§ 261. New York state waste prevention program. 1. As used in this
section, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context,
the term:

a. "Financing institution" shall mean and include all banks, trust
companies, savings banks, savings and loan associations and credit
unions, whether incorporated, chartered, organized or licensed under the
laws of this state, any other state of the United States or the federal
government. This term may also include public authorities, public
benefit corporations, units of local government, domestic insurance
companies and not-for-profit corporations, which make loans for
improvements for the benefit of eligible applicants.

b. "Eligible applicant" or "applicant" shall mean: a small to medium
size business or nonprofit organization which employs less than five
hundred workers or has gross annual sales of less than ten million
dollars.

c. "Waste" shall have the same meaning as is found in the following
sections of the environmental conservation law: subdivision one of
section 27-0701, subdivision two of section 19-0107 and subdivision five
of section 17-0105 of the environmental conservation law. Such term
shall also include hazardous waste that appears on the list or satisfies
the characteristics of hazardous waste promulgated pursuant to section
27-0903 of the environmental conservation law. Such term shall not
include source, special nuclear or by-product material as defined in the
atomic energy act of 1954, as amended.

d. "Secondary materials" shall mean material recovered from or
otherwise destined for the waste stream, including but not limited to,
post-consumer material, industrial scrap material and overstock or
obsolete inventories from distributors, wholesalers and other companies
as defined in rules and regulations promulgated by the commissioner in
consultation with the commissioner of environmental conservation but
such term does not include those materials and by-products generated
from, and commonly reused within, an original manufacturing process.

e. "Feasibility study" shall mean a technical or economic analysis of
the feasibility of specific applications of waste prevention
technologies or practices or both.

f. "Waste prevention technologies" shall mean any technology employed
to prevent wastes or to process secondary materials for use or reuse but
shall not include technology employed for incineration of waste nor the
processing of waste for use as refuse derived fuel.

g. "Region" shall mean one or more of the economic development regions
created pursuant to section 5-127 of the energy law.

h. "Eligible project" shall mean actions taken by or on behalf of a
New York business involving the acquisition, construction, alteration,
repair or improvement of a building, fixtures, machinery or equipment,
provided that such project results in:

(i) source reduction or material substitution, provided that the
substitution of one hazardous substance, product or nonproduct output
for another does not result in the creation of a new risk,

(ii) in-process recycling,

(iii) recycling or reuse of non-hazardous solid wastes,

(iv) increased energy efficiency,

(v) conservation of the use of water or other natural resources
improvements in process economics,

(vi) elimination of the purchase of materials, the production of which
for the use of said firm would result in more waste or resource
consumption, or

(vii) other practices or technologies that reduce the use of hazardous
materials or otherwise improve air or water quality.

The term "eligible project" shall also include actions taken by or on
behalf of a business to support costs of equipment, and/or the
acquisition and/or rehabilitation of real property or structures located
or to be located in the state related to the collecting, sorting, and
packaging of empty beverage containers as such terms are defined in
title ten of article twenty-seven of the environmental conservation law.
Such actions shall be eligible for state assistance payments under the
beverage container assistance program pursuant to section 27-1018 of the
environmental conservation law.

The term "eligible project" shall not include end of pipe pollution
control technologies or practices where such controls or practices are
designed primarily to achieve compliance with the environmental
conservation law or regulations promulgated pursuant thereto, or energy
recovery or incineration, or out-of-process recycling or reuse of
hazardous waste or hazardous substances.

2. The department shall design and implement a waste prevention
program, which shall promote economic development through environmental
improvement. A high priority for services and assistance provided by or
available to the department shall be to improve the economic and
environmental performance of business through waste prevention.

3. The department shall consult with other agencies as appropriate on
these projects.

4. In carrying out the activities to implement the waste prevention
program, the department shall, to the extent practicable, within amounts
appropriated therefor:

a. collect and maintain information identifying existing manufacturers
within New York state that utilize secondary materials as raw materials
in their manufacturing process;

b. collect, maintain, and provide information to potential users
identifying existing processors of secondary materials within and
outside New York state and items within the waste stream having the
capability for utilization as inputs in processing activities;

c. maintain, provide and market a compilation of existing programs
providing incentives for new or expanded business enterprises which
could be utilized by the secondary materials processing industry;

d. promote the utilization of such incentives for new or expanded
business enterprises which process or utilize secondary materials to
locate in New York state;

e. promote incentives for existing businesses to expand their
utilization of secondary materials and their adoption of waste
prevention technologies and practices;

f. identify special needs and problems facing the secondary materials
processing industry and implementation of waste prevention within New
York state;

g. contact institutions, organizations and commercial enterprises that
are potential consumers of secondary materials and products manufactured
with secondary materials; urging their expanded consumption of secondary
materials and products and establishing markets for such secondary
materials and products through the use of letters of intent and such
other techniques as the commissioner may deem appropriate;

h. conduct market surveys of the potential consumers of secondary
materials and products manufactured with secondary materials;

i. conduct surveys to determine the potential supply of secondary
materials in the state;

j. evaluate the relationship between estimated supply and likely
demand for recovered materials in order to target the department's
efforts to bring about utilization of (i) materials for which supply
exceeds demand to the greatest degree; (ii) materials which would have
the greatest impact on the waste stream if recovered or recycled; and
(iii) materials for which a market can most readily be obtained;

k. develop and facilitate the establishment of markets necessary for
implementation of solid waste management programs;

l. provide information concerning local and regional markets for
secondary materials;

m. assist manufacturers interested in expansion or location of their
facilities or processes within the state with such governmental liaison
matters as siting, zoning, licensing, permitting, funding and other
expansion or location tasks through coordination with the relevant state
and local agencies;

n. identify federal incentives and policies designed to promote such
manufacturing industries;

o. provide other technical assistance to assist businesses in reducing
the amount of waste generated by their processes and productively use or
provide for the productive use of others of wastes which are generated;

p. assist vehicle dismantlers interested in maximizing the utilization
of secondary materials as raw materials in the manufacturing process;
and

q. conduct such other activities as may be appropriate to the intent
and purpose of this section.

