE FROM ADMINISTRATION/AGENCY:

Commissioner Dan Esty, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection: supports this bill “as an effective way to increase the recovery of discarded mattresses and create jobs while lowering municipal expenses. This bill would create a producer responsibility program for the management of discarded mattresses in Connecticut…the mattress industry would take responsibility for managing their product by establishing a stewardship organization which will administer a collection and recycling program…financed by the manufacturers.”

The state's solid waste management plan and Governor Malloy's Modernizing Recycling Working Group identify producer responsibility and product stewardship solutions as an important strategy for managing our state's solid waste going forward, and an effective tool to meet our recycling goals. Placing extended responsibility on producers helps equitably relieve significant financial burdens on municipalities, especially disproportionally impacted cities like Hartford and Waterbury, by recovering some of the over $1.3 million spent on mattresses and reducing illegal dumping of mattresses on our roadways, and in our parks and woodlands.

The Working Group emphasized product stewardship's potential for developing recycling jobs and infrastructure, and specifically prioritized mattresses. The similar electronics recycling program has received positive feedback, recycled over 4800 tons of electronics and created 33 CT jobs. The paint manufacturers' organization submitted its stewardship plan March 1st and will probably fully establish their paint recovery program by the July 1st deadline.

DEEP will help ensure that HB 6437, which was produced with the active participation of the International Sleep Products Association, municipalities led by Hartford and other stakeholders, will effectively accomplish its environmental, job creation and cost saving goals with minimal government involvement. The bill has received interest from other states and may become a national model.

NATURE AND SOURCES OF SUPPORT:

Mayor Pedro Segarra, City of Hartford: supports the substitute bill, which is the result of collaboration between mattress producers and stewardship proponents. At its 2012 meeting, the U. S. Conference of Mayors discussed this issue and voted to support a role for mattress manufacturers in end-of-life management and costs. In CT over 350,000 mattresses are disposed of annually at a municipal cost of over 1.3 million a year, largely for surcharge pricing at waste-to-energy plants and out-of-state landfills. “Mattresses are 96% recyclable. The bill will facilitate recycling and contribute to growing the newly established mattress recycling facilities and jobs in Bridgeport and Bloomfield.”

Marilyn Cruz-Aponte, Assistant to the Director of Public Works, City of Hartford: supports the bill and expands on Mayor Segarra's testimony. At the “Recycling Means Jobs” legislative day on Feb 28, 2013, Commissioner Esty, DECD Commissioner Smith and businesses such as Albert Brothers Scrap Metal of Waterbury spoke about how environmental policies can foster green business job creation. Recycling creates ten jobs for every one associated with incinerating waste. Mattress industry representatives (ISPA) and CT Mattress Stewardship Group (CT MSG) reached consensus on substitute language in March 2013. “There are no substantial conceptual changes.” The “new bill continues to: create an independent industry council, not-for-profit, to manage, fund, design and implement a program for discarded mattress from covered entities; limit government role to approval and oversight of the plan and review of progress by the legislative branch; and, provide for an eco-fee at retail. The tweaking was in 4 areas: administrative process improvements in terms of reporting; plan review and program delivery; clarification of definitions; clear-visible eco-fee for consumer education and to insure level playing field for manufacturers, and clarifications to insure CT model can be replicated nation-wide”.

Representative Patricia Widlitz, 98th District: supports the bill, as she has been a strong advocate of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which Connecticut has already passed for electronics and for architectural paint. The bill would save municipalities money, decrease unsightly dumping of mattresses, improve recycling rates and create jobs. The cooperation and hard work put into this bill should make it a national model for mattress stewardship.

Adrienne Houel, President and CEO, Greater Bridgeport Community Enterprise, Partner, Park City Green: supports the bill. Park City Green is “a unique, non-profit mattress deconstruction and recycling facility located in Bridgeport…created to provide the infrastructure necessary for mattress recycling…We operate a triple-bottom-line company based on environmental sustainability; social good by training and hiring disadvantaged low-income unemployed residents enabling them to become economically self-sufficient; and economic and community development for our distressed city and its struggling neighborhoodsPark City Green has already demonstrated 'proof of concept': we have diverse clients including universities, hospitals and clinics, hotels and municipalities…and have found the markets for deconstructed materials such as cotton, metal, foam, toppers and wood” with “the expertise, equipment and space to deconstruct more than 100,000 mattresses a year.” Ms. Houel testified that to reach their full potential, and to continue to create jobs, they need this bill to pass. “Our operational experience and non-profit status…provide a test facility for municipalities...looking for a better understanding of the process and costs of mattress deconstruction and recycling.” Park City believes that this bill is “an excellent example of public/private cooperation, [and] will give our state the opportunity to create a national model for product reuse and stewardship.”

