II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3956 

To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a grant program to improve the effectiveness of education and 

outreach on ‘‘Do Not Flush’’ labeling, and to require the Federal Trade 

Commission, in consultation with the Administrator, to issue regulations 

requiring certain products to have ‘‘Do Not Flush’’ labeling, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 30, 2022 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 

Agency to establish a grant program to improve the 

effectiveness of education and outreach on ‘‘Do Not 

Flush’’ labeling, and to require the Federal Trade Commission, in consultation with the Administrator, to issue 

regulations requiring certain products to have ‘‘Do Not 

Flush’’ labeling, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wastewater Infrastruc3 ture Pollution Prevention and Environmental Safety Act’’ 

4 or the ‘‘WIPPES Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. CONSUMER EDUCATION AND OUTREACH GRANT 

6 PROGRAM. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Envi8 ronmental Protection Agency (referred to in this section 

9 as the ‘‘Administrator’’) shall establish a program (re10 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘grant program’’) to award 

11 competitive grants to eligible entities to improve the effec12 tiveness of residential and community education and out13 reach on ‘‘Do Not Flush’’ labels. 

14 (b) CRITERIA.—The Administrator shall award 

15 grants under the grant program for projects that, by using 

16 one or more eligible activities described in subsection (d), 

17 inform and educate the public about— 

18 (1) the ‘‘Do Not Flush’’ label printing on cov19 ered products; 

20 (2) the types of covered products with the ‘‘Do 

21 Not Flush’’ label; 

22 (3) the purpose for the ‘‘Do Not Flush’’ label23 ing requirement and the adverse impacts to water 

24 collection and wastewater treatment infrastructure 

25 of the improper disposal of covered products; and 


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1 (4) proper disposal methods for covered prod2 ucts. 

3 (c) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—An entity that is eligible to 

5 receive a grant under the grant program is— 

6 (A) a State; 

7 (B) a unit of local government; 

8 (C) a Tribal government; 

9 (D) a nonprofit organization; or 

10 (E) a public-private partnership. 

11 (2) COORDINATION OF ACTIVITIES.—Two or 

12 more entities described in paragraph (1) may receive 

13 a grant under the grant program to coordinate the 

14 provision of information to ratepayers and busi15 nesses within shared or combined service areas. 

16 (d) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—An eligible entity that 

17 receives a grant under the grant program may use the 

18 grant funds for activities including— 

19 (1) public service announcements; 

20 (2) a door-to-door education and outreach cam21 paign; 

22 (3) social media and digital outreach; 

23 (4) an advertising campaign on ‘‘Do Not 

24 Flush’’ label awareness; 

25 (5) the development and dissemination of— 


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1 (A) a toolkit for a municipal and publicly 

2 owned treatment works; 

3 (B) notices advertising the presence of the 

4 label notice on covered products; 

5 (C) covered products that carry the ‘‘Do 

6 Not Flush’’ label; 

7 (D) notices describing the intended effects 

8 of the label notice on consumer behavior with 

9 respect to the disposal of covered products; 

10 (E) notices describing the adverse impacts 

11 that covered products have on sewer and waste12 water infrastructure when improperly disposed; 

13 and 

14 (F) other materials for education and out15 reach to promote the proper disposal of covered 

16 products; and 

17 (6) other activities that the Administrator de18 termines are appropriate to carry out the purposes 

19 of this section. 

20 (e) PROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS.—No funds 

21 may be awarded under the grant program for a public out22 reach campaign that promotes or advocates any wipes 

23 product that is not a covered product or falsely depicts 

24 a covered product as not a covered product. 


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1 (f) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to be ap2 propriated to the Administrator $5,000,000 for each of 

3 fiscal years 2023 through 2027 to carry out this section. 

4 SEC. 3. ‘‘DO NOT FLUSH’’ LABELING. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 

6 date of the enactment of this section, the Federal Trade 

7 Commission, in consultation with the Administrator of the 

8 Environmental Protection Agency, shall issue regulations 

9 under section 553 of title 5, United States Code, requiring 

10 covered entities to label covered products clearly and con11 spicuously with ‘‘Do Not Flush’’ label notices and symbols 

12 in accordance with this section. 

