Rhode Island House Bill 5091 (2023) - (Failed)

Packaging material is defined as discrete material or category of material, regardless of recyclability that is used for he containment, protection, handling, delivery, transport, distribution, or presentation of another product that is sold, offered for sale, imported, or distributed in Rhode Island.

Packing does not include:

1. Medical devices and packaging which are included with products regulated as a drug, medical device, or dietary supplement by the FDA under the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act
2. Animal biologics including vaccines, bacterins, antisera, diagnostic kits, and other products or biological origin under the Virus, Serum, Toxin Act
3. Packaging regulated by the federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
4. Beverage containers subject to a returnable container deposit

Producer is defined as a person that manufactures a product sold, offered for sale, contained, protected, delivered, presented, or distributed in or using packaging into the state under the brand of the manufacture.

If there is no brand manufacturer, the person who is the owner or licensee of a trademark is the producer.

If there is no brand manufacturer or licensee, the person who imports the products is the brand, or an entity that manufactures the packaging material under the brand of the manufacturer.

Producers are exempt if gross revenue less than one million dollars during the prior calendar year, or if the producer sold, offered for sale, or distributed products containing less than 1 ton of covered packaging material in the prior calendar year.

Producer includes a franchisor of a franchise located in the state but does not include the franchisee operating that franchise.

The state will select a packaging reduction organization via a competitive bid process. The state will enter into a contract with a packaging reduction organization to coordinate the packaging reduction program. However, producers are individually responsible for compliance with the regulation.

The packaging reduction organization shall be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

The packaging reduction organization must reimburse local governments for operational costs of managing packaging material including collection, transportation, and processing.

Cost coverage includes funding to reimburse local governments for the costs associated with reducing and managing packaging waste, including the collection, transportation, and management of each type of packaging material.

Cost coverage includes funding to support comprehensive multi-media educational programs.

Cost coverage includes funding to reimburse the department for the administration of the program.

Cost coverage includes funding to support eligible projects that reduce packaging waste by investing in packaging reduction and elimination, reuse and refill systems and programs, and recycling infrastructure.

Producers shall pay fees based on the quantity and type of packaging used in the state.

Producers are required to make changes to the design of their products in order to meet packaging reduction and recycling requirements. The fees adopted shall delineate criteria that incentivize the changes.

Rules determining fee calculation must include criteria to adjust payments in a manner that incentivizes the use of a reuse and refill system. There will be no fee assessed on packaging that is designed for reuse and refill and contained within a reuse or refill system.

Rules determining fee calculation must include criteria to adjust payments in a manner that incentivizes reduction in the total packaging as measured by weight used by producers and discarded by others. Weight reductions shall not be achieved by substituting plastic for other materials types.

Rules determining fee calculation must include criteria to adjust payments in a manner that incentivizes and increase in the proportion of a producer’s total packaging that is ultimately recycled, a reduction in toxic components in packaging materials, a reduction in litter from packaging materials.

Rules determining fee calculation must include criteria to adjust payments in a manner that incentivizes an increase in the proportion of a producer’s total packaging that is deemed recyclable as determined by an annual review process by the department.

A producer is required to ensure that packaging is made of a material that meets the following recycling rates:

1. Not less than thirty percent within five years after the effective date of the legislation.
2. Not less than fifty percent within eight years after the effective date of this legislation.
3. Not less than seventy percent within twelve years after the effective date of this legislation.

This requirement does not apply to reusable or refillable packaging or containers.

The program outlines weight reduction goals the producers must meet:

1. Two years after a producer first registers with the packaging reduction organization, they shall reduce the amount of packaging by ten percent by weight.
2. Four years after a producer first registers with the packaging reduction organization, they shall reduce the amount of packaging by twenty percent by weight.
3. Six years after a producer first registers with the packaging reduction organization, they shall reduce the amount of packaging by thirty percent by weight.
4. Eight years after a producer first registers with the packaging reduction organization, they shall reduce the amount of packaging by forty percent by weight.
5. Ten years after a producer first registers with the packaging reduction organization, they shall reduce the amount of packaging by fifty percent by weight.

