Rhode Island General Laws Title 23. Health and Safety § 23-19-2. Legislative findings

(1) The people of the state desire to promote a clean and wholesome environment;

(2) Many municipalities have serious solid-waste management problems and face difficulty in providing adequate services at reasonable costs;

(3) Inefficient practices and poor management techniques result in pollution problems and environmental deterioration and result in a waste of land and other valuable resources;

(4) Solid-waste management problems are statewide in scope and necessitate state action through technical assistance and leadership in the application of new and improved methods and processes to reduce the amount of solid waste that must be disposed of, and to promote environmentally acceptable and economically sound solid-waste management;

(5) The continuing technological processes and improvements in the methods of manufacture, packaging, and marketing of consumer products, has resulted in an increased volume, and in a change in the characteristics, of material being discharged;

(6) The economic and population growth of the state and the improvements in the standards of living enjoyed by the people of the state have required increased industrial production together with related commercial operations to meet these needs, all of which has resulted in an increasing volume of discharged materials;

(7) The failure or inability to economically recover and recycle materials and energy resources from solid waste results in the unnecessary waste and depletion of natural resources;

(8) Provision for necessary, cost-efficient, and environmentally sound systems, facilities, technology, and services for solid-waste management and resource recovery is a matter of important public interest and concern, and action taken in this regard will be for a public purpose and will benefit the public welfare;

(9) The landfill disposal of solid waste, even under the most ideal conditions, creates a long-term potential for pollution and environmental degradation;

(10) Recycling facilities must be integrated into the development of all solid-waste-disposal facilities under the jurisdiction of the Rhode Island resource recovery corporation;

(11) The central landfill is a public resource of limited and finite capacity that the state, as guardian and trustee for its people, has the right and the obligation to preserve for the use of its people;

(12) The state, by creating the Rhode Island resource recovery corporation and through it operating the central landfill, is a participant in the landfill services market and has entered that market for the purpose of serving the citizens, residents, and municipalities of this state; and

(13) Solid-waste diversion is necessary and therefore it is the policy goal of the state that not less than fifty percent (50%) of the solid waste generated be diverted through diversion, source reduction, re-use, recycling, or composting by 2025.