Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman ALIXON COLLAZOS-GILL
District 27 (Essex and Passaic)
Assemblywoman GARNET R. HALL
District 28 (Essex and Union)
SYNOPSIS
Requires producers of plastic packaging and certain other plastic products to reduce quantity of plastic sold; restricts additional substances under "Toxic Packaging Reduction Act."
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning packaging and plastic products, supplementing Title 13 of the Revised Statues, and amending P.L.1991, c.520.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. (New section) As used in sections 1 through 4 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Environmental Protection.
"Covered material" means plastic packaging material, single-use plastic products collected in the municipal solid waste stream, and plastic products that have the effect of disrupting recycling processes, including, but not limited to, single-use plastic items such as straws, utensils, cups, plates, and plastic bags. "Covered material" shall not include: (1) medical devices and packaging which are included with products regulated as a drug, medical device, or dietary supplement by the United States Food and Drug Administration under the federal "Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act," 21 U.S.C. s.301 et seq., 21 C.F.R. s.3.2(e), or Pub.L. 103-417, known as the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act; (2) animal biologics, including vaccines, bacterins, antisera, diagnostic kits, and other products or biological origin, and other packaging materials regulated by the United States Department of Agriculture pursuant to 21 U.S.C. ss.151-159, known as the Virus-Serum-Toxin Act; (3) packaging regulated by the federal "Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, 7 U.S.C. s.136 et seq. or any other applicable federal law, rule, or regulation; (4) packaging used to contain hazardous or flammable products regulated by the 2012 federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration Hazard Communications Standard, 29 C.F.R. s.1910.1200; (5) infant formula as defined in 21 U.S.C. s.301 et seq.; and (6) medical foods as defined in 21 U.S.C. s.301 et seq.
"Department" means the Department of Environmental Protection.
"Packaging material" means a discrete material or category of material, regardless of recyclability, including, but not limited to, material types that are flexible, foam, or rigid, which are used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery, transport, distribution, or presentation of another product that is sold, offered for sale, imported, or distributed in the State, including through an internet transaction.
"Producer" means: (1) the in-State manufacturer of a covered material, or a product that is packaged in a covered material, which is sold, offered for sale, or distributed in the State, or (2) if the covered material or product is manufactured outside the State, the producer is the person that first distributes the covered material, or product packaged in a covered material, in or into the State for the purposes of selling or offering for sale the covered material or product, as applicable, in the State.
"Recycling" means a process by which materials which would otherwise become solid waste are collected, separated or processed, and returned to the economic mainstream in the form of raw materials or products. "Recycling" shall not include: (1) energy recovery or energy generation by any means, including, but not limited to, combustion, incineration, pyrolysis, gasification, solvolysis, or waste-to-fuel; (2) any chemical conversion process; or (3) landfill disposal.
"Toxic Packaging Task Force" or "task force" means the task force established by section 3 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
"Toxic substance" means a chemical or chemical class identified by a state agency, federal agency, international intergovernmental agency, accredited research university, or other scientific entity deemed authoritative by the department on the basis of credible scientific evidence as being one or more of the following: (1) a chemical or chemical class that is a carcinogen, mutagen, reproductive toxicant, immunotoxin, neurotoxicant, or endocrine disruptor; (2) a chemical or chemical class that is persistent or bioaccumulative; (3) a chemical or chemical class that may harm the normal development of a fetus or child or cause other developmental toxicity in humans or wildlife; (4) a chemical or chemical class that may harm organs or cause other systemic toxicity; (5) a chemical or chemical class that may have adverse air quality impacts, adverse ecological impacts, adverse soil quality impacts, or adverse water quality impacts; or (6) a chemical or chemical class that the department has determined has equivalent toxicity to the above criteria.
2. (New section) a. Each producer shall reduce the amount, by weight, of covered material annually sold, offered for sale, or distributed in the State, including as packaging for products sold, offered for sale, or distributed in the State by the producer, as compared to the baseline value of the sales during the 12-month period prior to the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), according to the following schedule:
(1) no later than two years after the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the amount shall be reduced to 90 percent of the baseline value;
(2) no later than four years after the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the amount shall be reduced to 80 percent of the baseline value;
(3) no later than six years after the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the amount shall be reduced to 70 percent of the baseline value;
(4) no later than eight years after the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the amount shall be reduced to 60 percent of the baseline value; and
(5) no later than 10 years after the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the amount shall be reduced to 50 percent of the baseline value.
b. Commencing two years after the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), no producer shall sell, offer for sale, or distribute in the State a cardboard packaging material, or a product packaged in such a material, unless the cardboard packaging material contains a minimum of 75 percent postconsumer recycled content, by weight, and is recycled at a rate of at least 75 percent.
3. (New section) a. There is established within the department a Toxic Packaging Task Force. The duties of the task force shall be to review the toxicity of packaging in the State