Bill Text: TX SB2044 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced

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

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-04-19 - Left pending in committee [SB2044 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-SB2044-Introduced.html

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88R4398 DRS-F
By: Hancock S.B. No. 2044

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the regulation of recycling and recycled products.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 361.003(10-a), (10-b), (25-a), (25-b),
and (27), Health and Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
(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 and
other basic hydrocarbons [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.
(10-b) "Gasification facility" means a facility that
receives, [separates,] stores, and converts post-use polymers and
recoverable feedstocks using gasification. The commission may not
consider a gasification facility to be a hazardous waste management
facility, a solid waste management facility, or an incinerator.
(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 converted into [a] valuable raw materials or
valuable[,] intermediate[,] or final products [product], including
plastic monomers, chemicals, naphtha, waxes, or plastic and
chemical feedstocks and other basic hydrocarbons [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.
(25-b) "Pyrolysis facility" means a manufacturing
facility that receives, [separates,] stores, and converts post-use
polymers using pyrolysis. The commission may not consider a
pyrolysis facility to be a hazardous waste management facility, a
solid waste management facility, or an incinerator.
(27) "Recycling" has the meaning assigned by Section
361.421 [means the legitimate use, reuse, or reclamation of solid
waste].
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
another 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 into [a] valuable raw materials or
valuable[,] intermediate[,] or final products [product], including
plastic monomers, chemicals, waxes, lubricants, or chemical
feedstocks and other basic hydrocarbons [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, 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 for subsequent beneficial use 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 post-use polymers and recoverable feedstocks that are
converted through pyrolysis or gasification 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 recyclable material or materials derived
from post-use polymers or 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 mass balance attribution system 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 post-use polymers
certified under a mass balance attribution system 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.
(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 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.
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), such as the International Sustainability and
Carbon Certification system.
SECTION 7. Section 361.427(b), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(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 polymer.
SECTION 8. 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 9. 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.