Bradford Mitchell, Director of Operations, Park City Green: supports the bill. A start-up, Park City Green is the Northeast's only not-for-profit mattress recycler and has “a mission to provide economic development for the Bridgeport region” while providing employment to those most in need and improving the environment. “As the only not for profit mattress recycler in the entire North East, the Bridgeport facility aims to keep 100,000 mattresses per year out of the incinerators and to provide jobs with benefits for at least 15-20 workers.” Mr. Mitchell testified that the principal goal of Park City Green is to reduce the unemployment rate of the City of Bridgeport, a city with 13.5% unemployment in March 2010, reaching 25-30% in some neighborhoods, providing training for the most difficult to employ residents, including the chronically un- or under-employed, such as previously incarcerated youth, veterans who have not reintegrated well after recent tours of duty, single parents and those with minimal education. They have recycled over 5000 mattresses since June 2012, and this bill would greatly increase their feedstock, increasing their staffing needs and creating more jobs. “Approximately 85 percent of the millions of mattresses and box springs thrown into landfills and incinerators nationwide every year are recyclable. These mattresses are a dangerous nuisance in the waste stream: they take up large amounts of space at transfer stations and landfills, create flammable air pockets and do not burn well in our incinerators, do not compact well, and can create dangerous conditions for workers.”

Cheryl D. Reedy, Director, Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority: supports the bill. The HRRA represents Bethel, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Danbury, Kent, New Fairfield, New Milford, Newtown, Redding, Ridgefield and Sherman, and currently sends all trash to the Bridgeport waste-to-energy facility, where mattresses are cumbersome and can cause line breakdowns. The EPR legislation for e-waste has helped save thousands of town dollars and recycled 450 tons of electronics in their region alone, HRRA anticipates similar benefits from the paint program, and supports expanding EPR to mattresses. She emphasizes that mattress disposal impacts small town as well as cities, and clarifies that under the consensus language retailers could still charge for pick-up.

Scott Jackson, Mayor; Kathleen Schomaker, Hamden Legislative Council Representative; and Pamela Roach, Solid Waste and Recycling Coordinator, member of the CT Product Stewardship Council: support the bill. Hamden spends over $35,000 a year disposing of mattresses, none of which are recycled. By getting “key stake holders involved in developing and implementing the program, municipalities, retailers, and other covered entities will have access to free and convenient disposal in recycling of mattresses.”

Michael Cicchetti, Covanta Energy: supports the bill. “As a world leader in Energy From Waste [facilities], Covanta is a firm believer in the waste hierarchy: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover Energy. Connecticut has embraced this philosophy as well, joining the US EPA and European Union, and has all but eliminated the landfilling of municipal solid waste in the state.” Covanta is owner or operator of three of CT's Energy From Waste facilities, and mattresses present a special challenge to their plants. They “are not designed to handle large items such as mattresses and they can cause operational issues when put through our process,” so must be sorted out and disposed of separately.

Covanta does request one technical change to the bill as drafted in order to recognize the state's commitment to the solid waste hierarchy. Specifically, in lines 252 to 254, the bill lists both Energy From Waste and landfills as similar methods of disposal. In line with the waste hierarchy, Energy From Waste should be described as diversion or recovery, not disposal. The lines should read: “(4) the weight of mattress materials sent for recovery at Waste-to-energy facilities, or sent for disposal at each of the following: (A) Waste-to-253 energy facilities, (B) landfills, and (C) (B) any other facilities;”

