Posted: | March 28, 2019 10:45 AM |
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From: | Senator Daylin Leach |
To: | All Senate members |
Subject: | Helping Counties Dispose of Household Hazardous Waste |
Soon I will introduce legislation to update the state’s household hazardous waste collection program to reflect inflation since it was passed in 1996 and the public’s increased use of such programs. Most residents of the Commonwealth do not have the ability to safely dispose of their household’s hazardous waste, so they rely on their county to host free collection events. Each year these popular events collect millions of pounds of waste statewide. To help counties host these important events, Act 190 of 1996 provides a state funding match of up to $100,000 per county. Unfortunately, this limit has not been increased since 1996, despite the fact that the cost to counties to hold these events has increased exponentially over the last two decades. For example, last year Montgomery County, Lancaster County, Bucks County, and Berks County each spent over the $200,000 suggested by Act 190. All four counties are now projecting large increases in their costs for 2019 forward because of increases in collection and trucking costs as well as increases in their residents’ demand for these events, which results in more pounds of hazardous waste collected. To combat increasing vendor costs and ensure that municipalities can continue to provide these collections, my legislation will increase the limit on matching funds that each county may receive from $100,000 to $250,000. Please join me in supporting this important legislation. If you have questions about this legislation, please don’t hesitate to contact me. |
Introduced as SB766