5. The department shall fund feasibility studies for testing of waste
prevention technologies or practices or both to reduce the amount of
waste and to promote energy and resource conservation by the adoption of
such technologies or practices by small and medium sized firms in New
York state.

6. Applications. a. The department shall receive applications for
feasibility studies on a competitive basis. Funding shall be provided in
not less than two rounds annually.

b. Applications shall be evaluated based on criteria including but not
limited to the following:

(i) preliminary technical and economic feasibility of the project;

(ii) management ability and commitment to the project;

(iii) financial need;

(iv) the potential for applying the results of the project to other
business enterprises; and

(v) potential cost savings to the business and environmental benefits
to the state.

c. Technical feasibility. The department may consult with other state
agencies, concerning the technical feasibility of the process.

d. Total cost of studies. The state's share of the cost of individual
studies conducted through the program shall not exceed eighty percent of
the total cost or two hundred thousand dollars, whichever is less.

7. Waste prevention financing. The department is hereby authorized to
utilize monies appropriated to the program for the purpose of providing
loans, principal reductions, loan guarantees and interest subsidies for
waste prevention projects for eligible applicants.

8. a. Interest subsidies. The department may enter into cooperative
agreements with one or more cooperating financial institutions within
the state to offer loans for the purposes of this section to eligible
applicants at a rate that is no more than seventy-five percent of the
prime interest rate. Such interest rate shall initially be five percent.

b. Principal reductions and loan guarantees. The department shall be
authorized to utilize monies appropriated to this program for the
purpose of providing principal reductions and loan guarantees for
eligible applicants. Such principal reduction shall be limited to not
more than fifty percent of the amount eligible for a loan through the
program as is provided in subdivision nine of this section.

9. Loan agreements and agreements in connection with loans. Loan
agreements and agreements in connection with loans made pursuant to
subdivision seven of this section shall require that: (a) the maximum
loan per applicant shall be five hundred thousand dollars or no more
than fifty percent of the total project cost, whichever is less; (b)
loans or agreements in connection with loans shall be made only after an
application has been made to the department, the department has approved
the technical merits of the proposed improvement and the department has
notified the cooperating financial institutions of its approval and the
amount of interest or principal reduction or of the approval of a loan
guarantee upon the loan to be funded pursuant to such agreement; and (c)
loan agreements or agreements in connection with loans with program
applicants shall provide for a post installation inspection, as deemed
necessary by the department.

10. Technical feasibility study. The department shall require the
applicant to submit a technical feasibility study which identifies and
analyzes in detail the waste prevention projects which the applicant
wishes to implement. All feasibility studies must include the cost of
implementation, a construction schedule and, a description of how the
project will minimize, reduce or eliminate the generation of wastes, use
or reuse wastes, increase energy efficiency or water conservation,
improve air or water quality and/or improve process economics.

11. Apportionment of monies. The commissioner shall apportion the
monies appropriated for this program for the purpose of providing loans,
interest subsidies, loan guarantees and principal reductions to
applicants within each of the regions of the state identified in
paragraph h of subdivision one of this section.

12. Reapportionment of funds. The department may reapportion the funds
available for loans, interest subsidies, loan guarantees or principal
reductions for applicants within any region for use in one or more of
the other regions upon finding that participation in the program within
the former region would not be adversely affected, and that there exists
in the latter region or regions inadequate funds to satisfy the demand
for program participation. In any fiscal year of the state the amount of
funds available to applicants within any region may be reduced by not
more than twenty-five percent of the total amount apportioned for such
region. A copy of the department's finding shall be given to the
chairman of the senate finance committee and the chairman of the
assembly ways and means committee.

13. Implementation. In implementing this program, the department shall
promulgate rules and regulations. Such rules and regulations may
include, but not be limited to, requirements for applications and
supporting materials and criteria for the selection of cooperating
financial institutions. Such rules and regulations shall also provide in
all agreements for financial assistance for immediate repayment of all
such financial assistance plus interest and penalties if any portion of
a project as defined by paragraph i of subdivision one of this section
is transferred out of New York state.

14. Reports. Beginning on January first, nineteen hundred eighty-nine,
the commissioner shall make an annual report to the governor and the
legislature which shall include, at a minimum, the status of the
activities undertaken pursuant to paragraphs a, c, d, e, f, i, j and k
of subdivision four of this section, the status of any other activities
undertaken pursuant to this article, and recommendations for programs or
policies that will further the objectives of expanding the utilization
of secondary materials recovered for reuse within the state. The
provisions of this subdivision shall not be deemed to require or
authorize the disclosure of confidential information or trade secrets.
This report may be consolidated with the report required by subdivision
four of section two hundred sixty-three of this article.

15. Evaluation. The department shall submit to the director of the
division of the budget, the chairman and ranking minority member of the
senate finance committee and the chairman and ranking minority member of
the assembly ways and means committee an evaluation of this program
prepared by an entity independent of the department. Such evaluation
shall be submitted by September first, nineteen hundred ninety and by
September first, every two years thereafter.