Sponsored by:
Senator TROY SINGLETON
District 7 (Burlington)
Senator KRISTIN M. CORRADO
District 40 (Bergen, Essex, Morris and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes School Plastics Upcycling Grant Program in DEP to provide proportional awards to eligible schools based on pro rata share of plastics collected, by each school, for upcycling purposes; appropriates $5 million.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the establishment of a grant program to provide proportional awards to schools engaged in the collection and donation of plastics for upcycling purposes, supplementing Title 13 of the Revised Statutes, and making an appropriation.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in this act:
Authorized upcycler means a person or entity, including, but not limited to, a recycling center or similar facility, that is identified by the commissioner, pursuant to subsection d. of section 3 of this act, as being appropriately qualified to engage in plastics upcycling and capable of upcycling donated school-collected plastics into school-appropriate furnishings for the purposes of this act.
Collected plastics means and includes those used, useless, or unwanted plastic bags or other plastic materials or products which have been collected by students or staff, for the purposes of upcycling, either at or on behalf of an eligible applicant school during the school year immediately preceding the date on which the school submits its program grant application pursuant to subsection b. of section 3 of this act.
Commissioner means the Commissioner of Environmental Protection.
Department means the Department of Environmental Protection.
Eligible applicant school means an eligible school that submits an application for a program grant award, in any year of program operations, by the deadline established pursuant to subsection b. of section 3 of this act.
Eligible costs means the costs set forth in subsection c. of section 4 of this act which are incurred by a grantee, within the limits of program grant funding awarded thereto, in association with the grantees purchase and acquisition of school-appropriate furnishings produced, by authorized upcyclers, through the upcycling of school-collected plastics.
Eligible school means a school that satisfies the criteria, set forth in subsection a. of section 3 of this act, as necessary to establish the schools eligibility for a grant award, in any year, under the School Plastics Upcycling Grant Program.
Grant program or program means the School Plastics Upcycling Grant Program established pursuant to section 2 of this act.
Grantee means an eligible school that receives a grant award, in any year, under the School Plastics Upcycling Grant Program.
Plastic collection activities means and includes any activities that are undertaken or overseen by a schools students or staff to facilitate the collection and storage of used, useless, or unwanted plastics, either at or on behalf of the school, for the purposes of upcycling.
Program grant award means a grant award issued to an eligible school under the School Plastics Upcycling Grant Program.
School means a public or private elementary or secondary school that is located in the State and provides education to students in grades K-12 or any combination thereof.
School-appropriate furnishings or school-appropriate furniture means and includes any furnishings, including, but not limited to, benches, tables, desks, or chairs, which are suitable for use by schools, have been produced by an authorized upcycler through the upcycling of school-collected plastics, and are available for purchase and acquisition, by an eligible school, through the use of program grant funds awarded pursuant to this act.
School-collected plastics means and includes the total amount of used, useless, and unwanted plastic bags and other plastic products and materials that have been collected by schools, for the purposes of upcycling, in the school year immediately preceding the annual deadline established, pursuant to subsection b. of section 3 of this act, for the submission of program grant applications.
Upcycling means the process that is used, by an authorized upcycler, to transform and reconstitute used, useless, or unwanted plastic bags and other plastic products and materials into new and repurposed materials or products of higher value and greater quality.
2. a. Commencing at the end of the school year next following the effective date of this act, the Commissioner of Environmental Protection shall establish and operate a School Plastics Upcycling Grant Program, the purpose of which shall be to annually provide proportional grant funding to each eligible applicant school in the State, consistent with, based on, and in proportion to, each such schools annual, pro rata share of school-collected plastics, in order to enable each such school to purchase and acquire a fair, equitable, and proportional pro rata share of school-appropriate furnishings annually produced, by authorized upcyclers, through the upcycling of all school-collected plastics.
b. The School Plastics Upcycling Grant Program shall be operated by the commissioner, on a pilot basis, for a period of three years or until the funds appropriated pursuant to section 7 of this act have been fully expended or are no longer deemed, by the commissioner, to be sufficient to enable the issuance, in any program year, of proportional, pro rata grant awards to all eligible applicant schools.
c. (1) At the conclusion of the pilot period set forth in subsection b. of this section, and upon the commissioners submission of an associated report, pursuant to subsection b. of section 5 of this act, recommending continuation of the program on a permanent, ongoing, or year-to-year basis, the commissioner shall be authorized to continue the School Plastics Upcycling Grant Program, in each year thereafter, within the limits of funds annually appropriated or otherwise made available, to the department, for the programs purposes.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1) of this subsection to the contrary, the commissioner shall temporarily discontinue the program, and shall suspend the issuance of grant awards thereunder, in any year in which the amount of available program funding is insufficient to enable all eligible applicant schools to receive a proportional grant award under the program, consistent with the requirements of subsection a. of this section and subsection c. of section 3 of this act.
3. a. A school shall