Paul Timpanelli, President and CEO; Jeff Lichtman, Consultant, Bridgeport Regional Business Council (BRBC): The BRBC is a non-profit advocacy organization representing more than 1,000 members in the Greater Bridgeport area, which supports the bill. They “created a public/private partnership with the City of Bridgeport in 2008 to create a comprehensive sustainability green print for the city…That effort has led to many important achievements in energy conservation and renewable generation; significant improvements in our recycling rates; better approaches to storm water management and water conservation; the revitalization of park lands and our waterfront; greater emphasis on transit first policies; and the creation of several new green businesses in Bridgeport including…Park City Green, the state's first mattress recycling facility…Our mattress recycling facility is creating jobs for those reentering the workforce, reusing commodities that have value, improving air quality in a non-attainment corridor, and helping us attract other green businesses to our Eco-Industrial Park.” BRBC states that mattresses are a unique product for recycling and reuse, not for burning or landfilling. They applaud this bill as the result of cooperation between stewardship proponents and the International Sleep Products Association, and a model that will create jobs and entrepreneurial opportunity for CT businesses, as well as improving the health and environmental quality in our State.

Joseph Wasserman, Community Organizer, CT Coalition for Environmental Justice (CCEJ): supports the bill. “Our region's solid waste goes to waste-to-energy facilities in the state. The fifth largest-capacity facility in the nation is here in Hartford, CRRA's Mid-Connecticut Project. At CCEJ, we have great concern about the amount of material (4,000,000 lbs. per day) that is processed through the facility's three combustors. This plant is a Waste-Derived-Fuel facility where waste is mechanically shredded before incineration. Mattresses cause unnecessary breakdowns at these facilities, and…are not wanted in these plants…Our communities pay for mattress disposal using taxpayer funds paying are charged $10-$45 in per unit in tip fees.” Mr. Wasserman further testified that Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs place the financial responsibility for end-of-life product management on manufacturers and would reduce illegal dumping, as well as - as with electronics - save towns money. CCEJ is concerned about the health effects of potential toxins released by incinerators, and wants to reduce the amount burnt, especially in Hartford.

Anthony Hall, Member, CT Coalition for Environmental Justice: supports HB 6437 for reasons similar to Joseph Wasserman, and further “proposes that mattress removal be done by a small business entrepreneur” to promote more jobs.

Kachina Walsh-Weaver, State Relations Manager, Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM): CCM supports the bill. “According to an April 2011 survey conducted by the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, a very conservative estimate of the current costs to towns and cities for managing the disposal of post-consumer mattresses in Connecticut exceeds $1.2 million each year. Similar to the Paint Stewardship and E-waste programs preceding it, a properly designed Mattress Stewardship Program would take the financial and administrative burden of end-of-life disposal for these items off the back of local governments. This is a no-cost proposal for the state and could result in significant statewide savings for municipalities.”

Pascal Cohen, Owner and President, Recyc-Mattresses Corp; Aaron Terranova: Mr. Cohen supports the bill. Recyc-Mattresses Corp is an international firm that has recycled mattresses for seven years recycling over 95% of the byproduct generated. Starting in November of 2011 he met with DEEP, mattress retailers and community groups, learned that the current system is fragmented and costly, and decided to invest over $500,000 in a mattress facility, which opened April 2012 in Bloomfield, with six employees to date. HB 6437 would help ensure future success for improving the environment while creating as many as 40 additional jobs.

Chris Hudgins, Vice President, Government Relations & Policy, International Sleep Products Association: supports the consensus proposed substitute language. ISPA represents nearly 700 companies including Hartford area's Blue Bell Mattress Company and Gold Bond Mattress. After opposing last year's bill, ISPA supports HB 6437, which reflects agreement between the Connecticut Mattress Stewardship Group and ISPA, and “will allow the state to become the first in the nation to establish a dedicated mattress recycling program without harming the mattress industry. …the proposed language allows the industry to collect a small 'eco-fee' on each mattress sold at retail. The eco-fee will be visible on the invoice when a consumer purchases the mattress ensuring that they clearly understand the service they are receiving and that they have an option for recycling their mattress when they are done with it. The visible fee will also allow the funding to be easily tracked creating a level playing field for all manufacturers. This approach has proven successful with other products such as tires, auto batteries, motor oil, and paint. Without this eco-fee mattress manufactures would not support this legislation.” Mr. Hudgins testified that, as proposed, HB 6437 creates an independent, industry- administered nonprofit mattress recycling organization to facilitate the collection of the eco-fee and the development of appropriate infrastructure to recycle mattresses, collecting discarded mattresses from appropriate collection points and utilizing businesses, such as the two recently started in CT, for proper recycling. He further stated that the language also provides for appropriate oversight from the DEEP and the Legislature's Environment Committee. In spoken testimony, he clarified that the substitute language addresses some retailer's concerns, and that there would be flexibility with pick-up fees and procedures.

