Massachusetts House Docket 1439 (H.776) (2023) - (Introduced)

Packaging includes but is not limited to corrugated cardboard, boxboard, rigid plastic containers, etc., as designated by the department, based on material type, recyclability, recycled content and other attributes.

Printed paper includes flyers, brochures, booklets, catalogues, greeting cards, telephone directories, newspapers, magazines, paper used for copying, writing or any other general use.

Exclusions include any materials on which a mandatory fee or deposit applies, including beverage containers. Printed paper does not include paper products that,
by virtue of their anticipated use, could become unsafe or unsanitary to recycle and any type of bound book not otherwise specified in this definition.

Producer is defined as an entity with more than $100,000 per year in sales which manufactures consumer goods and sells, offers to sell, delivers or distributes in the commonwealth under the manufacturer's own name or brand.

Producer is defined as an entity with more than $100,000 per year in sales which is the owner or licensee of a trademark or brand under which the material is sold, offered for sale, delivered or distributed in the commonwealth, whether or not the trademark is registered.

Producer is defined as an entity with more than $100,000 per year in sales which imports the consumer goods into the commonwealth for sale or distribution. Producer is also defined as an entity which sells containers into which products are dispensed at a retail establishment for offsite consumption or sells at wholesale or retail a designated material, does not have legal ownership of the brand, and elects to fulfill the responsibilities of the producer for that product.

Small producers are exempt. A small producer has less than $100,000 per year in sales, or supplies less than 15 tons of packaging and printed paper per year.

Producers must join a Producer Responsibility Organization that acts as an agent on behalf of each producer to develop and implement a plan.

Producers may comply individually.

Producers are responsible for all costs of the program. The level of the PRO's operational responsibility is not defined in the bill.

The plan must include a description of a public education program to develop awareness and increase public participation in existing or new recovery programs.

The plan must Include a financing structure that is sufficient to cover the cost of registering, operating and updating the plan, and maintaining a financial reserve sufficient to operate the program in a fiscally prudent and responsible manner, such that it considers historical variations in market values of their post-consumer packaging type(s).

Costs shall be based on the end of life management cost of each material type per ton, including collection, disposal, recycling, contamination cost at material recovery facilities.

Financing costs shall be based on different criteria.

Fees shall be based on the environmental impact of production, recovery and disposal as determined by an independent third party conducting a life cycle assessment for each material type.

Fees shall be based on their position on the Zero Waste International Alliance hierarchy, with higher cost for prohibited or less desirable processes, lower costs for processes further up in the hierarchy and the recovery rate for each material based on audits of incoming loads at representative transfer stations, disposal facilities and material recovery facilities in the commonwealth.

The PRO must outline how they will achieve a combined reduction and recovery rate of no less than sixty five percent (65%) by weight by the year 2027, and no less than eighty percent (80%) by 2032.

Producers or a PRO shall submit a program plan to the department within 4 months of the promulgation of the regulations.

Not later than six months after the date the plan is approved, the producers, or producer responsibility organization, shall implement the approved plan.

Within twenty-four months of passage, no producer, distributor or retailer shall sell or offer for sale any packaging materials to any person in the commonwealth if the producer of such materials has not had a plan approved by the department independently or through a producer responsibility organization .

The department will approve, approve with conditions, or deny the plan no later than ninety days after the submission.

The department is authorized to promulgate rules and regulations necessary to implement and carry out, and to assess fines for noncompliance.

There is to be an established expendable trust to be known as the Sustainable Packaging Trust. Proceeds of the trust shall be invested by the treasurer and shall be under the care and custody of the commissioner of the department of environmental protection, in consultation with the board.

Producers and PROs shall submit an annual report to the department on a regular schedule determined by the department.

Failure to comply with any of the requirements established shall obligate the producers covered under that material-type to pay not less than $200,000 per year of non-compliance. The department shall deposit the funds received from producers into the Sustainable Packaging Trust for grants for market development related to the collection and recycling of the material type, and to municipalities to offset disposal costs related to the managing the un-recycled packaging and/or printed paper. Producers' individual contributions shall not exceed their respective market shares of packaging sold in the state.

Producers and PROs shall consult with the board during the development of plans, and address stakeholder concerns regarding the plan before submitting the plan to the department for review.

The governor shall appoint a Sustainable Packaging Advisory Board. The board shall consist of 9 members: 1 of whom shall be the commissioner of the department of environmental protection or a designee, 2 of whom shall be a representative of commonwealth retailers having less than 40% of their annual sales in the commonwealth being online which are subject to the fee; 2 of whom shall be a representative of retailers having more than 40% of their annual sales in the commonwealth being online which are subject to the fee; 2 of whom shall represent of the waste hauling and material recovery facility industry; 1 of whom shall be a representative of statewide nonprofit environmental organizations that participate on the department’s solid waste advisory committee; and 1 of whom shall be a representative of municipal solid waste programs.