Rhode Island House Bill 7023 (2024) - (Failed)

Packaging or packaging material is a discrete material or category of material, regardless of recyclability, including, but not limited to, such material types as paper, plastic, glass, metal, or multi-material, that is used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery, transport, distribution, or presentation of another product that is sold, offered for sale, imported, or distributed in Rhode Island.

Packaging does not include:

1. Medical devices and packaging for products regulated as a drug, medical device, or dietary supplement by the United States FDA.
2. Animal biologics including vaccines, bacterins, antisera, diagnostic kits, and other products or biological origin.
3. Packaging regulated by the federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.
4. Beverage containers subject to a returnable container deposit, if applicable.

Producer means a person or entity that manufactures or uses in commercial enterprise a product sold, offered for sale, contained, protected, delivered, presented, or distributed in or using packaging into Rhode Island under the brand of the manufacture.

If there is no brand, a person or entity that is not the manufacturer of the product, but is the owner or licensee of a trademark, regardless of whether the trademark is registered, under which a product is sold, offered for sale, contained, protected, delivered, presented, or distributed in or using packaging is the producer.

If there is no brand or licensee, the producer is a person or entity that imports a product that is contained, protected, delivered, or presented in packaging, into the United States or the state for use in commercial enterprise in the state, or an entity that manufactures or uses in a commercial enterprise, sells, offers for sale, or distributes the packaging material in the state under the brand of the manufacturer.

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

A producer is exempt in a calendar year in which the producer realized less than one million dollars in total gross revenue during the prior calendar year or the producer sold, offered for sale, or distributed for sale products contained, protected, delivered, presented, or distributed in or using less than one ton of packaging material in total during the prior calendar year.

The Packaging Reduction Organization (PRO) is a nonprofit entity.

The department will contract with a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, to act as the packaging reduction organization, which shall collect packaging reduction, generation, and recycling information and fee payments from producers. The funds will reimburse local governments and private companies for the costs associated with collection, transportation, and recycling of packaging materials.

Cost coverage includes cost associated with collection, transportation, and management of each type of packaging materials.

Cost coverage includes reimbursement to the department for its administration of the program and the packaging reduction organization’s administration of the packaging reduction and recycling program.

Cost coverage includes investments in collection systems, transportation systems, reuse systems, washing systems, redistribution systems, technology for tracking and data collection, capital expenditures on new and emerging technology focused on reusable and refillable packaging, as well as equipment, and facilities, and other projects determined by the department.

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

The fee structure adopted by the department shall incentivize improvements to the design of packaging material. The department shall update and revise the fees every three years.

Fees shall incentivize an increase in the proportion of a producer’s total packaging that is managed within a reuse and refill system. There shall be no fee assessed on packaging that is designed for reuse and refill and contained within a reuse or refill system.

Fees shall incentivize a reduction in total packaging as measured by weight. Weight reductions shall not be achieved by substituting plastic for other materials types.

Fees shall incentivize a reduction in toxic components in packaging materials and a reduction in litter from packaging materials.

Fees shall incentivize an increase in the proportion of a producer’s total packaging that is deemed recyclable as determined by an annual review process and an increase in the proportion of a producer’s total packaging that is ultimately recycled.

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

Not less than 30% within 5 years after the effective date.

Not less than 50% within 8 years after the effective date.

Not less than 70% within 12 years after the effective date.

Beginning 2 years after a producer first registers with the packaging reduction organization, a producer shall reduce the amount of packaging used to contain, protect, deliver, present, or distribute the products they sell, offer for sale, or distribute for sale into the state, by 10% by weight. Subsequent targets follow:

4 years after a producer first registers with the PRO, a producer shall reduce the amount of packaging by 20% by weight.

6 years after a producer first registers with the PRO, a producer shall reduce the amount of packaging by 30% by weight.

8 years after a producer first registers with the PRO, a producer shall reduce the amount of packaging by 40% by weight.

10 years after a producer first registers with the PRO, a producer shall reduce the amount of packaging 50% by weight.