Abraham Scarr, Director, Connecticut Public Interest Research Group (ConnPIRG): supports the bill, stating that, while CT has “a goal of diverting 58% of our waste from landfills and incinerators by 2024, we have been stuck around 30% for over a decade.” Most waste is incinerated, releasing toxins into the air while still producing “half a million tons of toxic ash every year, all of which we landfill either here in Connecticut or increasingly out of state as we run out of in-state capacity for incinerator ash. …communities from San Francisco to Nantucket have greatly increased reuse, recycling and composting by adopting zero waste policies, achieving waste diversion rates of over 80% and 90% respectively. …Last week Governor Malloy and Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Esty announced the creation of the Recycling Market Development Council, one of the recommendations of the Governor's Modernizing Recycling Working Group. …Modernizing our systems for collecting a recycling material goes hand and hand (sic) with developing the markets for those recycled materials in Connecticut and the region. Raised Bill 6437 is an excellent example of turning what we currently see as a disposal problem into an economic opportunity. The way we currently dispose of mattresses is expensive, degrades our natural environment, and wastes valuable resources.” Mattress stewardship, an example of Extended Producer Responsibility, will lift a financial burden from towns and many large institutions, clean up our streets and streams, and give producers incentives to produce materials and products that are easier to reuse and recycle.

Betsy Gara, Executive Director, CT Council of Small Towns (COST): supports the bill. “HB-6437 creates a mechanism for reducing municipal costs associated with the disposal of old mattresses by creating a state-wide mattress stewardship program.”

Elizabeth C. Paterson, Mayor, Town of Mansfield: supports the bill, stating that EPR has saved the town thousands on electronics disposal, will probably do the same for paint starting this year, and is appropriate for mattresses, which are costly and inefficient to dispose of.

Jeffrey K. Bridges, Town Manager, Wethersfield and Chair, Central CT Solid Waste Authority (CCSWA): CCSWA represents the municipalities of Avon, Bloomfield, Bolton, Canton, Cromwell, East Granby, Enfield, Farmington, Glastonbury, Granby, Hartford, Manchester, Simsbury, South Windsor, Suffield, Wethersfield, and Windsor Locks, and supports the bill. Mattress disposal costs municipalities between $10-$45 in taxpayer funds in per unit tip fees, or town residents $10-20 in transfer station fees, not counting the cost of illegal dumping. EPR should reduce these costs, as it has for electronics. “An EPR program for mattresses will save municipalities and residents money, provide greater convenience for residents, and reduce the growing illegal dumping associated with resident attempts to avoid disposal fees.”

Joe Gordon, Chair of Economic Development, Branford: supports “efforts to address responsible disposal and funding for recycling of the material” and asks for information on the technology of the shredding and separation process, to engage business start-ups in his area.

Joseph Caruso, Windsor Locks: supports the bill. His town charges $20 to get rid of a mattress and box spring because of high disposal costs. Recycling, which is being done in nearby Bloomfield for $11 per unit, and which we do now with electronics and the upcoming paint recycling program, makes more sense. He would be willing to pay an up-front eco-fee.

Kathleen A. Eagen, Town Manager, Farmington: supports HB 6437. “This bill is estimated to save municipalities a minimum of $750,000” of the over $1.2 million spent annually, and expand opportunities to recycle the 400,000 mattresses disposed of in CT each year, while reducing illegal dumping, increasing towns' recycling rates and creating jobs.

Kathleen T. Faught, New Haven: supports the bill. Ms. Faught testified that she is a small landlord and believes “the time has come to address the disposal of a very common and unwieldy household item where both the consumer and industry accept responsibility” for the products' 'afterlife.'

