Committee reviews H.319 changes to producer‑responsibility programs for household hazardous waste and batteries

The House Natural Resources & Energy Committee on March 26 heard a presentation and public testimony on H.319, a bill that would amend implementation schedules and enforcement tools for several Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) producer‑responsibility programs, including the household hazardous waste (HHW) stewardship program and a battery study required of the stewardship organization. Committee staff and DEC witnesses described schedule changes, new registration and enforcement requirements, and an ANR backstop if manufacturers fail to form an approved stewardship organization.

Why it matters: The bill rewrites implementation steps for a program intended to shift the cost and organization of HHW collection from municipal solid‑waste districts to manufacturers. Stakeholders said the changes are intended to avoid leaving municipalities to cover rising disposal and contractor costs if industry organizers miss deadlines.

Under H.319 as discussed, manufacturers of covered household hazardous products must register with a stewardship organization; the bill creates an initial, truncated three‑year collection plan followed by a fuller plan once the stewardship organization collects operational data. The bill moves several DEC deadlines: stewardship organizations would file initial registration by July 1, 2025, begin the initial plan implementation on or about July 1, 2026, and begin annual renewals thereafter. The landfill‑disposal prohibition for covered HHW would be delayed until the stewardship program has a viable collection system.

DEC witnesses described additional authority for the agency: if manufacturers and a stewardship organization do not file an adequate collection plan, the agency could adopt a collection plan itself and recover administrative costs from manufacturers, plus an additional assessment (the bill discusses a 10% charge above direct oversight costs). The bill also includes a stop‑sale enforcement tool: manufacturers that fail to register or participate may not sell covered products in the state.

Municipal and district representatives and EPR program advocates said they support the extension of deadlines because manufacturers have not finished organizing. Southern Vermont Solid Waste District officials said disposal costs for one district run roughly $100,000 a year and that program estimates for statewide HHW administration and implementation have ranged in testimony from about $5 million to $8 million. Districts said the bill’s backstop and reimbursement provisions are important to prevent municipalities from shouldering those costs.

The bill likewise moves a DEC deadline for a battery‑type study. DEC counsel said the stewardship organization will now report on whether and how to bring large or complex batteries (for example, hybrid‑electric vehicle batteries and certain energy storage systems) into the state battery program, and the report deadline was changed from July 1, 2026, to July 1, 2027 to allow coordination with other states conducting similar studies.

Stakeholders asked the committee to avoid exemptions for product categories (for example, paint‑related products) in this stage; paint industry representatives said they seek further discussion and possible separate inclusion under the established PaintCare stewardship model.

The committee took testimony and asked clarifying questions; no formal vote on H.319 was recorded in the session transcript.