13 (b) REQUIREMENTS.— 

14 (1) CYLINDRICAL PACKAGING.—In issuing reg15 ulations under subsection (a), the Commission shall 

16 require a covered product sold in cylindrical or near17 cylindrical packaging, and intended to dispense indi18 vidual wipes, to have— 

19 (A) the symbol and label notice on the 

20 principal display panel in a location reasonably 

21 visible to the user each time a wipe is dis22 pensed; or 

23 (B) the symbol on the principal display 

24 panel and the label notice, or a combination of 

25 the label notice and symbol, on a flip lid in a 


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1 manner that covers at least 8 percent of the 

2 surface area of the flip lid. 

3 (2) FLEXIBLE FILM PACKAGING.—In issuing 

4 regulations under subsection (a), the Commission 

5 shall require a covered product sold in flexible film 

6 packaging, and intended to dispense individual 

7 wipes, to have— 

8 (A) the symbol on the principal display 

9 panel and, if the principal display panel is not 

10 on the dispensing side of the packaging, on the 

11 dispensing side panel; and 

12 (B) the label notice on either the principal 

13 display panel or the dispensing side panel, in a 

14 prominent location reasonably visible to the 

15 user each time a wipe is dispensed. 

16 (3) RIGID PACKAGING.—In issuing regulations 

17 under subsection (a), the Commission shall require 

18 a covered product sold in a refillable tub or other 

19 rigid packaging that may be reused by a customer, 

20 and intended to dispense individual wipes, to have 

21 the symbol and label notice on the principal display 

22 panel in a prominent location reasonably visible to 

23 the user each time a wipe is dispensed. 

24 (4) PACKAGING NOT INTENDED TO DISPENSE

25 INDIVIDUAL WIPES.—In issuing regulations under 


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1 subsection (a), the Commission shall require a cov2 ered product sold in packaging that is not intended 

3 to dispense individual wipes to have the symbol and 

4 label notice on the principal display panel in a 

5 prominent location reasonably visible to the user of 

6 the covered product. 

7 (5) BULK PACKAGING.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—In issuing regulations 

9 under subsection (a), the Commission shall re10 quire a covered product sold in bulk at retail to 

11 have labeling in compliance with such regula12 tions on both the outer packaging visible at re13 tail and the individual packaging contained 

14 within the outer packaging. 

15 (B) EXEMPTION.—The Commission shall 

16 exempt from the requirements under subpara17 graph (A) the following: 

18 (i) Individually packaged covered 

19 products that are contained within outer 

20 packaging, are not intended to dispense in21 dividual wipes, and have no retail labeling. 

22 (ii) Outer packaging that does not ob23 scure the symbol and label notice on indi24 vidually packaged covered products con25 tained within. 


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1 (6) PACKAGING OF COMBINED PRODUCTS.— 

2 (A) OUTER PACKAGING.—In issuing regu3 lations under subsection (a), the Commission 

4 shall exempt the outer packaging of a combined 

5 product from the requirements of such regula6 tions. 

7 (B) PACKAGES LESS THAN 3 BY 3

8 INCHES.—In issuing regulations under sub9 section (a), the Commission shall provide that, 

10 with respect to a covered product in packaging 

11 smaller than 3 inches by 3 inches (such as an 

12 individually packaged wipe in tear-top pack13 aging) and sold as part of a combined product, 

14 if a symbol and label notice are placed in a 

15 prominent location reasonably visible to the 

16 user of the covered product, such covered prod17 uct is considered to be labeled clearly and con18 spicuously in accordance with such regulations. 

19 (c) REASONABLE VISIBILITY OF SYMBOL AND LABEL

20 NOTICE.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—In requiring the symbol and 

22 label notice under this section, the Commission shall 

23 require that— 


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1 (A) packaging seams or folds or other 

2 packaging design elements do not obscure the 

3 symbol or label notice; 

4 (B) the symbol and label notice are each 

5 equal in size to at least 2 percent of the surface 

6 area of the principal display panel; and 

7 (C) the symbol and label notice have high 

8 contrast with the immediate background of the 

9 packaging so that such symbol and label notice 

10 may be seen and read by an ordinary individual 

11 under customary conditions of purchase and 

12 use. 

13 (2) PROXIMITY OF SYMBOL AND LABEL NO14 TICE.—In requiring the symbol and label notice 

15 under this section, the Commission may allow a 

16 symbol and label notice on a principal display panel 

17 to be placed adjacently or on separate areas of the 

18 principal display panel. 

