LB599 LB599
2023 2023
LEGISLATURE OF NEBRASKA
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH LEGISLATURE
FIRST SESSION
LEGISLATIVE BILL 599
Introduced by Armendariz, 18.
Read first time January 17, 2023
Committee: Natural Resources
1 A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to recycling; to amend sections 13-2001,
2 13-2003, 13-2010, 13-2023, and 13-2034, Reissue Revised Statutes of
3 Nebraska, and sections 81-1502 and 81-15,160, Revised Statutes
4 Cumulative Supplement, 2022; to define and redefine terms and change
5 provisions relating to regulatory authority over advanced recycling
6 facilities under the Integrated Solid Waste Management Act; to
7 define, redefine, and alphabetize terms under the Environmental
8 Protection Act; to provide capital assistance for establishing
9 advanced recycling facilities from the Waste Reduction and Recycling
10 Incentive Fund; to harmonize provisions; and to repeal the original
11 sections.
12 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,
-1-
LB599 LB599
2023 2023
1 Section 1. Section 13-2001, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
2 amended to read:
3 13-2001 Sections 13-2001 to 13-2043 and sections 3 to 5 of this act
4 and 7 to 14 of this act shall be known and may be cited as the Integrated
5 Solid Waste Management Act.
6 Sec. 2. Section 13-2003, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
7 amended to read:
8 13-2003 For purposes of the Integrated Solid Waste Management Act,
9 the definitions found in sections 13-2004 to 13-2016.01 and sections 3 to
10 5 of this act and 7 to 14 of this act shall be used.
11 Sec. 3. Advanced recycling means a manufacturing process for the
12 conversion of post-use polymers and recovered feedstocks into basic raw
13 materials, feedstocks, chemicals, and other products through processes
14 that include pyrolysis, gasification, depolymerization, catalytic
15 cracking, reforming, hydrogenation, solvolysis, chemolysis, and other
16 similar technologies. The recycled products produced at advanced
17 recycling facilities include, but are not limited to, monomers,
18 oligomers, plastics, plastic and chemical feedstocks, basic and
19 unfinished chemicals, waxes, lubricants, coatings, and adhesives.
20 Advanced recycling may be considered recycling as defined in section
21 81-1545. Advanced recycling shall not be considered solid waste
22 management, solid waste processing, solid waste recovery, incineration,
23 treatment, or waste-to-energy.
24 Sec. 4. Advanced recycling facility means a manufacturing facility
25 that receives, stores, and converts post-use polymers and recovered
26 feedstocks it receives using advanced recycling. An advanced recycling
27 facility is a manufacturing facility subject to applicable Department of
28 Environment and Energy manufacturing regulations for air, water, waste,
29 and land use. Advanced recycling facilities shall not be considered solid
30 waste disposal facilities, final disposal facilities, solid waste
31 management facilities, solid waste processing facilities, solid waste
-2-
LB599 LB599
2023 2023
1 recovery facilities, incinerators, or waste-to-energy facilities.
2 Sec. 5. Depolymerization means a manufacturing process where post-
3 use polymers are broken into smaller molecules such as monomers and
4 oligomers or raw, intermediate, or final products, plastic and chemical
5 feedstocks, basic and unfinished chemicals, waxes, lubricants, and
6 coatings.
7 Sec. 6. Section 13-2010, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
8 amended to read:
9 13-2010 Facility shall mean any site owned and operated or utilized
10 by any person for the collection, source separation, storage,
11 transportation, transfer, processing, treatment, or disposal of solid
12 waste and shall include a solid waste landfill. Facility shall not
13 include an advanced recycling facility.
14 Sec. 7. Gasification means a manufacturing process through which
15 post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks are heated in an oxygen-
16 controlled atmosphere and converted into syngas (carbon monoxide (CO) and
17 hydrogen (H2)), followed by conversion into valuable raw, intermediate
18 and final products including, but not limited to, plastic monomers,
19 chemicals, waxes, lubricants, coatings, and plastic and chemical
20 feedstocks that are returned to economic utility in the form of raw
21 materials or products.
22 Sec. 8. Mass balance attribution means a chain of custody
23 accounting methodology with rules defined by a third-party certification
24 system that enables the attribution of the mass of advanced recycling
25 feedstocks to one or more advanced recycling products.
