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2021 SESSION
21104441DBe it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. § 1. A. That the Department of Environmental Quality (the Department) is requested to continue its Waste Diversion and Recycling Task Force (the Task Force) that was created pursuant to SJ 42 (2020).
B. That the Department shall include in the Task Force additional members including (i) three directly impacted community members living within a reasonable vicinity of a currently permitted and operating landfill; (ii) three experts on solid waste management at the academic or research level, who shall be independent and not associated with or employed by any waste management public or private company or industry association or advocacy group; (iii) two members of the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice; (iv) one representative of city and town governments; (v) one representative of county governments; and (vi) two directors of the solid waste management planning units. Additional stakeholders may be permitted to participate in the Task Force meetings and documents, but shall have nonvoting privileges when making final recommendations and shall not be counted for purposes of establishing a quorum.
C. That in addition to those topics of study identified in SJ 42 (2020), the Task Force shall (i) further study available options to divert from landfills in the Commonwealth food residuals, organic waste, and baseline recyclables; (ii) conduct a meta-analysis or systematic review of the policies, legislation, practices, and programs proposed and implemented by other states and draw upon such programs in considering recommendations for waste diversion policies; (iii) examine Virginia's status as a prime destination for out-of-state trash and explore ways in which waste from other states can be diverted from Virginia's landfills; (iv) investigate the role of a composting and food donation infrastructure in reducing the volume of waste that is accepted by landfills, including upgrading and refining existing food donation infrastructure, identifying food material and organic waste generators and haulers, comparing the use of in-house composting with regional composting hubs, studying the ideal distance between composing hubs and waste generators, considering the permitting of composting hubs, and exploring markets and systems for composting services; and (v) study implementation of programs generally known as Pay-As-You-Throw, technologies such as gasification and anaerobic digestion, and any other emerging technology or program relevant to waste management.
D. That in developing recommendations the Task Force shall adopt the waste management hierarchy as developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), take guidance from the EPA Sustainable Materials Management Program Strategic Plan, and place emphasis on policies and practices that are socially responsible and environmentally sustainable.