I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2286

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require States to provide an

opportunity for their citizens to participate in comprehensive recycling

programs, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 26, 1993

Mr. TAUZIN (for himself, Mr. HAYES, Mr. RAVENEL, Mr. BISHOP, Mr.

PENNY, Mr. WHEAT, Mr. CALLAHAN, Mr. LEWIS of Florida, Mr. COX,

Mr. TALENT, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. WILSON, Ms. BYRNE, Mr. SARPALIUS,

Mr. PORTER, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. CAMP, Mr. HASTERT, Mr. LEWIS of

California, Mr. VOLKMER, Mr. EWING, Mrs. MEYERS of Kansas, Mr.

HOBSON, and Mr. SOLOMON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require States

to provide an opportunity for their citizens to participate

in comprehensive recycling programs, 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 The Act may be cited as the ‘‘Comprehensive Recy5 cling Act of 1993’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

2 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds and declares the

3 following:

4 (1) The United States failure to manage its

5 solid waste has resulted in critical regional and

6 national problems.

7 (2) Successful solid waste management requires

8 creative use of the entire hierarchy of solid waste

9 management, including waste reduction, recycling,

10 waste-to-energy operations, and landfilling.

11 (3) Recycling can play a significant role in

12 reducing municipal waste.

13 (4) Recycling can prevent depletion of valuable

14 landfill space, save energy and natural resources,

15 and provide useful products from discarded mate16 rials.

17 (5) The failure to recycle and reuse materials is

18 a significant and unnecessary waste of important na19 tional energy and material resources.

20 (6) Comprehensive, multimaterial recycling pro21 grams represent the most cost-effective and efficient

22 method of meeting recycling goals.

23 (7) Limited or selective approaches to recycling

24 may work to the detriment of a comprehensive na25 tional recycling effort by imposing additional costs

26 and creating inefficiencies in the overall program.
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1 (8) The responsibility to recycle should be

2 shared by all consumers of recyclable goods, includ3 ing individual households, municipalities, and com4 mercial and institutional establishments.

5 (9) All Americans should be provided with an

6 opportunity to recycle in their community, including

7 at home and at their place of employment.

8 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as

9 follows:

10 (1) To require each State to develop and imple11 ment a comprehensive, multimaterial recycling plan

12 to provide its citizens with the opportunity to

13 recycle.

14 (2) To require each State, under its plan, to

15 eventually recycle at least 25 percent of its munici16 pal waste stream.

17 SEC. 3. NATIONAL POLICY.

18 The Congress hereby establishes as a national goal

19 the recycling of municipal waste to the maximum extent

20 practicable, consistent with market demand for recycled

21 materials.

22 SEC. 4. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.

23 For purposes of assisting States in carrying out this

24 Act, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection

25 Agency shall provide technical assistance and guidance to
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1 the States on recycling methods and opportunities, includ2 ing the development of the elements for an effective com3 prehensive State recycling program. Such a program shall

4 include, at a minimum, the following elements:

5 (1) Proven approaches to separation and collec6 tion of municipal waste according to material, in7 cluding metals, glass, paper, plastics, yard waste,

8 used oil, used tires, and used batteries.

9 (2) Guidance on local or regional drop-off

10 centers for municipal waste separated at home or

11 business.

12 (3) Planning and information exchange services

13 on successful strategies for municipal, commercial,

14 and industrial recycling programs.

15 (4) Planning and information exchange services

16 on the creation of State and regional information

17 clearinghouses on markets for secondary materials

18 and recycled goods.

19 SEC. 5. RECYCLING PROGRAMS.

20 (a) REQUIREMENT FOR STATE PROGRAMS.—

21 (1) Within 2 years after the date of enactment

22 of this Act, each State shall develop and implement

23 a comprehensive multimaterial recycling program to

24 provide its residents with an opportunity to partici25 pate and engage in recycling.
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1 (2) Each State program shall be designed to

2 provide at least 20 percent of the State’s population

3 with an opportunity to participate in the program

4 within 2 years after the date of enactment of this

5 Act. Every 2 years thereafter, such program must be

6 available to an additional 20 percent of the State’s

7 population, until such time that 100 percent of the

8 population is provided an opportunity to participate

9 in the recycling program.

10 (b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—Each State recycling

11 program under this section shall include, at a minimum,

12 each of the following elements:

13 (1) MATERIAL SEPARATION AND RECYCLING.—

14 Provisions, as determined by the States, for the sep15 aration of recyclable materials from other municipal

16 waste generated at residential, commercial, indus17 trial, and institutional establishments. The types of

18 recyclable materials covered shall be designated by

19 the State and may include metal cans, glass bottles

20 and jars, paper, and containers made of plastic such

21 as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high den22 sity polyethylene (HDPE).

