Bill Text: TX HB3060 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to the regulation of recycling and recycled products.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-05-27 - Effective immediately [HB3060 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB3060-Enrolled.html

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H.B. No. 3060

AN ACT
relating to the regulation of recycling and recycled products.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 361.003, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subdivisions (1), (10-a), (24-a), (25), (25-a),
(26-a), (27), (34), (35), and (36) and adding Subdivisions (1-a),
(6-a), and (37-a) to read as follows:
(1) "Advanced recycling facility" means a
manufacturing facility that receives, stores, and converts
post-use polymers and recoverable feedstocks using advanced
recycling technologies and processes including pyrolysis,
gasification, solvolysis, and depolymerization. For purposes of
this chapter and rules adopted by the commission under this
chapter, an advanced recycling facility is not a solid waste
facility, final disposal facility, waste-to-energy facility, or
incinerator.
(1-a) "Apparent recharge zone" means that recharge
zone designated on maps prepared or compiled by, and located in the
offices of, the commission.
(6-a) "Depolymerization" means a manufacturing
process through which post-use polymers are broken down into:
(A) smaller molecules, including monomers and
oligomers; or
(B) raw materials or intermediate or final
products, including plastics and chemical feedstocks, basic and
unfinished chemicals, waxes, lubricants, or coatings.
(10-a) "Gasification" means a process through which
recoverable feedstocks are heated and converted into a fuel-gas
mixture in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere and the mixture is
converted into [a] valuable raw materials or valuable[,]
intermediate[,] or final products [product], including plastic
monomers, chemicals, waxes, lubricants, or chemical feedstocks [a
plastic, monomer, chemical, wax, lubricant, or chemical feedstock
or crude oil, diesel, gasoline, diesel and gasoline blendstock,
home heating oil, ethanol, or another fuel]. The term does not
include incineration.
(24-a) "Post-use polymers" means plastics that:
(A) are derived from any industrial, commercial,
agricultural, or domestic activity, including preconsumer
recovered materials and postconsumer materials;
(B) are sorted from solid waste and other
regulated waste and may contain residual amounts of organic
material and incidental contaminants or impurities such as paper
labels or metal rings;
(C) are not mixed with solid waste or hazardous
waste onsite or during processing at an advanced recycling
facility;
(D) are used or intended for use as a feedstock or
for the production of feedstocks, raw materials, or other
intermediate or final products using advanced recycling; and
(E) are processed or held prior to processing at
an advanced recycling facility [plastic polymers that derive from
any household, industrial, community, commercial, or other sources
of operations or activities that might otherwise become waste if
not converted into a valuable raw, intermediate, or final product.
Post-use polymers include used polymers that contain incidental
contaminants or impurities such as paper labels or metal rings but
do not include used polymers mixed with solid waste, medical waste,
hazardous waste, electronic waste, tires, or construction or
demolition debris].
(25) "Processing" means the extraction of materials
from or the transfer, volume reduction, conversion to energy, or
other separation and preparation of solid waste for reuse or
disposal. The term includes the treatment or neutralization of
hazardous waste designed to change the physical, chemical, or
biological character or composition of a hazardous waste so as to
neutralize the waste, recover energy or material from the waste,
render the waste nonhazardous or less hazardous, make it safer to
transport, store, or dispose of, or render it amenable for recovery
or storage, or reduce its volume. The term does not include:
(A) pyrolysis, [or] gasification, solvolysis, or
depolymerization; or
(B) activities concerning those materials
exempted by the administrator of the United States Environmental
Protection Agency under the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act, as
amended by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, as
amended (42 U.S.C. Section 6901 et seq.), unless the commission
determines that regulation of the activity under this chapter is
necessary to protect human health or the environment.
(25-a) "Pyrolysis" means a manufacturing process
through which post-use polymers are heated in an oxygen-deficient
atmosphere [until melted and thermally decomposed and then cooled,
condensed,] and the pyrolysis product is converted into [a]
valuable raw materials or valuable[,] intermediate[,] or final
products [product], including plastic monomers, chemicals,
naphtha, waxes, polymers, or plastic and chemical feedstocks [a
plastic, monomer, chemical, wax, lubricant, or chemical feedstock
or crude oil, diesel, gasoline, diesel and gasoline blendstock,
home heating oil, ethanol, or another fuel]. The term does not
include incineration.
(26-a) "Recoverable feedstock" means one or more of
the following materials, derived from recoverable waste other than
coal refuse, that has been processed so that it may be used as
feedstock in an advanced recycling facility or through [a]
gasification [facility]:
(A) post-use polymers; and
(B) material, including municipal solid waste
[containing post-use polymers] and other post-industrial waste:
(i) [containing post-use polymers, that has
been processed into a fuel or feedstock] for which the commission or
the United States Environmental Protection Agency has made a
non-waste determination under 40 C.F.R. Section 241.3(c); or
(ii) that the commission or the United
States Environmental Protection Agency has otherwise determined
are feedstocks and not solid waste.
