II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 346 

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to prohibit the importation of 

Canadian municipal solid waste without State consent. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 10, 2005 

Ms. STABENOW introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to prohibit the 

importation of Canadian municipal solid waste without 

State consent.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Canadian Waste Im5 port Ban Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CANADIAN MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Dis8 posal Act (42 U.S.C. 6941 et seq.) is amended by adding 

9 at the end the following: 
2

•S 346 IS

1 ‘‘SEC. 4011. CANADIAN MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE. 

2 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

3 ‘‘(1) AGREEMENT.—The term ‘Agreement’ 

4 means— 

5 ‘‘(A) the Agreement Concerning the 

6 Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste 

7 between the United States and Canada, signed 

8 at Ottawa on October 28, 1986 (TIAS 11099) 

9 and amended on November 25, 1992; and 

10 ‘‘(B) any regulations promulgated to im11 plement and enforce that Agreement. 

12 ‘‘(2) CANADIAN MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE.—

13 The term ‘Canadian municipal solid waste’ means 

14 municipal solid waste that is generated in Canada. 

15 ‘‘(3) MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘municipal 

17 solid waste’ means— 

18 ‘‘(i) material discarded for disposal 

19 by— 

20 ‘‘(I) households (including single 

21 and multifamily residences); and 

22 ‘‘(II) public lodgings such as ho23 tels and motels; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) material discarded for disposal 

25 that was generated by commercial, institu-
3

•S 346 IS

1 tional, and industrial sources, to the extent 

2 that the material— 

3 ‘‘(I)(aa) is essentially the same 

4 as material described in clause (i); or 

5 ‘‘(bb) is collected and disposed of 

6 with material described in clause (i) 

7 as part of a normal municipal solid 

8 waste collection service; and 

9 ‘‘(II) is not subject to regulation 

10 under subtitle C. 

11 ‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘municipal 

12 solid waste’ includes— 

13 ‘‘(i) appliances; 

14 ‘‘(ii) clothing; 

15 ‘‘(iii) consumer product packaging; 

16 ‘‘(iv) cosmetics; 

17 ‘‘(v) debris resulting from construc18 tion, remodeling, repair, or demolition of a 

19 structure; 

20 ‘‘(vi) disposable diapers; 

21 ‘‘(vii) food containers made of glass or 

22 metal; 

23 ‘‘(viii) food waste; 

24 ‘‘(ix) household hazardous waste; 

25 ‘‘(x) office supplies; 
4

•S 346 IS

1 ‘‘(xi) paper; and 

2 ‘‘(xii) yard waste. 

3 ‘‘(C) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘municipal 

4 solid waste’ does not include— 

5 ‘‘(i) solid waste identified or listed as 

6 a hazardous waste under section 3001, ex7 cept for household hazardous waste; 

8 ‘‘(ii) solid waste, including contami9 nated soil and debris, resulting from— 

10 ‘‘(I) a response action taken 

11 under section 104 or 106 of the Com12 prehensive Environmental Response, 

13 Compensation, and Liability Act (42 

14 U.S.C. 9604, 9606); 

15 ‘‘(II) a response action taken 

16 under a State law with authorities 

17 comparable to the authorities con18 tained in either of those sections; or 

19 ‘‘(III) a corrective action taken 

20 under this Act; 

21 ‘‘(iii) recyclable material— 

22 ‘‘(I) that has been separated, at 

23 the source of the material, from waste 

24 destined for disposal; or 
5

•S 346 IS

1 ‘‘(II) that has been managed sep2 arately from waste destined for dis3 posal, including scrap rubber to be 

4 used as a fuel source; 

5 ‘‘(iv) a material or product returned 

6 from a dispenser or distributor to the man7 ufacturer or an agent of the manufacturer 

8 for credit, evaluation, and possible poten9 tial reuse; 

10 ‘‘(v) solid waste that is— 

11 ‘‘(I) generated by an industrial 

12 facility; and 

13 ‘‘(II) transported for the purpose 

14 of treatment, storage, or disposal to a 

15 facility (which facility is in compliance 

16 with applicable State and local land 

17 use and zoning laws and regulations) 

18 or facility unit— 

19 ‘‘(aa) that is owned or oper20 ated by the generator of the 

21 waste; 

22 ‘‘(bb) that is located on 

23 property owned by the generator 

24 of the waste or a company with 
6

•S 346 IS

1 which the generator is affiliated; 

2 or 

3 ‘‘(cc) the capacity of which 

4 is contractually dedicated exclu5 sively to a specific generator; 

6 ‘‘(vi) medical waste that is segregated 

7 from or not mixed with solid waste; 

8 ‘‘(vii) sewage sludge or residuals from 

9 a sewage treatment plant; 

10 ‘‘(viii) combustion ash generated by a 

11 resource recovery facility or municipal in12 cinerator; or 

13 ‘‘(ix) waste from a manufacturing or 

14 processing (including pollution control) op15 eration that is not essentially the same as 

16 waste normally generated by households. 

17 ‘‘(b) BAN ON CANADIAN MUNICIPAL SOLID

18 WASTE.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para20 graph (2), until the date on which the Administrator 

21 promulgates regulations to implement and enforce 

22 the Agreement (including notice and consent provi23 sions of the Agreement), no person may import into 

24 any State, and no solid waste management facility 

25 may accept, Canadian municipal solid waste for the 
7

•S 346 IS

1 purpose of disposal or incineration of the Canadian 

2 municipal solid waste. 

3 ‘‘(2) ELECTION BY GOVERNOR.—The Governor 

4 of a State may elect to opt out of the ban under 

5 paragraph (1), and consent to the importation and 

6 acceptance by the State of Canadian municipal solid 

7 waste before the date specified in that paragraph, if 

8 the Governor submits to the Administrator a notice 

9 of that election by the Governor. 

10 ‘‘(c) AUTHORITY OF ADMINISTRATOR.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning immediately 

12 after the date of enactment of this section, the Ad13 ministrator shall— 

14 ‘‘(A) perform the functions of the Des15 ignated Authority of the United States de16 scribed in the Agreement with respect to the 

17 importation and exportation of municipal solid 

18 waste under the Agreement; and 

19 ‘‘(B) implement and enforce the Agree20 ment (including notice and consent provisions 

21 of the Agreement). 

22 ‘‘(2) CONSENT TO IMPORTATION.—In consid23 ering whether to consent to the importation of Cana24 dian municipal solid waste under article 3(c) of the 

25 Agreement, the Administrator shall— 
8

•S 346 IS

1 ‘‘(A) obtain the consent of each State into 

2 which the Canadian municipal solid waste is to 

3 be imported; and 

4 ‘‘(B) consider the impact of the importa5 tion on homeland security, public health, and 

6 the environment.’’. 

7 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con8 tents of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. prec. 

9 6901) is amended by adding after the item relating to sec10 tion 4010 the following:

‘‘Sec. 4011. Canadian municipal solid waste’’.

Æ