The weight shall be measured against the total amount of packaging the producer used during the first year they registered with the PRO.

These reductions may be achieved by using the following strategies: Elimination of packaging components; Reduction of packaging components; Using reuse and refill systems; Packaging rightsizing, light weighting, and optimization. The reductions required by this subsection shall not be achieved by substituting plastic for other materials. In the case of a producer that enters the market with 50% or more by weight of its packaging being reusable and contained within a reuse and refill system, that producer may apply to the department for a waiver from the packaging reduction requirements.

One year after the selection of the PRO, a producer must be registered and in full compliance with the PRO.

One year after the promulgation of rules and regulations by the department, a PRO shall be selected and enter into contract with the department to operate the packaging reduction and recycling program for 10 years.

A fund, the Packaging Reduction Fund, is established, managed by the PRO with oversight from the department. The payments collected from producers shall be deposited into the packaging reduction fund to reimburse local governments for the costs associated with reducing and managing packaging waste and reimburse the department for its administration of the program.

The PRO shall submit a report to the department annually.

Failure to comply by either the PRO or an individual producer shall subject the violators to penalties. The department, the inspector general, or the office of the attorney general, may issue a notice of violation to, and impose an administrative civil penalty not to exceed $100,000 per day per violation on, any entity not in compliance.

The PRO shall prioritize investments for projects and programs that will directly benefit environmental justice communities, including, but not limited to, communities that are home to a landfill, incinerator, transfer station, or waste-to-energy facility.

Education and outreach efforts should be provided to producers for inclusion on their packaging’s label to inform consumers about the methods to responsibly reuse, recycle, or dispose of the packaging.

Education and outreach should include the location and availability of curbside and drop-off collection opportunities for packaging waste, including deposit and take-back programs, and information regarding the management of discarded packaging including reuse, recycling, composting, and disposal by landfilling and incineration.

Education and outreach should be coordinated with other similar public outreach and education programs in the state as necessary to avoid consumer confusion and facilitate the consolidation of available resources.

Recyclable means a product or packaging material:

1. That can be sorted by entities that process post-consumer materials generated in the state
2. That has a consistent regional market for purchase by end users in the production of new products
3. 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.

Recycling means the series of activities by which material is:

1. Collected, transported, sorted, and processed
2. Used in industrial feedstocks in place of virgin materials to manufacture new products with minimal loss of material quality and quantity

Recyclable does 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.

Beginning 3 years after the promulgation of rules and regulations and every 3 years thereafter, the department shall designate at least 10 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 10 chemicals that meet the definition of toxic substances.

If the department determines there are not 10 toxic substances that meet such a definition, it shall publish a detailed statement of its findings and conclusions supporting such determination. Within 180 days of designating a toxic substance, the department shall adopt rules and regulations to prohibit the newly designated toxic substance in packaging, with an effective date no later than 2 years after such designation.

Any producer that violates this section shall be subject to a fine for each violation not to exceed fifty thousand dollars per violation. For the purposes of this section, 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.

No later than 18 months after the effective date of this chapter, the department shall conduct a statewide packaging reduction, reuse, and recycling needs assessment. The PRO shall reimburse the department for the costs of the needs assessment.

Within one year after promulgating the rules and regulations and every 5 years thereafter, the department shall issue a request for proposals to conduct a statewide packaging reduction, reuse, and recycling needs assessment to identify barriers and opportunities for reducing, reusing, and recycling packaging materials.

1. 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.

2. Reuse and refill system means a program or set of mechanisms designed to facilitate multiple uses of packaging. Mechanisms may include, but are not limited to, deposits, incentives, curbside collection, collection kiosks, refill stations, dishwashing facilities, and re-distribution networks.

3. 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.

The PRO shall conduct an annual review process to determine whether products and packaging materials are recyclable. This review shall be conducted in consultation with representatives of end markets, including recycled commodities brokers and manufacturers who purchase post-consumer material for use in manufacturing new products. For the purposes of calculating producer payments and municipal reimbursements this annual process shall include a transitional period between the date the determination is finalized and the date it goes into effect.