(27) "Recycling" has the meaning assigned by Section
361.421 [means the legitimate use, reuse, or reclamation of solid
waste].
(34) This subdivision expires on delegation of the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 authority to the
Railroad Commission of Texas. Subject to the limitations of 42
U.S.C. Section 6903(27) and 40 C.F.R. Section 261.4(a), "solid
waste" means garbage, rubbish, refuse, sludge from a waste
treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution
control facility, and other discarded material, including solid,
liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from
industrial, municipal, commercial, mining, and agricultural
operations and from community and institutional activities. The
term:
(A) does not include:
(i) solid or dissolved material in domestic
sewage, or solid or dissolved material in irrigation return flows,
or industrial discharges subject to regulation by permit issued
under Chapter 26, Water Code;
(ii) soil, dirt, rock, sand, and other
natural or man-made inert solid materials used to fill land if the
object of the fill is to make the land suitable for the construction
of surface improvements;
(iii) waste materials that result from
activities associated with the exploration, development, or
production of oil or gas or geothermal resources and other
substance or material regulated by the Railroad Commission of Texas
under Section 91.101, Natural Resources Code, unless the waste,
substance, or material results from activities associated with
gasoline plants, natural gas or natural gas liquids processing
plants, pressure maintenance plants, or repressurizing plants and
is hazardous waste as defined by the administrator of the United
States Environmental Protection Agency under the federal Solid
Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act of 1976, as amended (42 U.S.C. Section 6901 et seq.);
or
(iv) post-use polymers or recoverable
feedstocks processed through pyrolysis, [or] gasification,
solvolysis, or depolymerization that do not qualify as hazardous
waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (42
U.S.C. Section 6901 et seq.); and
(B) does include hazardous substances, for the
purposes of Sections 361.271 through 361.277 and 361.343 through
361.345.
(35) This subdivision is effective on delegation of
the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 authority to the
Railroad Commission of Texas. Subject to the limitations of 42
U.S.C. Section 6903(27) and 40 C.F.R. Section 261.4(a), "solid
waste" means garbage, rubbish, refuse, sludge from a waste
treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution
control facility, and other discarded material, including solid,
liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from
industrial, municipal, commercial, mining, and agricultural
operations and from community and institutional activities. The
term:
(A) does not include:
(i) solid or dissolved material in domestic
sewage, or solid or dissolved material in irrigation return flows,
or industrial discharges subject to regulation by permit issued
under Chapter 26, Water Code;
(ii) soil, dirt, rock, sand, and other
natural or man-made inert solid materials used to fill land if the
object of the fill is to make the land suitable for the construction
of surface improvements;
(iii) waste materials that result from
activities associated with the exploration, development, or
production of oil or gas or geothermal resources and other
substance or material regulated by the Railroad Commission of Texas
under Section 91.101, Natural Resources Code; or
(iv) post-use polymers or recoverable
feedstocks processed through pyrolysis, [or] gasification,
solvolysis, or depolymerization that do not qualify as hazardous
waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (42
U.S.C. Section 6901 et seq.); and
(B) does include hazardous substances, for the
purposes of Sections 361.271 through 361.277 and 361.343 through
361.345.
(36) "Solid waste facility" means all contiguous land,
including structures, appurtenances, and other improvements on the
land, used for processing, storing, or disposing of solid
waste. The term includes a publicly or privately owned solid waste
facility consisting of several processing, storage, or disposal
operational units such as one or more landfills, surface
impoundments, or a combination of units. The term does not include
an advanced recycling [a pyrolysis or gasification] facility.
(37-a) "Solvolysis" means a manufacturing process
through which post-use polymers are purified with the aid of
solvents while heated at low temperatures, pressurized, or both
heated at low temperatures and pressurized, to remove additives and
contaminants and make useful products, including monomers,
intermediates, valuable chemicals, plastic and chemical
feedstocks, and raw materials. The process includes hydrolysis,
aminolysis, ammonolysis, methanolysis, and glycolysis.
SECTION 2. Section 361.0151, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) Notwithstanding any other law, the commission or a
political subdivision of this state that establishes goals or
requirements for recycling or the use of recycled material must
base those goals or requirements on the definitions and principles
established by Subchapter N. This subsection does not apply to a
program described by Subchapter Y or Z.
SECTION 3. Section 361.041(a), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) The commission may not consider post-use polymers or
recoverable feedstock to be solid waste if they are converted using
pyrolysis, [or] gasification, solvolysis, or depolymerization into
[a] valuable raw materials or valuable[,] intermediate[,] or final
products [product], including plastic monomers, chemicals, waxes,
lubricants, or chemical feedstocks [a plastic, monomer, chemical,
wax, lubricant, or chemical feedstock or crude oil, diesel,
gasoline, diesel and gasoline blendstock, home heating oil,
ethanol, or another fuel].