23 (2) YARD WASTE.—Persons at residential, com24 mercial, and institutional establishments shall sepa25 rate yard waste from other municipal waste gen-
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1 erated at those establishments, unless those persons

2 have provided for the composting of their yard

3 waste.

4 (3) NOTICE.—Each State or its political sub5 divisions shall establish a comprehensive and sus6 tained public information and education program

7 concerning recycling program features and require8 ments.

9 (4) PREFERENCE.—In implementing its recy10 cling program, a State or its political subdivisions

11 shall accord consideration for the collection, process12 ing, and marketing of recyclable materials to persons

13 engaged in the business of recycling.

14 (c) ALTERNATIVE PROGRAMS.—A State or its mu15 nicipalities, or both, shall be deemed to comply with this

16 section if it has in place an existing program for the collec17 tion of separated materials which may provide for curbside

18 collection, drop-off centers, regional collection centers or

19 similar methods of collection which, in its discretion, best

20 meets the needs of the State and its political subdivisions

21 and which comply with the intent and requirements of this

22 Act.

23 SEC. 6. PROGRAM APPROVAL.

24 Within 2 years after the date of enactment of this

25 Act, a State shall include its comprehensive recycling pro-
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1 gram in the State solid waste management plan required

2 by subtitle D of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C.

3 6941 et seq.). Upon approval of the recycling program

4 component of the plan by the Administrator of the Envi5 ronmental Protection Agency, the State shall be eligible

6 to apply for Federal grants under section 4011 of the

7 Solid Waste Disposal Act, as added by section 7, to imple8 ment the recycling program.

9 SEC. 7. STATE GRANTS FOR RECYCLING.

10 (a) GRANTS.—Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Disposal

11 Act (42 U.S.C. 6941 et seq.) is amended by adding at

12 the end the following new section:

13 ‘‘SEC. 4011. RECYCLING GRANTS.

14 Upon application of a State and from funds appro15 priated pursuant to sections 4008 and 4009, the Adminis16 trator shall make grants, subject to such terms and condi17 tions as the Administrator considers appropriate, under

18 this section to such State for the purpose of assisting the

19 State in implementing the comprehensive recycling pro20 gram developed by the State and approved by the Admin21 istrator under the Comprehensive Recycling Act of 1993,

22 including activities to promote the use of recycling tech23 niques by businesses, local governments, and regional

24 waste management authorities. In reviewing grant applica25 tions, the Administrator shall give specific consideration
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1 to the needs of rural areas regarding the collection, sepa2 ration, and transportation of such materials and the

3 availability and maturity of the region’s recyclers and

4 markets.’’.

5 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents

6 for such Act (contained in section 1001) is amended by

7 inserting after the item relating to section 4010 the follow8 ing new item:

‘‘4011. Recycling grants.’’.

9 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.

10 For the purposes of this Act:

11 (1) The term ‘‘commercial, non-hazardous solid

12 waste’’ means waste which originates in private,

13 commercial establishments or enterprises.

14 (2) The term ‘‘industrial waste’’ means all non15 hazardous solid wastes other than residential, com16 mercial, and institutional wastes.

17 (3) The term ‘‘institutional waste’’ means non18 hazardous solid waste originating from services pro19 vided by governmental entities to the public.

20 (4) The term ‘‘metal cans’’ means aluminum

21 cans, bimetal cans, and ‘‘tin’’ food cans.

22 (5) The term ‘‘municipal waste’’ means residen23 tial, commercial, institutional, and industrial waste.

24 The term does not include source-separated mate25 rials.
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1 (6) The term ‘‘recycling’’ means (A) the collec2 tion, processing, and marketing for reuse of metals,

3 glass, paper, plastics, used oil, yard waste, and other

4 materials which could otherwise be disposed of or

5 processed as municipal waste, or (B) the mechanized

6 separation and treatment of municipal waste (other

7 than through combustion) and creation and recovery

8 of reusable materials other than a fuel. Such term

9 includes composting.

10 (7) The term ‘‘residential waste’’ means solid

11 waste originating from private households.

12 (8) The term ‘‘solid waste’’ has the meaning

13 given such term by section 1004(27) of the Solid

14 Waste Disposal Act.

15 (9) The term ‘‘waste reduction’’ means an ac16 tivity or action, or a combination of activities or ac17 tions, that result in less generation of waste from

18 production, use, and disposal of a product than

19 would have been generated in the absence of such

20 activities or actions.

21 (10) The term ‘‘yard waste’’ means leaves,

22 grass clippings, garden residues, shrubbery, tree

23 trimmings, and similar material, but does not in24 clude land clearing debris such as tree trunks and

25 stumps.
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