26 Sec. 9. Post-use polymer means a plastic to which all of the
27 following apply:
28 (1) The plastic is derived from any industrial, commercial,
29 agricultural, or domestic activities, and includes pre-consumer recovered
30 materials and post-consumer materials;
31 (2) The plastic has been sorted from solid waste and other regulated
-3-
LB599 LB599
2023 2023
1 waste but may contain residual amounts of waste such as organic material
2 and incidental contaminants or impurities such as paper labels and metal
3 rings;
4 (3) The plastic is not mixed with solid waste or hazardous waste
5 onsite or during processing at the advanced recycling facility;
6 (4) The plastic's use or intended use is as a feedstock for the
7 manufacturing of feedstocks, raw materials, or other intermediate
8 products or final products using advanced recycling; and
9 (5) The plastic is processed at an advanced recycling facility or
10 held at such facility prior to processing.
11 Sec. 10. Pyrolysis means a manufacturing process through which
12 post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks are heated in the absence of
13 oxygen until melted and thermally decomposed, noncatalytically or
14 catalytically, and are then cooled, condensed, and converted into
15 valuable raw materials and intermediate and final products including, but
16 not limited to, plastic monomers, chemicals, naphtha, waxes, and plastic
17 and chemical feedstocks that are returned to economic utility in the form
18 of raw materials and products.
19 Sec. 11. Recovered feedstock means one or more of the following
20 materials that has been processed so that it may be used as feedstock in
21 an advanced recycling facility:
22 (1) Post-use polymers;
23 (2) Materials for which the United States Environmental Protection
24 Agency has made a nonwaste determination or has otherwise determined are
25 feedstocks and not solid waste;
26 (3) Recovered feedstock that does not include unprocessed municipal
27 solid waste; or
28 (4) Recovered feedstock that is not mixed with solid waste or
29 hazardous waste onsite or during processing at an advanced recycling
30 facility.
31 Sec. 12. Recycled plastic means a product that is produced from (1)
-4-
LB599 LB599
2023 2023
1 mechanical recycling of pre-consumer recovered feedstocks or plastics and
2 post-consumer plastics or (2) the advanced recycling of pre-consumer
3 recovered feedstocks or plastics and post-consumer plastics via mass
4 balance attribution under a third-party certification system.
5 Sec. 13. Solvolysis means a manufacturing process through which
6 post-use polymers are purified with the aid of solvents while heated at
7 low temperatures or pressurized to make useful products allowing
8 additives and contaminants to be removed. The products of solvolysis
9 include monomers, intermediates, valuable chemicals, plastic and chemical
10 feedstocks, and raw materials. Solvolysis includes, but is not limited
11 to, hydrolysis, aminolysis, ammonoloysis, methanolysis, and glycolysis.
12 Sec. 14. Third-party certification system means an international
13 and multinational third-party certification system which consists of a
14 set of rules for the implementation of mass balance attribution
15 approaches for advanced recycling of materials. A third-party
16 certification system includes, but is not limited to, International
17 Sustainability and Carbon Certification, Underwriter Laboratories, SCS
18 Recycled Content, Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, Ecoloop, and
19 REDcert2.
20 Sec. 15. Section 13-2023, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
21 amended to read:
22 13-2023 (1) A county, municipality, or agency may, by ordinance or
23 resolution, adopt regulations governing collection, source separation,
24 storage, transportation, transfer, processing, treatment, and disposal of
25 solid waste within its solid waste jurisdiction area as necessary to
26 protect the public health and welfare and the environment. Regulations
27 authorized by this section shall be equal to or more stringent than the
28 provisions of the Integrated Solid Waste Management Act and rules and
29 regulations adopted and promulgated by the council as authorized by the
30 act. Any person who violates any such regulation shall be subject to a
31 noncompliance fee not to exceed five hundred dollars.
-5-
LB599 LB599
2023 2023
1 (2) A county, municipality, or agency shall not adopt, enforce, or
2 otherwise administer an ordinance or resolution that prohibits the use of
3 or that sets standards, fees, prohibitions, or requirements regarding the
4 sale, use, or marketing of containers. This subsection shall not apply to
5 county, municipality, or agency recycling or solid waste collection
6 programs, or restrict such programs from the environmental and lawful
7 operation of program facilities and imposition of user fees at such
8 facilities, except that in no event shall such programs prohibit or have
9 the effect of prohibiting the sale, use, or marketing of any containers.