SECTION 4. Section 361.119(c-1), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(c-1) A facility that reuses or converts recyclable
materials through pyrolysis, [or] gasification, solvolysis, or
depolymerization, and the operations conducted and materials
handled at the facility, are not subject to regulation under rules
adopted under this section if the owner or operator of the facility
demonstrates that:
(1) the primary function of the facility is to convert
materials into products [that have a resale value greater than the
cost of converting the materials] for subsequent beneficial use;
and
(2) all the solid waste generated from converting the
materials is disposed of in a hazardous solid waste management
facility or a solid waste facility authorized under this chapter,
as appropriate, with the exception of small amounts of solid waste
that may be inadvertently and unintentionally disposed of in
another manner.
SECTION 5. Section 361.421, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subdivisions (5), (6), (7), and (8) and adding
Subdivision (6-a) to read as follows:
(5) "Recyclable material" means material that can be
or has been recovered or diverted from the [solid] waste stream for
purposes of reuse, recycling, or reclamation, a substantial portion
of which is consistently used in the manufacture of products which
may otherwise be produced using raw or virgin materials. The term
includes any waste stream, including post-use polymers and
recoverable feedstocks that are converted through pyrolysis, [or]
gasification, solvolysis, or depolymerization into valuable raw
materials or valuable[,] intermediate[,] and final products.
Recyclable material is not solid waste unless the material is
deemed to be hazardous solid waste by the Administrator of the
United States Environmental Protection Agency, whereupon it shall
be regulated accordingly unless it is otherwise exempted in whole
or in part from regulation under the federal Solid Waste Disposal
Act, as amended by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of
1976 (42 U.S.C. Section 6901 et seq.), by Environmental Protection
Agency regulation. However, recyclable material may become solid
waste at such time, if any, as it is abandoned or disposed of rather
than recycled, whereupon it will be solid waste with respect only to
the party actually abandoning or disposing of the material.
(6) "Recycled material" means materials, goods, or
products that consist of recovered recyclable material or materials
derived from recoverable feedstocks, post-use polymers,
postconsumer waste, industrial waste, or hazardous waste which may
be used in place of a raw or virgin material in manufacturing a new
product or that are certified under a third-party certification
system for mass balance attribution identified by the commission
under Section 361.4215. The term includes recycled plastics
[post-use polymers and recoverable feedstocks used in pyrolysis or
gasification].
(6-a) "Recycled plastics" means products that are
produced from:
(A) mechanical recycling of post-use polymers;
or
(B) nonmechanical recycling of recoverable
feedstocks or post-use polymers that are certified under a
third-party certification system for mass balance attribution
identified by the commission under Section 361.4215.
(7) "Recycled product" means a product that is
eligible to be considered a recycled product under [which meets the
requirements for recycled material content as prescribed by] the
rules established by the commission under [described in] Section
361.427. The term does not include a product sold as fuel.
(8) "Recycling" means a process by which materials
that have served their intended use or are scrapped, discarded,
used, surplus, or obsolete are collected, separated, or processed
and returned to use in the form of raw materials or feedstocks used
in the manufacture [production] of new products. The term does not
include incineration of plastics or waste-to-energy processes.
Recycling includes:
(A) the composting process if the compost
material is put to beneficial reuse as defined by the commission;
(B) the application to land, as organic
fertilizer, of processed sludge or biosolids from municipal
wastewater treatment plants and other organic matter resulting from
poultry, dairy, livestock, or other agricultural operations; and
(C) the conversion of post-use polymers and
recoverable feedstocks through pyrolysis, [or] gasification,
solvolysis, or depolymerization.
SECTION 6. Subchapter N, Chapter 361, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 361.4215 to read as follows:
Sec. 361.4215. MASS BALANCE ATTRIBUTION. The commission by
rule shall identify third-party certification systems for mass
balance attribution that may be used for the purposes of Sections
361.421(6) and (6-a).
SECTION 7. Sections 361.427(a) and (b), Health and Safety
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The commission, in consultation with the comptroller,
shall promulgate rules to establish guidelines by which a product
is eligible to be considered a recycled product based on:
(1) the percent of the total content of a product that
consists of recycled material; or
(2) the portion of the total content of a product that
is determined to consist of recycled material according to a
third-party certification system for mass balance attribution
identified by the commission under Section 361.4215. [which specify
the percent of the total content of a product which must consist of
recycled material for the product to be a "recycled product."]
(b) The guidelines established under this section shall
specify a minimum percent of the recycled material in a product
which must be postconsumer waste or post-use polymers.
SECTION 8. Sections 361.003(10-b) and (25-b), Health and
Safety Code, are repealed.
SECTION 9. As soon as practicable after the effective date
of this Act, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality shall
adopt rules necessary to implement the changes in law made by this
Act.
SECTION 10. This Act takes effect immediately if it
receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each
house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.
If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate
effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3060 was passed by the House on April
26, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 146, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3060 was passed by the Senate on May
12, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor