TESTIMONY TO THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS

SB 781 Environment - Recycling - Special Events

POSITION: Support

BY:  Susan Cochran, President

DATE: March 26, 2014

The League of Women Voters of Maryland strongly supports SB 781, which would require a county to address the collection and recycling of recyclable materials from special events in the county’s recycling plan.

For more than 25 years, members of the LWV around the country have urged local and state governments to act on this motto: “reduce, reuse, recycle.”  The earth has finite space for handling the trash that humans produce.

While the state of Maryland has been at or near the forefront in setting recycling goals for its counties, one area that has not previously been addressed is the amount of unnecessary trash that can accumulate at large public events

LWVMD is disappointed that the bill was amended to eliminate coverage of public and commercial buildings; nevertheless, SB 781 is an important step forward.  Consequently, we urge members of the Committee to support SB 781, which was approved in the Senate by a vote of 47 to 0.