19 (3) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1)(C) does not 

20 apply to an embossed symbol or label notice on the 

21 flip lid of a covered product sold in cylindrical or 

22 near-cylindrical packaging. 

23 (d) ADDITIONAL WORDS OR PHRASES.—In issuing 

24 regulations under subsection (a), the Commission shall 

25 allow additional words or phrases on a covered product 


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1 that describe consequences associated with flushing or dis2 posing of such covered product, if such words or phrases 

3 are consistent with the purposes of this section. 

4 (e) REPRESENTATIONS OF FLUSHABILITY.—In 

5 issuing regulations under subsection (a), the Commission 

6 shall prohibit, with respect to a covered product, the rep7 resentation or marketing of flushable attributes, perform8 ance, or efficacy benefits. 

9 (f) COMPLIANCE WITH OTHER REQUIREMENTS.— 

10 (1) FIFRA REQUIREMENTS.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 

12 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

13 Commission and the Administrator of the Envi14 ronmental Protection Agency, acting jointly, 

15 shall issue regulations that, with respect to a 

16 covered product that contains a pesticide re17 quired to be registered under the Federal Insec18 ticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (7 

19 U.S.C. 136 et seq.), include the following: 

20 (i) Instructions describing how such a 

21 covered product may comply with the re22 quirements of such Act and the regulations 

23 issued under subsection (a). 

24 (ii) A requirement that, not later than 

25 90 days after the date on which regulaVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:10 Apr 01, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3956.IS S3956

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1 tions are issued under this subparagraph, 

2 a covered entity shall submit for approval 

3 by the Administrator of the Environmental 

4 Protection Agency a product label compli5 ant with such instructions. 

6 (B) ENFORCEMENT.—For purposes of sub7 section (h), a violation of a regulation issued 

8 under subparagraph (A) shall be treated as a 

9 violation of a regulation issued under subsection 

10 (a). 

11 (2) TYPE SIZE EXCEPTION.—If the label notice 

12 type size otherwise required by the regulations 

13 issued under subsection (a) for a covered product 

14 would conflict with a labeling requirement under the 

15 Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act 

16 (7 U.S.C. 136 et seq.) or the Federal Hazardous 

17 Substances Act (15 U.S.C. 1261 et seq.), the Com18 mission may, in issuing such regulations, provide for 

19 a label notice type size requirement for the covered 

20 product under this section that— 

21 (A) in the case of a covered product re22 quired to display a warning pursuant to the 

23 Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide 

24 Act regarding a pesticide in such covered prod25 uct, requires a type size for the label notice 


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1 under this paragraph that is equal to or greater 

2 than the type size required for the ‘‘keep out of 

3 reach of children’’ statement under such Act; 

4 and 

5 (B) in the case of a covered product re6 quired to contain first aid instructions pursuant 

7 to the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, re8 quires a type size for the label notice under this 

9 paragraph that is equal to or greater than the 

10 type size required for such first aid instruc11 tions. 

12 (g) APPLICABILITY.—The Commission shall provide 

13 that the regulations issued under subsection (a) apply with 

14 respect to covered products manufactured on or after the 

15 date that is 90 days after the date on which such regula16 tions are issued. 

17 (h) ENFORCEMENT BY FEDERAL TRADE COMMIS18 SION.— 

19 (1) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC20 TICES.—A violation of a regulation promulgated 

21 under subsection (a) shall be treated as a violation 

22 of a regulation under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the 

23 Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 

24 57a(a)(1)(B)) regarding unfair or deceptive acts or 

25 practices. 


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1 (2) POWERS OF COMMISSION.—Except as pro2 vided in paragraph (3), the Commission shall en3 force the regulations promulgated under subsection 

4 (a) in the same manner, by the same means, and 

5 with the same jurisdiction, powers, and duties as 

6 though all applicable terms and provisions of the 

7 Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et 

8 seq.) were incorporated into and made a part of this 

9 section, and any person who violates such a regula10 tion shall be subject to the penalties and entitled to 

11 the privileges and immunities provided in the Fed12 eral Trade Commission Act. 

