I 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5372 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code to allow a special depreciation allowance 

for reuse and recycling property. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 12, 2008 

Ms. BEAN (for herself and Mr. SIRES) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code to allow a special 

depreciation allowance for reuse and recycling property. 

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 ‘‘Recycling Investment 

5 Saves Energy’’ or the ‘‘RISE Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Recycling means business in the United 

9 States, with more than 56,000 reuse and recycling 

10 establishments that employ over 1,100,000 people, 


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1 generating an annual payroll of nearly 

2 $37,000,000,000, and grossing over 

3 $236,000,000,000 in annual revenues. In 2005, re4 cycling scrap materials accounted for 

5 $15,700,000,000 in exports for the United States. 

6 On a per-ton basis, sorting and processing 

7 recyclables alone sustain 10 times more jobs than 

8 landfilling or incineration. 

9 (2) By reducing the need to extract and process 

10 virgin raw materials into manufacturing feedstock, 

11 reuse and recycling helps achieve significant energy 

12 savings. For example: 

13 (A) Taken together, the amount of energy 

14 wasted from not recycling aluminum and steel 

15 cans, paper, printed materials, glass, and plas16 tic equals the annual output of 15 medium 

17 sized power plants. 

18 (B) The reuse of 500 steel drums per week 

19 yields 6 trillion Btu’s per year, which is enough 

20 energy savings to power a city the size of Colo21 rado Springs, Colorado, for 1 year. 

22 (3) Unfortunately, the United States recycling 

23 rate of many consumer commodities, including alu24 minum, glass, and plastic, are stagnant or declining, 

25 and businesses that rely on recycled feedstock are 


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1 finding it difficult to obtain the quantity and quality 

2 of recycled materials needed. Increasingly, United 

3 States manufacturing facilities that rely on recycled 

4 feedstock are closing or forced to re-tool to use vir5 gin materials. 

6 (4) The environmental impacts from reuse and 

7 recycling are significant. Increased reuse and recy8 cling would produce significant environmental bene9 fits, such as cleaner air, safer water, and reduced 

10 production costs. For example: 

11 (A) Between 2 and 5 percent of the waste 

12 stream is reusable. Reuse prevents waste cre13 ation and adverse impacts from disposal. 

14 (B) On a per-ton basis, recycling of: office 

15 paper prevents 60 pounds of air pollutants from 

16 being released, saves 7,000 gallons of water, 

17 and 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space; aluminum 

18 saves 10 cubic yards of landfill space; plastic 

19 saves 30 cubic yards of landfill space; glass pre20 vents 7.5 pounds of air pollutants from being 

21 released and saves 2 cubic yards of landfill 

22 space; and steel saves 4 cubic yards of landfill 

23 space. 

24 (C) The manufacture of 100 percent recy25 cled paperboard products uses significantly less 


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1 fossil fuel than comparable products and is 

2 therefore a net reducer of greenhouse gases. 

3 And, for every 100 tons of recycled paperboard 

4 produced, 105 tons of material is prevented 

5 from going to the landfill, thus reducing landfill 

6 gases. 

7 (5) A national investment in the reuse and re8 cycling industries is needed to preserve and expand 

9 America’s reuse and recycling infrastructure. 

10 SEC. 3. SPECIAL DEPRECIATION ALLOWANCE FOR CERTAIN 

11 REUSE AND RECYCLING PROPERTY. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 168 of the Internal Rev13 enue Code of 1986 (relating to accelerated cost recovery 

14 system) is amended by adding at the end the following 

15 new subsection: 

16 ‘‘(l) SPECIAL ALLOWANCE FOR CERTAIN REUSE AND

17 RECYCLING PROPERTY.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any qualified 

19 reuse and recycling property— 

20 ‘‘(A) the depreciation deduction provided 

21 by section 167(a) for the taxable year in which 

22 such property is placed in service shall include 

23 an allowance equal to 50 percent of the ad24 justed basis of the qualified reuse and recycling 

25 property, and 


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1 ‘‘(B) the adjusted basis of the qualified 

2 reuse and recycling property shall be reduced by 

3 the amount of such deduction before computing 

4 the amount otherwise allowable as a deprecia5 tion deduction under this chapter for such tax6 able year and any subsequent taxable year. 