Kim O'Rourke, Recycling Coordinator, City of Middletown: Middletown is working toward being a Zero Waste Community. “The principles of Zero Waste are: managing resources instead of waste, conserving natural resources through waste prevention and recycling; turning discarded resources into jobs and new products instead of trash, promoting products and materials that are durable and recyclable and discouraging products and materials that can only become trash after their use.” Product Stewardship like that called for in HB 6437 is a large part of Zero Waste programs, and would help Middletown move towards its stated recycling goal of 58% by 2024. Currently, Middletown's mattresses go to the Lisbon incinerator at an annual cost of about $15,000 for transportation and disposal.

Lauren Savidge, Legal Fellow, CT Fund for the Environment (CFE): CFE supports the bill, testifying that a mattress stewardship program will save municipalities and taxpayers millions of dollars, and reduce illegal dumping and waste buildup.

Louis J. Spina, Provisional Director of Public Works, Waterbury: supports the bill. Since the $20-$30 tipping surcharges started three years ago, Waterbury spends $150,000-$200,000 annually on mattress disposal, on top of the per ton tipping fee for approximately 7,000 mattresses and box springs, and has seen increased illegal dumping, possibly from surrounding towns. HB 6437 would ultimately help all municipalities combat unwanted blight, and create needed employment opportunities through permitted recyclers.

Lynn Taborsak, Solid Waste Specialist, League of Women Voters (LWV): supports the bill. The LWV has consistently supported statewide recycling and environmentally sound waste disposal. HB 6437's EPR program “calls for a single council of manufacturers to design, finance and implement the program. Disposal costs will shift from taxpayers to consumers at the time of purchase and municipal participation in the program will be voluntary. Governmental action is limited to approval and monitoring of the plan by the Commissioner of DEEP.”

Mark A. Mitchell, M.D., MPH, Acting Chair; William B. Upholt, PhD, Co-Chair --Advisory Commission on the Environment (ACOTE), City of Hartford: supports RB 6437. Hartford faced $400,000 in mattress disposal costs for 2011 until making other arrangements, and is home to the largest incinerator in the state. Recycling will reduce municipal expenses, costly incinerator breakdowns caused by mattresses, air pollution, and toxic ash. “Mattress stewardship will also keep valuable commodities such as metals, wood, foam, and cotton circulating in our economy rather than wasting in landfills or incinerators. Finally, recycling means jobs – many more jobs than land filling or incineration. Park City Green in Bridgeport is providing living wage jobs to ex-offenders and hard-to-employ residents, adding social benefits to economic benefits.”

JoAnne Bauer, Member, Advisory Commission on the Environment, City of Hartford: supports the bill, and echoes the ACOTE testimony.

Martin Mador, Legislative Chair, Sierra Club Connecticut Chapter: The CT Chapter of the Sierra Club supports the bill. Mr. Mador testified that HB 6437 is better structured than last year's SB 89, and has more acceptance from manufacturers. EPR holds the manufacturer responsible for post-consumer disposal of his product, and is the most effective way to reduce our solid waste stream while minimizing government involvement. “Every mattress sold will need disposal someday… We do EPR now for electronics and paint. Next year, perhaps carpets.”

Mary Glassman, Chairman, Policy Board; Lyle Wray, PhD, Executive Director, Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG): CRCOG supports the bill, concurring with other testimony regarding the costs of mattress disposal to municipalities and residents, the savings that a mattress EPR program would effect, the reduction in illegal dumping, and the creation of needed jobs. “Just as EPR legislation for electronics and paint have already created economic opportunity and private sector jobs in the state, so too will a mattress EPR program.”

Bill Finch, Mayor, City of Bridgeport: supports the bill. Bridgeport's 2010 sustainability plan, BGreen 2020, hopes to make it the greenest city in the region while creating jobs and spurring economic development. “As part of that initiative, I have been working with two non-profit organizations in our community to start a regional mattress recycling business. This new enterprise, called Park City Green, will fulfill our goals of job creation, economic development, environmental stewardship, and social benefit. In partnership with the St Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County, Oregon, a national leader in mattress recycling, Greater Bridgeport Community Enterprises (GBCE/The Green Team) and Family Reentry, Park City Green is now recycling mattresses from municipal transfer stations, hotels, universities, nursing homes and retailers. …Our goal is to have every city, university and commercial enterprise in our part of the state and along our borders partner with Park City Green by providing mattresses and box springs from their waste stream. …both partners in this new business, GBCE/The Green Team and Family Re-Entry, seek to provide jobs to the most vulnerable in our society – those seeking to re-enter society from incarceration, returning veterans, and the chronically unemployed….Recycling mattresses creates jobs, saves valuable raw materials, helps hard-strapped municipal budgets and enhances air quality. I urge the committee to…make Connecticut a national model for product reuse and stewardship.”