13 (3) PENALTY AMOUNTS.—Notwithstanding sec14 tion 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 

15 U.S.C. 45), any civil penalties imposed under such 

16 section with respect to a violation of a regulation 

17 promulgated under subsection (a) of this section 

18 shall be in accordance with the following: 

19 (A) A fine of not more than $2,500 for 

20 each day that a violation occurs. 

21 (B) In no event may the total amount of 

22 fines imposed for a single violation exceed 

23 $100,000. 

24 (i) PREEMPTION OF STATE LAWS.—No State or po25 litical subdivision of a State may directly or indirectly esVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Apr 01, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3956.IS S3956

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1 tablish or continue in effect under any authority restric2 tions with respect to the ‘‘Do Not Flush’’ labeling of cov3 ered products that are not identical to the restrictions 

4 under this section. 

5 (j) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

6 (1) COMBINED PRODUCT.—The term ‘‘com7 bined product’’ means two or more products sold in 

8 shared retail packaging, of which— 

9 (A) at least one of the products is a cov10 ered product; and 

11 (B) at least one of the products is another 

12 consumer product intended to be used in com13 bination with such covered product. 

14 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

15 means the Federal Trade Commission. 

16 (3) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en17 tity’’ means a manufacturer, wholesaler, supplier, or 

18 retailer that is responsible for the labeling or retail 

19 packaging of a covered product that is sold or of20 fered for sale in the United States. 

21 (4) COVERED PRODUCT.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘covered 

23 product’’ means a premoistened, nonwoven dis24 posable wipe sold or offered for retail sale— 


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1 (i) that is marketed as a baby wipe or 

2 diapering wipe; or 

3 (ii) that is a household or personal 

4 care wipe (including wipes described in 

5 subparagraph (B)) that— 

6 (I) is composed entirely, or in 

7 part, of petrochemical-derived fibers; 

8 and 

9 (II) has significant potential to 

10 be flushed. 

11 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The wipes described in 

12 this subparagraph are— 

13 (i) antibacterial wipes and disinfecting 

14 wipes; 

15 (ii) wipes intended for general purpose 

16 cleaning or bathroom cleaning, including 

17 toilet cleaning and hard surface cleaning; 

18 and 

19 (iii) wipes intended for personal care 

20 use on the body, including hand sanitizing, 

21 makeup removal, feminine hygiene, adult 

22 hygiene (including incontinence hygiene), 

23 and body cleansing. 


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1 (5) HIGH CONTRAST.—The term ‘‘high con2 trast’’ means, with respect to the symbol or label no3 tice, that such symbol or label notice— 

4 (A) is either light on a solid dark back5 ground or dark on a solid light background; and 

6 (B) has a contrast percentage of at least 

7 70 percent between such symbol or label notice 

8 and the background, using the formula (B1 – 

9 B2) / B1 * 100 = contrast percentage, where 

10 B1 is the light reflectance value of the lighter 

11 area and B2 is the light reflectance value of the 

12 darker area. 

13 (6) LABEL NOTICE.—The term ‘‘label notice’’ 

14 means the written phrase ‘‘Do Not Flush’’. 

15 (7) PRINCIPAL DISPLAY PANEL.—The term 

16 ‘‘principal display panel’’ means the side of a prod17 uct package that is most likely to be displayed, pre18 sented, or shown under customary conditions of dis19 play for retail sale, and— 

20 (A) in the case of a cylindrical or near-cy21 lindrical package, the surface area of which 

22 constitutes at least 40 percent of the product 

23 package, as measured by multiplying the height 

24 by the circumference of the package; or 


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1 (B) in the case of a flexible film package 

2 in which a rectangular prism or near-rectan3 gular prism stack of wipes is housed within the 

4 film, the surface area of which is measured by 

5 multiplying the length by the width of the side 

6 of the package when the flexible packaging film 

7 is pressed flat against the stack of wipes on all 

8 sides of the stack. 

9 (8) SYMBOL.—The term ‘‘symbol’’ means the 

10 ‘‘Do Not Flush’’ symbol, as depicted in the Guide11 lines for Assessing the Flushability of Disposable 

12 Nonwoven Products (Edition 4; May 2018) pub13 lished by the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics 

14 Industry (INDA) and the European Disposables 

15 And Nonwovens Association (EDANA), or an other16 wise identical symbol depicting an individual of an17 other gender. 

Æ 


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