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- Referred to environmental conservation
- Referred to environmental conservation
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BILL NUMBER:S3833
Title of bill
An act to amend the environmental conservation law and the general business law, in relation to telephone directory reduction and recycling
Purpose
To reduce and eliminate unwanted and unsolicited telephone directories by requiring distributors of these directories to notify recipients of the option and means to decline delivery of these publications. This legislation would also require that, to the maximum extent practicable, the directories be printed on paper that is recyclable and contains not less than 30% post-consumer recycled fiber, use inks that contain no heavy metals or other toxic material and be bound with materials that pose no unreasonable barriers to recycling such directories.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 of this bill amends Article 27 of the Environmental Conservation Law by adding a new title 29 entitled Telephone Directory Reduction and Recycling. This new title provides that every distributor of telephone directories to the general public shall ensure that, to the maximum extent practicable, the directories be printed on paper that is recyclable and contains not less than 30% post-consumer recycled fiber, use inks that contain no heavy metals or other toxic materials, and be bound with materials that pose no unreasonable barriers to recycling such directories.
Section 2 of this bill amends section 336 of the general business law by adding a new subdivision 4 that requires distributors of all telephone directories to notify recipients of the option and means to decline delivery of these publications.
Justification
Despite their usefulness, telephone directories have become a significant portion of the waste stream, estimated at 650,000 tons yearly in the US. The number of directories delivered to households and businesses has increased as publishers and distributors compete for attention. Most households or businesses receive unsolicited multiple directories. These unwanted and unused publications are generating excessive and unnecessary waste.
The highest priority in the solid waste hierarchy is prevention or avoidance of waste generation. This bill should significantly reduce the number of telephone directories entering the waste stream by limiting delivery to only those who want them. The second highest priority in the solid waste hierarchy is waste recovery -- recovering phone books for reuse or recycling achieves that goal.
This legislation would also require that, to the maximum extent possible, the directories be printed on paper that is recyclable and contains not less than 30% post-consumer recycled fiber, use inks that contain no heavy metals or other toxic material and be bound with materials that pose no unreasonable barriers to recycling such directories.
A 2006 EPA study, Solid Waste Management and Greenhouse Gases, found that every ton of reduction of phone book generation eliminates GHG emissions of 1.72 metric tons of carbon equivalent (MTCE). Additionally, for every ton of recovered material used in place of virgin material for the manufacturing of new phone books, GHG emissions are reduced by 0.72 MTCE.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:None to the State
EFFECTIVE DATE:This bill takes effect one year after it shall have become a law
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.