Paul Nonnenmacher, President, Connecticut Recyclers Coalition: supports the bill. The CT Recyclers Coalition voted without objection to support HB 6437, noting that 85 to 95% of every mattress can be recycled, and two businesses have created jobs in Bloomfield and Bridgeport. “…it was quickly apparent that recycling the tens of thousands of mattresses that currently wind up in our state's trash would dramatically improve Connecticut's recycling rate”

Rebecca Bombero, Deputy Chief of Staff, New Haven: supports the bill. New Haven's “Office of Sustainability has prioritized increased recycling and diversion from the waste stream and this proposal accomplishes both of those goals.” Ms. Bombero testified that, in communities like New Haven, where over fifty percent of housing units are occupied by renters, transience in certain areas leads to blight as piles of furniture, most often mattresses, are disposed on tree belts.

Sen. Andres Ayala, Jr., 23rd District: supports HB 6437, stating that passage of the bill would allow Park City Green to recycle 8,000-10,000 more mattresses per month, creating 15-20 news jobs. Senator Ayala supports the requirement that all producers would join a single Stewardship Organization and submit a plan to DEEP for approval, creating greater efficiency in government oversight while reducing the drain on government resources.

Scott Cassel, CEO/Founder, Product Stewardship Institute (PSI): supports the bill. The PSI is “a national nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the health and environmental impacts of consumer products…with membership base of 47 state governments and over 200 local governments, as well as 95 companies,” and other entities. “HB 6437 is fully aligned with three similar producer responsibility laws already passed in Connecticut – on electronics, paint, and mercury thermostats. Nationally, over 70 such laws have passed in 32 states that require producers to take post-consumer financial and management responsibility for their products.” Mr. Cassel states there is overwhelming support for HB 6437 in Connecticut, with Governor Malloy's Modernizing Recycling Working Group making mattress steward legislation its number one priority for the 2013 legislative session. He also notes that mattress stewardship is receiving national attention, including a producer responsibility resolution adopted in June, 2012 by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Sheila Baummer, Naugatuck Recycling and Solid Waste Coordinator: supports the Product Stewardship bill as a smart way to mitigate the impacts of mattress disposal, noting that “this year's bill has been revised in collaboration with the International Sleep Products Association (ISPA) to create a program acceptable to both industry and stewardship proponents.”

Steve Byer, Co-Owner, Blue Bell Mattress Co. (Comfort Solutions by King Koil): supports the bill, stating that the consensus proposed substitute language addresses his previous concerns, as it “most importantly, requires a visible fee to be collected at retail in order to fund the program. This ensures that the program will have a dedicated funding source, lowers costs for businesses and consumers and provides the public with a clear understanding that their mattress will be recycled at the end of its life.” Blue Bell Mattress Company employs 225 workers in East Windsor, and has been making mattresses in CT for more than 80 years.

Robert Nabiocheck, President, The Standard Mattress Co.: supports the substitute language for HB 6437, for reasons similar to Mr. Byer. The Standard Mattress Co. (Gold Bond mattresses) is located in Hartford, employing 60 people, and has been making mattresses for 111 years.

Susan Eastwood, Clean Water Action and The Coalition for a Safe and Healthy CT: supports the EPR bill, as she believes “manufacturers should take responsibility for the safe disposal or recycling of their products at end of use” without burdening consumers or towns. Ms. Eastwood states that mattresses in particular can be as much as 50% of bulky waste by weight and are prone to illegal dumping, while recycling them would create jobs in the state and reduce greenhouse gases.

