gl?gl??ig? BGVANM QUA NTUM Powa?nyioday. Prolnclinghmormw. I CI F. New Jersey Organics Proposals New Jersey has been a leader in recycling and sustainable waste management since the mid?1980?s when the Legislature passed the ?New Jersey Statewide Mandatory Source Separation and Recycling Act.? This first of its kind landmark piece of legislation firmly established New Jersey as one of the country?s leaders in recycling and waste management. In the subsequent years, New Jersey has continued to lead the nation in developing e?waSte recycling and other substantial waste policies. As Chairman Smith and Chairman Eustace have recognized, it is critical that New-Jersey lead again on organics diversion. A small number of states have passed organics laws or regulations that have slowly resulted in modest diversion of organics from landfills. However nationally, almost 53 million tons of food waste is still iandfilled annualiy.? This continued disposai of organics in landfills comes at a great economic cost: estimated at $165 biliion every year. Continued landfili disposai of food waste and organics undermines achieving meaningfui greenhouse gas reductions from the waste sector. Landfills are the third largest anthropogenic source of methaneii and methane is the second largest contributor to global climate change after carbon A short lived ciimate pollutant (SLCP) increasingly under international scrutiny, methane has a much larger ciimate impact than previously reported and its atmospheric concentrations continue to rise.? - Methane is a greenhouse gas that has been determined by the lnternationai Panel on Ciirnate Change to be 34 times more potent than C02 over 100 years. Over a shorter 20 year period more consistent with our window of meaningful action on ciimate, methane Is 84 times more potent, further reinforcing the need for quick action. Despite the relatively slow pace of progress to-date, organics recycling through anaerobic digestion (AD) has grewn with the support of sound waste management poiicy. The first stand-alone AD in Connecticut was recently commissioned by Quantum Biopower. Policies in Massachusetts and California have supported nine operating facilities accepting food waste with additional units planned. NewJersey currently has no AD infrastructure accepting organics diverted from the solid waste stream. The development of an organics diversion industry in New Jersey can generate substantial benefits to the State. Fully implemented, we project that SB 771 could result in the diversion of 380,000 tons of food waste per year from landfilis annually. This volume of food waste could support as many as 10 regionally sited and reasonabiy sized anaerobic digestion facilitiesassuming a processing capacity of 100 tons per day each. These would result in generating: - . Work for over 400 skilled workers during construction, 0 New jobs to Operate the facilities, plus additional collection, sales management jobs, 0 Net lifecycle GHG reductions of over 250, 000 tons C029 year, equivalent to pulling 48, 000 cars off the road for a year, and 0 76,000 of .eiectrICIty, enough to power 6,600 homes for a year, or the renewable natural gas (RNG) equivalent Of 7 million gallons 0f diesei fuel. To capitalize on these benefits, we have put together a group of companies that have worked in a number of states to try to develop organics programs. We believe that SB 771 is a good start and shows that New Jersey is ready to act. However, we believe that it should be strengthened in a number of ways?based on experience from other states and the various challenges they have faced. Furthermore, implementation of SB 771 will deveiop an organics diversion expertise in State, which can be used to capitalize on the potential demand for these services from New York and Philadelphia, while providing economic and environmental benefits to New Jersey. Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of this ongoing discussion and we look forward to continuing to work together to lead New Jersey forward. Two Suggested Amendments Remove the Landfill Gas Exemption There is near universal consensus that diversion of organics, particularly food waste, from landfills is the most promising mechanism of reducing GHG emissions from the waste management sector. In fact, the Natural Resources Defense Council?s (NRDC) paper entitled 'Wasted: Hon/America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent oflts Foodfrom Form to Fork to Landfill? found: ?The decomposition of uneaten food accounts for 23 percent of ail methane emissions in the United States. Of ail the food that is iost at different stages from farm to fork, only 3 percent is composted. The vast majority ends up in iandfills. in fact, food now represents the single largest component of municipal solid waste reaching landfills where it gradualiy converts to methane, a greenhouse gas at least 25 times more powerful in global warming as carbon dioxide.? "Due to their organic nature and high moisture content, food scraps decay more rapidly than other organics. Therefore, they produce a disproportionately large component of the methane that landfills produce in the first years, often before the landfilis are capped. One expert estimated food scraps contribute 90 percent of landfill methane emissions during this in a letter discussing yard waste bans, the U.S. EPA stated, "Again, EPA encourages efforts to capture iandfill methane from existing (and closed) landfills for energy production. However, EPA does not support adding organic wastes to iandfilis in hopes of creating waste?to-energy There are no operating landfills in the State of NJ without a LFGTE system in place, according to the US. Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) database.ix We acknowledge that landfili operators have made investments in LFGTE. In fact, the approach of gradually-phasing-in organics diversion requirements beginning with large commercial food waste generators will provide the best glide path to ensure that past investments are not stranded while gradually weaning ourseives off of landfills for food wastemanagement. In addition, most of the ia'ndfills in NewJersey are owned by iocal governments and have flow control ordinances in place which'further ensures the financial stability of these assets. Create a Waste Carve-Out in the RPS The focus on mitigating short lived greenhouse gases has been intensifying as scientist have learned. more about the significant impact that these gases have on the climate. Methane from the waste sector is a huge source of these short lived greenhouse gas emissions. Some small biopower projects have received State incentives in recent years through the Clean Energy Program, but the magnitude of the individual grants is insufficient to foster development and the overall program lacks the resources to incentiviZe the scale of development needed to handie to volume of material in New I Jersey. To incentivize the reduction of these emissions from the waste sector, the State should create a separate tier of the RPS that rewards the reduction or elimination of methane and the best use of waste material. Development of infrastructure for this waste material have been stymied by low energy prices. A Waste Carve-Out a WREC) similar to the successful SREC program could jump-start anaerobic digestion projects in NJ and encourage organics diversion while protecting the economics of existing projects that reduce methane. While the State encourages new facilities, this program will ensure that there will be no stranded public debt on existing waste facilities. Objective: Develop a new carve-out in the State?s RPS to support existing and new projects located in New Jersey which reduce or eliminate methane emissions and recover energy from municipal solid waste resources. Key Provisions: 0 Waste RECs (WREC) will be carved?out from the existing Class and Class II RPS state- wide obligations. - The total WREC obligation shall increase linearly from 2.0% in 2018 to 3.65% in 2022 (Based on 2015 energy year retail sales in Ni, this equates to 1.5 million in 2018 and 2.75 million in 2022). Alternative Compliance Payment (ACP) equal to Class l. - Projects must generate for commercial sale an eligible energy product, defined as gaseous and liquid fuels, useful thermal energy, or electricity generated from a landfill, waste-to-energy facility, or anaerobic digester. - Projects shall generate one WREC for each of eligible energy product sold, except as provided below. 0 Projects must be permitted to manage waste in accordance with a Solid Waste Permit issued by NJDEP. - Eligible gaseous and liquid feels and steam shall be converted to units of at the rate of 0.293 - Stand-alone anaerobic digesters which beneficially reuse residuals as compost, fertilizer, or sOiI amendment shall generate 2 WRECs for each of eligible energy product sold. Other Suggested Changes Expedited permitting - A major challenge to~date has been project permitting. Anaerobic digestion projects have taken 18-24 months on average to receive the necessary air, water and waste permits. A streamlined permitting process with expedited or priority review could shorten development timeframes and ease concerns of project financers. in particular, the State should incentivize the co-Iocation of organics diversidn projects at existing solid waste infrastructure. The State could also allow organics diversion projects to be incorporated in County Solid Waste and Recycling Master Plans via an Administrative Action pursuant to NJ.A.C. Procurement policies Food waste recycling can reap substantial benefits carbon storage, nutrient recycling, petrochemical fertilizer avoidance, increased drought tolerance) through the return of organics back to soils. The State can take a leadership position in the reuse of digested food waste and compost by incorporating their use into State procurement guidelines, including those of the State Department of Transportation for soils. The State has a long history of encouraging the use of recycled materials including organics. In 1993, Governor Florio issued Executive Order #91 which we believe is still in effect. it says: ?Utilize, where technically feasibie, competitively priced (as defined below) and environmentally sound, compost, mulch and other soil amendments made from municipal solid waste, siudge, yard waste, clean wood Waste, and other organic materials, in descending order of priority, where the agency or instrumentality is responsibie for the maintenance of pubiic lands, engages in landscaping activities or performs construction activities at State facilities or projects. The compost derived from these listed organic waste materials shall be'used in lieu of any chemical fertilizer or soil amendment.? The State should clarify that soil amendments and products derived from food waste diverted from the solid waste stream as a result of SB 771 should be considered as derived from municipal solid waste for the purposes of the prioritization outlined In E0 91 (1993). implementation A lack of oversight provisions in organics diversion laws and reguiations finalized to-date has held back organics infrastructure development To facilitate implementation, large generators should report disposition of regulated food waste to the DEP. in addition, the DEP should routinely foliow- up with large food waste generators. Reuse Standards Application of stringent standards originally intended for wastewater treatment plant biosolids can create onerous barriers for the development of food waste diversion capacity. The legislature should direct NJDEP to perform a review of current compost and biosolids standards with regard to food waste diversion, and recommend changes to ensure that the standards are appropriate, practicable and sufficiently protective of human health and the environment. i Rethink Food Waste "The Multi-Biliion Doliar Food Waste Problem": EPA (2014) inventory of U5. GreenhouSe Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2012, EPA 4304144003. i? See Figure SPMS of IPCC (2013) Summary for Policymakers. in: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group i to the Fifth Assessment Report of the intergovernmental Panei on Ciirnate Change [Stocken T.F., et ai. (eds.)i. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA report/arS/wgl/WGIARS SPM Worid Meteorologicai Organization (2014), WMO Greenhouse Gas Buiieti:n The State of Greenhouse Gases in the Atmosphere Based on Global Observations through 2013, 10, September 9, 2014. Available at: The IPCC concluded that "it is likeiy that including the climate~carbon feedback for non-C02 gases as weli as for C02 provides a better estimate of the metric value than inciuding it only for See p714 8t Tabie 8?7 of re, 6. et ai. (2013) Anthropogenic and Natural Radiative Forcing. in: Ciimate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group to the Fifth Assessment Report of the intergovernmental Panei on Climate Change [Stocken et ai. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. Chapter08 Vi Based on EPA Waste Reduction Model v14 factors for anaerobic digestion and of food waste NRDC ns.pdf US. EPA (2016) Landfiil Gas Energy Project Data and Landfill technical Data, Landfill Methane Outreach Program. ndfili~gas-enemv-proiecbdata-a