10 (3) This section shall not apply to advanced recycling facilities.
11 Sec. 16. Section 13-2034, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
12 amended to read:
13 13-2034 (1) The council shall adopt and promulgate rules and
14 regulations which shall include the following:
15 (a) (1) A permit program for facilities providing for permits to be
16 issued to owners and operators;
17 (b) (2) Requirements for the collection, source separation, storage,
18 transportation, transfer, processing, recycling, resource recovery,
19 treatment, and disposal of solid wastes as well as developmental and
20 operational plans for facilities. Regulations concerning operations may
21 include waste characterization, composition, and source identification,
22 site improvements, air and methane gas monitoring, ground water and
23 surface water monitoring, daily cover, insect and rodent control, salvage
24 operations, waste tire disposal, safety and restricted access, inspection
25 of loads and any other necessary inspection or verification requirements,
26 reporting of monitoring analysis, record-keeping requirements and other
27 reporting requirements, handling and disposal of wastes with special
28 characteristics, and any other operational criteria, location criteria,
29 or design criteria necessary to minimize environmental and health risks
30 and to provide protection of the air, land, and waters of the state; and
31 (c) (3) Requirements for closure, postclosure care and monitoring,
-6-
LB599 LB599
2023 2023
1 and investigative and corrective action with respect to landfills. Such
2 rules and regulations shall require financial assurance for such
3 activities after April 9, 1996. Such rules and regulations shall impose
4 any necessary requirements upon owners or operators in order to assure
5 proper closure, care, monitoring, and investigative and corrective action
6 with respect to landfills to minimize the need for future maintenance and
7 eliminate, to the extent necessary to protect humans, animals, and the
8 environment, releases or the threat of releases of contaminants or
9 leachate.
10 (2) Rules and regulations adopted and promulgated pursuant to this
11 section shall not apply to advanced recycling.
12 Sec. 17. Section 81-1502, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement,
13 2022, is amended to read:
14 81-1502 For purposes of the Environmental Protection Act, unless the
15 context otherwise requires:
16 (1) Advanced recycling has the same meaning as in section 3 of this
17 act;
18 (2) Advanced recycling facility has the same meaning as in section 4
19 of this act;
20 (3) (1) Air contaminant or air contamination shall mean the presence
21 in the outdoor atmosphere of any dust, fume, mist, smoke, vapor, gas,
22 other gaseous fluid, or particulate substance differing in composition
23 from or exceeding in concentration the natural components of the
24 atmosphere;
25 (4) (2) Air pollution shall mean the presence in the outdoor
26 atmosphere of one or more air contaminants or combinations thereof in
27 such quantities and of such duration as are or may tend to be injurious
28 to human, plant, or animal life, property, or the conduct of business;
29 (5) (3) Chairperson shall mean the chairperson of the Environmental
30 Quality Council and council shall mean the Environmental Quality Council;
31 (6) (4) Complaint shall mean any charge, however informal, to or by
-7-
LB599 LB599
2023 2023
1 the council, that any person or agency, private or public, is polluting
2 the air, land, or water or is violating the Environmental Protection Act
3 or any rule or regulation of the department in respect thereof;
4 (7) (5) Control and controlling shall include prohibition and
5 prohibiting as related to air, land, or water pollution;
6 (8) (6) Department shall mean the Department of Environment and
7 Energy, which department is hereby created;
8 (9) (7) Director shall mean the Director of Environment and Energy,
9 which position is hereby established;
10 (10) (8) Disposal system shall mean a system for disposing of
11 wastes, including hazardous wastes, either by surface or underground
12 methods, and includes sewerage systems and treatment works, disposal
13 wells and fields, and other systems;
14 (11) Effluent limitation shall mean any restriction, including a
15 schedule of compliance, established by the council on quantities, rates,
16 and concentrations of chemical, physical, biological, and other
17 constituents which are discharged from point sources into waters of the
18 state;
19 (12) (9) Emissions shall mean releases or discharges into the
20 outdoor atmosphere of any air contaminant or combination thereof;
21 (13) Fluid shall mean a material or substance which flows or moves
22 whether in a semisolid, liquid, sludge, gas, or other form or state;
23 (14) Garbage shall mean rejected food wastes, i