II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4109 

To require the Administrator of General Services to establish an agency 

electronic recycling program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 30, 2020 

Mr. BURR (for himself, Ms. MURKOWSKI, and Mr. MANCHIN) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Administrator of General Services to establish 

an agency electronic recycling program, and for other 

purposes. 

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 ‘‘CRITICAL Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) AGENCY RECYCLING PROGRAM.—The term 

8 ‘‘agency recycling program’’ means the recycling 

9 program established in section 3(a). 


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1 (2) BATTERY.—The term ‘‘battery’’— 

2 (A) means a battery or a rechargeable bat3 tery; and 

4 (B) does not include a battery contained in 

5 a medical device. 

6 (3) CERTIFIED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘certified 

7 entity’’ means a refiner or recycler that has a certifi8 cation under a standard described in subparagraph 

9 (A) or (B) of paragraph (4). 

10 (4) CERTIFIED RECYCLING STREAM.—The term 

11 ‘‘certified recycling stream’’ means a stream of recy12 cling that is certified under— 

13 (A) the R2 Standard; or 

14 (B) the e-Stewards Standard for Respon15 sible Recycling and Reuse of Electronic Equip16 ment. 

17 (5) CERTIFIED RECYCLING STREAM PRO18 GRAM.—The term ‘‘certified recycling stream pro19 gram’’ means the program established in section 

20 4(a). 

21 (6) COVERED ELECTRONIC.—The term ‘‘cov22 ered electronic’’ means— 

23 (A) a consumer electronic device that— 

24 (i) uses a battery or a related tech25 nology; or 


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1 (ii) contains a critical mineral; or 

2 (B) any other electronic device that the 

3 Administrator, in coordination with the Admin4 istrator of the Environmental Protection Agen5 cy, determines to be acceptable. 

6 (7) CRITICAL MINERAL.—The term ‘‘critical 

7 mineral’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

8 2 of Executive Order 13817 (30 U.S.C. 1601 note; 

9 relating to secure and reliable supplies of critical 

10 minerals). 

11 (8) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Executive 

12 agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

13 105 of title 5, United States Code. 

14 (9) MEDICAL DEVICE.—The term ‘‘medical de15 vice’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘device’’ in 

16 section 201(h) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cos17 metic Act (21 U.S.C. 321(h)). 

18 SEC. 3. AGENCY RECYCLING PROGRAM. 

19 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year after 

20 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 

21 General Services shall establish an electronic recycling 

22 program that services each Executive agency. 

23 (b) OBJECTS RECYCLED.—The agency recycling pro24 gram shall collect covered electronics from the Executive 

25 agency that are— 


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1 (1) owned by the Executive agency; 

2 (2) determined by the Executive agency to be— 

3 (A) excess; 

4 (B) not suitable for sale; and 

5 (C) not appropriate for donation; and 

6 (3) selected by the Executive agency for dis7 posal. 

8 (c) DATA SECURITY.—In administering the agency 

9 recycling program, the Administrator of General Services 

10 shall develop procedures to protect the data stored on the 

11 covered electronics of an Executive agency collected under 

12 subsection (b). 

13 SEC. 4. CERTIFIED RECYCLING STREAM PROGRAM. 

14 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 

16 Environmental Protection Agency, in consultation 

17 with the Administrator of General Services and the 

18 Secretary of Energy, shall establish a program to 

19 ensure that all covered electronics collected under 

20 the agency recycling program are entered into a cer21 tified recycling stream for dismantling and refining 

22 by certified entities. 

23 (2) PARTNERSHIPS.—In carrying out the cer24 tified recycling stream program, the Administrator 

25 of the Environmental Protection Agency shall partVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:55 Jul 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4109.IS S4109

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1 ner with certified entities to improve recycling 

2 streams and refining processes for covered elec3 tronics. 

4 (b) PRIORITY PRODUCTS.—In carrying out the cer5 tified recycling stream program, the Administrator of the 

6 Environmental Protection Agency shall give priority to en7 suring that covered electronics containing critical minerals 

8 are entered into certified recycling streams. 