Virginia Walton, Recycling Coordinator, Town of Mansfield: The Mansfield Town Council supports the bill. “Last year the Mansfield Town Council adopted a resolution in support of the passage of extended producer responsibility legislation for mattresses. The 2012 mattress bill (SB 89) passed the Senate 32 to 4 with 53 co-sponsors but did not get signed into law…Although Mansfield is not a large municipality, mattresses pose handling issues for transfer station operators regardless of community size. With two mattress recyclers now located in our state, the Town of Mansfield explored the viability of recycling its mattresses. However, the cost of recycling them was prohibitive in comparison to the current cost of out-of-state landfilling…HB 6437 will enable Mansfield to recycle its mattresses and support Connecticut's recycling industry, ensuring the reuse of materials that would otherwise be landfilled.”

Wade Cole, Hartland First Selectman and Chairman, Litchfield Hills Council of Elected Officials (LHCEO): The LHCEO supports the bill, unanimously voting to support HB 6437. “By placing the financial responsibility on manufacturers for the management of their product at the end of its useful life, our towns can save significant dollars, illegal dumping will be curtailed, and recycling will be encouraged. A recent survey of towns in the regional area showed overwhelming local interest in participating in a mattress stewardship program.”

Wendell and Susan Coogan, Rocky Hill: support the bill. “HB 6437 will cause a logical treatment of disposed mattresses, which are now just thrown out into woodlands and abandoned among our apartment buildings…Frequently they are infested with lice, bed bugs, molds and illness-causing bacteria…and are full of protruding, sharp wires and rotten and splintered boards. They are an attractive nuisance in that children often play on them…our towns and cities must pick up all the expense of collection, treatment and disposal of these disgusting eyesores. …Both the Rocky Hill Town Manager and the…Director of Recycling are very enthusiastic about the bill… they expressed the thought that, at some future date, the innovative disposal procedure outlined in HB 6437 might be later expanded to include other 'cushiony' items of furniture (such as couch cushions and overstuffed chairs) that will not fit into most towns' shredding machines.”

Winston Averill, Chair, Connecticut Product Stewardship Council: supports the bill. The Council is partnered with the National Product Stewardship Institute, and works with “cities and towns throughout our state to engage and address the environmental, health and fiscal impacts associated with consumer wastes. Stewardship programs…seek to internalize the total product life cycle costs” and shift the burden from taxpayers. CT has a particular problem because the state is primarily waste-to-energy, while mattresses damage incinerators and are cumbersome to manage otherwise. …”Governor Malloy's Recycling Work Group has made mattresses its priority for 2013…By minimizing government involvement to an oversight role, we encourage private sector innovation to seek the most cost effective means to capture, transport and recycle mattresses.”

NATURE AND SOURCES OF OPPOSITION:

Tim Phelan, President, CT Retail Merchants Assoc.: opposes HB 6437. “First, the funding mechanism by which this new program would be administered would fall directly on Connecticut consumers in the form of a new fee or, in our opinion, a new tax. Retailers would be required to add this new fee to the purchase price of a new mattress along with a brief description of why this new fee is added. This would, obviously, add additional costs to the retailers to reprogram systems. But, more importantly, it would raise the purchase price of the mattress, thereby, putting us at a competitive disadvantage with surrounding states and against online or web based retailers.” In Section 3, he believes the language may prohibit a retailer from charging a fee to collect an old mattress when delivering a customer's new one, and would radically change how many retailers operate, leading, he suggests, to potentially more mattresses abandoned curbside. Mr. Phelan further states that many retailers have incorporated mattress pickup into their pricing, advertising and logistics, and disrupting this at the state level is unfair and unwise. The CT Retail Merchants Assoc believes that, while versions of Extended Producer Responsibility programs have seemed to work for electronics and paint, it might not be appropriate to be the first in the nation to apply it to mattresses. [Some of these concerns may have been addressed in the Substitute language.]

Tom Wholley, Owner, Connecticut Mattress: testified in opposition to the raised bill. “Every piece of bedding that we sell, we do charge a $15 fee to remove the old bedding. That piece of bedding gets picked up by my delivery service. They charge me $5 to do that. …It goes to a recycling center in East Hartford. The product gets stripped down and then it's recycled, and it is not on the streets of Connecticut.” He further testified that his company donates $10 of each fee toward beds for local working poor families, and that the mattress business is very competitive; diminishing margins while constraining the ability to negotiate pickup can harm retailers. He also brought up concerns regarding cross-state sales and delivery issues.

Reported by: Zalman Nakhimovsky, Asst. Clerk

Date: 4/3/13