7 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED REUSE AND RECYCLING PROP8 ERTY.—For purposes of this subsection— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified 

10 reuse and recycling property’ means any reuse 

11 and recycling property— 

12 ‘‘(i) to which this section applies, 

13 ‘‘(ii) which has a useful life of at least 

14 5 years, 

15 ‘‘(iii) the original use of which com16 mences with the taxpayer after December 

17 31, 2006, and 

18 ‘‘(iv) which is— 

19 ‘‘(I) acquired by purchase (as de20 fined in section 179(d)(2)) by the tax21 payer after December 31, 2006, but 

22 only if no written binding contract for 

23 the acquisition was in effect before 

24 January 1, 2007, or 


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1 ‘‘(II) acquired by the taxpayer 

2 pursuant to a written binding contract 

3 which was entered into after Decem4 ber 31, 2006. 

5 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTIONS.— 

6 ‘‘(i) ALTERNATIVE DEPRECIATION

7 PROPERTY.—The term ‘qualified reuse and 

8 recycling property’ shall not include any 

9 property to which the alternative deprecia10 tion system under subsection (g) applies, 

11 determined without regard to paragraph 

12 (7) of subsection (g) (relating to election to 

13 have system apply). 

14 ‘‘(ii) ELECTION OUT.—If a taxpayer 

15 makes an election under this clause with 

16 respect to any class of property for any 

17 taxable year, this subsection shall not 

18 apply to all property in such class placed 

19 in service during such taxable year. 

20 ‘‘(C) SPECIAL RULE FOR SELF-CON21 STRUCTED PROPERTY.—In the case of a tax22 payer manufacturing, constructing, or pro23 ducing property for the taxpayer’s own use, the 

24 requirements of clause (iv) of subparagraph (A) 

25 shall be treated as met if the taxpayer begins 


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1 manufacturing, constructing, or producing the 

2 property after December 31, 2006. 

3 ‘‘(D) DEDUCTION ALLOWED IN COM4 PUTING MINIMUM TAX.—For purposes of deter5 mining alternative minimum taxable income 

6 under section 55, the deduction under sub7 section (a) for qualified reuse and recycling 

8 property shall be determined under this section 

9 without regard to any adjustment under section 

10 56. 

11 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub12 section— 

13 ‘‘(A) REUSE AND RECYCLING PROPERTY.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘reuse 

15 and recycling property’ means any machin16 ery and equipment (not including buildings 

17 or real estate), along with all appur18 tenances thereto, including software nec19 essary to operate such equipment, which is 

20 used exclusively to collect, distribute, or re21 cycle qualified reuse and recyclable mate22 rials. 

23 ‘‘(ii) EXCLUSION.—Such term does 

24 not include— 


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1 ‘‘(I) rolling stock or other equip2 ment used to transport reuse and re3 cyclable materials, and 

4 ‘‘(II) equipment used to produce 

5 new products or commodities from re6 cycled products. 

7 ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED REUSE AND RECYCLABLE

8 MATERIALS.— 

9 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘quali10 fied reuse and recyclable materials’ means 

11 scrap plastic, scrap glass, scrap textiles, 

12 scrap rubber, scrap packaging, recovered 

13 fiber, scrap ferrous and nonferrous metals, 

14 or electronic scrap generated by an indi15 vidual or business. 

16 ‘‘(ii) ELECTRONIC SCRAP.—For pur17 poses of clause (i), the term ‘electronic 

18 scrap’ means— 

19 ‘‘(I) any cathode ray tube, flat 

20 panel screen, or similar video display 

21 device with a screen size greater than 

22 4 inches measured diagonally, or 

23 ‘‘(II) any central processing 

24 unit.’’. 


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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

2 this section shall apply to property placed in service after 

3 December 31, 2006. 

Æ 


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