9 (c) FEDERAL RECOUPMENT OF COSTS.—In admin10 istering the certified recycling stream program, the Ad11 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and 

12 the Administrator of General Services may recoup the 

13 costs of collecting covered electronics— 

14 (1) by charging fees to certified entities that 

15 seek to access the electronics and base materials 

16 that are refined from covered electronics for the pur17 pose of reentering the extracted critical minerals 

18 into the supply chain; and 

19 (2) by selling the collected covered electronics to 

20 certified entities to recycle and refine so that the re21 cycled materials may be reused. 

22 (d) RETENTION OF REFINED CRITICAL MATERIALS

23 IN THE UNITED STATES.—In carrying out the certified 

24 recycling stream program, the Administrator of the Envi25 ronmental Protection Agency shall ensure, to the extent 


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1 practicable, that refined critical minerals developed 

2 through the certified recycling stream program are re3 tained in the United States for use by industry. 

4 SEC. 5. STUDY AND REPORT ON CRITICAL MINERAL EX5 TRACTION. 

6 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 

7 of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall conduct, 

8 and submit to Congress a report describing the results of, 

9 a study to evaluate— 

10 (1) as of the date of the study, the quantity of 

11 critical minerals that have been extracted from cov12 ered electronics collected under the agency recycling 

13 program and entered into a certified recycling 

14 stream under the certified recycling stream program; 

15 (2) the quantity of critical minerals that could 

16 be extracted through a similar voluntary recycling 

17 program established for the private sector; and 

18 (3) the total quantity of recoverable critical 

19 minerals from all certified recycling streams, as com20 pared to the total quantity of critical minerals nec21 essary for manufacturing, consumer products, and 

22 national defense in the United States. 

23 SEC. 6. E-WASTE RECYCLING CHALLENGE PRIZE. 

24 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ3 mental Protection Agency. 

4 (2) E-WASTE RECYCLING SYSTEM.—The term 

5 ‘‘E-waste recycling system’’ means a system to col6 lect covered electronic waste that can be sorted, dis7 mantled, and preprocessed for recycling. 

8 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti9 ty’’ means a partnership of— 

10 (A) 1 or more States, Indian tribes (as de11 fined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determina12 tion and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 

13 5304)), or units of local government; and 

14 (B) 1 or more businesses, institutions of 

15 higher education, or nonprofit organizations. 

16 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means— 

17 (A) a State; 

18 (B) the District of Columbia; 

19 (C) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; 

20 (D) Guam; 

21 (E) American Samoa; 

22 (F) the Commonwealth of the Northern 

23 Mariana Islands; and 

24 (G) the United States Virgin Islands. 


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1 (b) AUTHORIZATION.—The Administrator shall 

2 award to eligible entities prizes for the development of E3 waste recycling systems, with a goal of increasing the col4 lection of recyclable covered electronics. 

5 (c) ACTIVITIES.—Activities that are eligible for a 

6 prize under subsection (b) include— 

7 (1) the development of best practices for E8 waste recycling systems; 

9 (2) consumer awareness campaigns for E-waste 

10 recycling systems; 

11 (3) outreach to public-private partnerships re12 lating to E-waste recycling systems; 

13 (4) carrying out E-waste recycling systems; and 

14 (5) such other activities as the Administrator 

15 determines to be appropriate. 

16 (d) APPLICATIONS.—An eligible entity that has car17 ried out activities described in subsection (c) and seeks 

18 to receive a prize under subsection (b) shall submit to the 

19 Administrator at application at such time, in such man20 ner, and containing such information as the Administrator 

21 may require. 

22 (e) CRITERIA.—In selecting recipients of prizes under 

23 subsection (b), the Administrator may consider— 

24 (1) the applicants with the highest volume of 

25 covered electronic waste collected per capita in the 


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1 municipal region served by the applicable E-waste 

2 recycling system; 

3 (2) the applicants with the lowest cost of collec4 tion per pound of covered electronic waste collected; 

5 (3) the applicants with the greatest number of 

6 jobs created or economic development generated; and 

7 (4) the applicants with the highest probability 

8 that the applicable E-waste recycling system feeds 

9 into recycling by a certified entity. 

10 (f) PRIZE AMOUNT.—The amount of a prize under 

11 subsection (b) shall be not more than $100,000. 

12 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

13 authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to 

14 carry out this section $5,000,000 for the period of fiscal 

15 years 2021 through 2025. 

Æ 


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