Investments must be approved by the department and the department will approve or deny any proposed investment within 90 days of receipt of a proposal. Investments must increase the transition of packaging from non-reusable to reduced, reusable or refillable packaging; increase access to reuse and refill infrastructure in the state; increase the capacity of reuse and refill infrastructure in the state; provide reuse and refill instructions that are, to the extent practicable, consistent statewide, easy to understand, translated into various commonly used languages, and easily accessible; or provide for outreach and education that are coordinated across programs or regions to avoid confusion for residents and developed in consultation with local government and the public.

One year after the selection of the packaging reduction organization, a producer shall not sell, offer for sale, or distribute into the state a product contained, protected, delivered, presented, or distributed in covered packaging.

The packaging reduction fund is established and will be managed by the packaging reduction organization with oversight from the department.

Producers are required to annually report to the packaging reduction organization.

In the event that the department determines that the packaging reduction organization no longer meets the requirements or fails to implement and administer the program, the department shall revoke its approval of the packaging reduction organization and shall select a new packaging reduction organization to replace it, or can run the program itself.

If the packaging reduction organization and producers are found in conduct or practice that does not comply with the requirements, the department shall notify them.

The department may issue a notice of violation and impose an administrative civil penalty not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars per day per violation. Each product line that is sold, offered for sale, or distributed to consumers, via retail commerce, in the state, including through an Internet transaction, shall be considered a violation.

The outreach and education shall include: A description of the environmental, social, economic, and environmental justice impact associated with improper disposal of packaging materials, information regarding the management of discarded packaging including reuse, recycling, composting, and disposal by landfilling and incineration, the location and availability of curbside and drop-off collection opportunities for packaging waste, including deposit and take-back programs, and Description of the environmental, social, economic, and environmental justice impact associated with failure to reuse or recycle packaging materials.

The packaging reduction organization shall conduct public outreach and education. They shall conduct at least three public hearings in geographically diverse parts of the state each year, to solicit public input on the implementation and effectiveness of the program.

"Recyclable" means a product or packaging material that can be sorted by entities that process post-consumer materials generated in the state, that has a consistent regional market for purchase by end users in the production of new products, which can be recycled with minimal losses of material during processing and manufacturing. Whether a product or packaging type meets these criteria shall be determined by an annual review process by the department.

Recycling means the series of activities by which material is: collected, transported, sorted, and processed, used in industrial feedstocks in place of virgin materials to manufacture new products with minimal loss of material quality and quantity, as determined through the process set forth by the department.

Recyclable and recycling do not include material processed through advanced recycling, chemical recycling, combustion, gasification, incineration, pyrolysis, solvolysis, thermal desorption, waste-to-energy, waste-to-fuel, or any other chemical or molecular conversion process.

Three years after the promulgation of rules and regulations, and every three years thereafter, the he department shall designate at least ten toxic substances or families of toxic substances that may no longer be sold, offered for sale, distributed for sale, or distributed for use in packaging in this state unless it determines there are not ten chemicals that meet the definition of toxic substances. Within one hundred eighty days of designating a toxic substance, the department shall adopt regulations to prohibit the newly designated toxic substance in packaging, with an effective date no later than two years after such designation.

Any producer that violates this shall be subject to a fine for each violation not to exceed fifty thousand dollars per violation. Each product line that is sold, offered for sale, or distributed to consumers, via retail commerce, in the state, including through an Internet transaction shall be considered a violation.

Recycling rate means the percentage of any given packaging type that is ultimately recycled. The recycling rate for any packaging material shall be calculated as the total weight of packaging that is recycled in a given year divided by the total weight of packaging generated. Material losses (contaminants and residues) accruing during collection, processing and manufacturing new products do not count as recycled and should not be in the numerator of the equation.

No later than eighteen months after the effective date of the legislation, the department shall conduct a statewide packaging reduction, reuse, and recycling needs assessment. The packaging reduction organization shall reimburse the department and the auditor general for the costs associated with conducting the needs assessment.

Reuse means the return of packaging back into the economic stream for use in the same kind of application intended for the original packaging, without effectuating a change in the original composition of the package, the identity of the product, or the components thereof. Reusable or refillable packaging and containers means packaging material and containers that are specifically designed and manufactured to maintain its shape and structure, and be materially durable for repeated sanitizing, washing, and reuse.