I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 382

To authorize States to prohibit or impose certain limitations on the receipt 

of foreign municipal solid waste, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 27, 2003

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan (for himself, Mrs. MILLER of Michigan, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. CAMP, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. 

MCCOTTER, Mr. SMITH of Michigan, and Mr. UPTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL

To authorize States to prohibit or impose certain limitations 

on the receipt of foreign municipal solid waste, 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 ‘‘Solid Waste Inter5 national Transportation Act of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION AND DISPOSAL 

2 OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Dis4 posal Act (42 U.S.C. 6941 et seq.) is amended by adding 

5 after section 4010 the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 4011. RECEIPT AND DISPOSAL OF FOREIGN MUNIC7 IPAL SOLID WASTE. 

8 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—A State may enact a law or laws 

9 prohibiting or imposing limitations on the receipt and dis10 posal of foreign municipal solid waste. 

11 ‘‘(b) EFFECT ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COM12 MERCE.—No State action taken as authorized by this sec13 tion shall be considered to impose an undue burden on 

14 interstate and foreign commerce or to otherwise impair, 

15 restrain, or discriminate against interstate and foreign 

16 commerce. 

17 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

18 ‘‘(1) FOREIGN MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE.—The 

19 term ‘foreign municipal solid waste’ means munic20 ipal solid waste generated outside of the United 

21 States. 

22 ‘‘(2) MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE.—

23 ‘‘(A) WASTE INCLUDED.—Except as pro24 vided in subparagraph (B), the term ‘municipal 

25 solid waste’ means—
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1 ‘‘(i) all waste materials discarded for 

2 disposal by households, including single 

3 and multifamily residences, and hotels and 

4 motels; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) all waste materials discarded for 

6 disposal that were generated by commer7 cial, institutional, municipal, and industrial 

8 sources, to the extent such materials—

9 ‘‘(I) are essentially the same as 

10 materials described in clause (i); and 

11 ‘‘(II) were collected and disposed 

12 of with other municipal solid waste 

13 described in clause (i) or subclause (I) 

14 of this clause as part of normal mu15 nicipal solid waste collection services, 

16 except that this subclause does not 

17 apply to hazardous materials other 

18 than hazardous materials that, pursu19 ant to regulations issued under sec20 tion 3001(d), are not subject to regu21 lation under subtitle C. 

22 Examples of municipal solid waste include food 

23 and yard waste, paper, clothing, appliances, 

24 consumer product packaging, disposable dia25 pers, office supplies, cosmetics, glass and metal 
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1 food containers, and household hazardous 

2 waste. Such term shall include debris resulting 

3 from construction, remodeling, repair, or demo4 lition of structures. 

5 ‘‘(B) WASTE NOT INCLUDED.—The term 

6 ‘municipal solid waste’ does not include any of 

7 the following: 

8 ‘‘(i) Any solid waste identified or list9 ed as a hazardous waste under section 

10 3001, except for household hazardous 

11 waste. 

12 ‘‘(ii) Any solid waste, including con13 taminated soil and debris, resulting from—

14 ‘‘(I) a response action taken 

15 under section 104 or 106 of the Com16 prehensive Environmental Response, 

17 Compensation, and Liability Act (42 

18 U.S.C. 9604 or 9606); 

19 ‘‘(II) a response action taken 

20 under a State law with authorities 

21 comparable to the authorities of such 

22 section 104 or 106; or 

23 ‘‘(III) a corrective action taken 

24 under this Act. 
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1 ‘‘(iii) Recyclable materials that have 

2 been separated, at the source of the waste, 

3 from waste otherwise destined for disposal 

4 or that have been managed separately from 

5 waste destined for disposal. 

6 ‘‘(iv) Scrap rubber to be used as a 

7 fuel source. 

8 ‘‘(v) Materials and products returned 

9 from a dispenser or distributor to the man10 ufacturer or an agent of the manufacturer 

11 for credit, evaluation, and possible reuse. 

12 ‘‘(vi) Any solid waste that is—

13 ‘‘(I) generated by an industrial 

14 facility; and

15 ‘‘(II) transported for the purpose 

16 of treatment, storage, or disposal to a 

17 facility or unit thereof that is owned 

18 or operated by the generator of the 

19 waste, located on property owned by 

20 the generator or a company with 

21 which the generator is affiliated, or 

22 the capacity of which is contractually 

23 dedicated exclusively to a specific gen24 erator, so long as the disposal area 

25 complies with local and State land use 
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1 and zoning regulations applicable to 

2 the disposal site. 

3 ‘‘(vii) Any medical waste that is seg4 regated from or not mixed with solid 

5 waste. 

6 ‘‘(viii) Sewage sludge and residuals 

7 from any sewage treatment plant. 

8 ‘‘(ix) Combustion ash generated by re9 source recovery facilities or municipal in10 cinerators, or waste from manufacturing or 

11 processing (including pollution control) op12 erations not essentially the same as waste 

13 normally generated by households.’’. 

14 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

15 the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. prec. 6901) is 

16 amended by adding after the item relating to section 4010 

17 the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 4011. Receipt and disposal of foreign municipal solid waste.’’.

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