Earlier this week Burlington Free Press staff writer Candace Page sat down with Jennifer Holliday, product stewardship manager for the Chittenden Solid Waste District, to talk about the new solid waste bill passed by the Legislature this session. Holliday calls the passage of the bill a “major accomplishment” for Vermont, one that will have a far-reaching impact on the handling of recyclable materials in the state for many years to come.

BFP: How else does the bill encourage us to recycle?

JH: There’s a convenience aspect to the bill. Recycling will be as easy as throwing something in the trash. It requires if you are a solid-waste hauler or facility, you have to provide collection for those banned materials. If you provide curbside collection of trash, you are going to have provide collection of recyclables by 2015, leaf and yard waste by 2016 and food waste by 2017. The same for solid-waste facilities. Recycling away from home or the workplace is often difficult, so there is a requirement that any public space that is owned by state or local government — a town hall, a state park — that recycling containers be placed wherever there are trash containers. There’s one more thing. The bill provides financial incentives for recycling. It says haulers and facilities have to collect recyclables for free. If people are paying to dispose of their trash, but recycling is free, there is a financial incentive to recycle.

Read the whole interview at The Burlington Free Press.

Yesterday on VPR’s Vermont Edition, host Jane Lindholm talked with Tony Klein, chair of the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee, Jen Holliday of the Chittenden Solid Waste District, and Peter Gaskill of Triple T Trucking in Brattleboro about the new mandatory recycling bill that is now working its way to the Senate chamber. The segment touched on many of the issues and concerns people have about this historic move. If you missed the original broadcast, VPR has posted the audio on its website:

Bill Would Make Recycling Mandatory In Vermont – Vermont Edition, March 14, 2012

The integrated solid waste bill, H 485, passed the Vermont House on a unanimous voice vote on March 1. Its next stop is the Senate, where it may come to a vote as early as next week.  Here is some recent coverage on H 485:

Lawmakers Strongly Support Mandatory Recycling – Vermont Public Radio (March 1)

Vermont House Approves Mandatory Recycling – WCAX (March 1)

Vermont House Endorses Bill To Increase Recycling – Burlington Free Press (March 2)

Vermont May Ban Recyclables From Landfills – Plastics News (March 2)

H.485, the integrated solid waste management bill, was approved by the House Committee on Natural Resources and Energy yesterday on a vote of 10-0 with one member absent. It’s next stop is the House floor, where it is expected to be announced today. If all goes as scheduled, it will go thought the process of a second and third reading by Friday. A that point, it could head directly to the Senate. We’ll keep you posted, but while we wait, you can read the committee’s final version here.