Recycling Bill Clears Senate

The state Senate passed the Governor's Recycling Bill late Friday night with a unanimous vote.

Evan Preston

Late Friday night, the Connecticut state Senate unanimously approved Governor Malloy’s recycling bill, Senate Bill 27.

As often happens this time of year, the bill was amended at the last minute, and passed as part of another bill, Senate Bill 357. You can read the bill as passed by going here and reading the two “called amendments.” Amendment A is the bulk of the bill.

Some of the last-minute amendments are good, like giving the public more opportunities to weigh in on the new Solid Waste Management Plan, and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s selection of a vendor to redevelop the Hartford incinerator – but not all the changes were positive. Incinerator operators managed to get a pay for pollution subsidy inserted. Thankfully, the subsidy is small, but subsidizing burning trash with taxpayer dollars works against the broader goals of the bill.

ConnPIRG is now working to make sure the House passes the bill before the end of the legislative session on Wednesday. We’re telling the House they should remove the pay for pollution subsidy, and remaining vigilant to make sure the bill is not weakened further.

Authors

Evan Preston