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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Recycling Investment 
Saves Energy’’ or the ‘‘RISE Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Recycling means business in the United 
States, with more than 56,000 reuse and recycling 
establishments that employ over 1,100,000 people, 
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generating 
an 
annual 
payroll 
of 
nearly 
$37,000,000,000, 
and 
grossing 
over 
$236,000,000,000 in annual revenues. In 2005, re-
cycling 
scrap 
materials 
accounted 
for 
$15,700,000,000 in exports for the United States. 
On 
a 
per-ton 
basis, 
sorting 
and 
processing 
recyclables alone sustain 10 times more jobs than 
landfilling or incineration. 
(2) By reducing the need to extract and process 
virgin raw materials into manufacturing feedstock, 
reuse and recycling helps achieve significant energy 
savings. For example: 
(A) Taken together, the amount of energy 
wasted from not recycling aluminum and steel 
cans, paper, printed materials, glass, and plas-
tic equals the annual output of 15 medium 
sized power plants. 
(B) The reuse of 500 steel drums per week 
yields 6 trillion Btu’s per year, which is enough 
energy savings to power a city the size of Colo-
rado Springs, Colorado, for 1 year. 
(3) Unfortunately, the United States recycling 
rate of many consumer commodities, including alu-
minum, glass, and plastic, are stagnant or declining, 
and businesses that rely on recycled feedstock are 
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finding it difficult to obtain the quantity and quality 
of recycled materials needed. Increasingly, United 
States manufacturing facilities that rely on recycled 
feedstock are closing or forced to re-tool to use vir-
gin materials. 
(4) The environmental impacts from reuse and 
recycling are significant. Increased reuse and recy-
cling would produce significant environmental bene-
fits, such as cleaner air, safer water, and reduced 
production costs. For example: 
(A) Between 2 and 5 percent of the waste 
stream is reusable. Reuse prevents waste cre-
ation and adverse impacts from disposal. 
(B) On a per-ton basis, recycling of: office 
paper prevents 60 pounds of air pollutants from 
being released, saves 7,000 gallons of water, 
and 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space; aluminum 
saves 10 cubic yards of landfill space; plastic 
saves 30 cubic yards of landfill space; glass pre-
vents 7.5 pounds of air pollutants from being 
released and saves 2 cubic yards of landfill 
space; and steel saves 4 cubic yards of landfill 
space. 
(C) The manufacture of 100 percent recy-
cled paperboard products uses significantly less 
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fossil fuel than comparable products and is 
therefore a net reducer of greenhouse gases. 
And, for every 100 tons of recycled paperboard 
produced, 105 tons of material is prevented 
from going to the landfill, thus reducing landfill 
gases. 
(5) A national investment in the reuse and re-
cycling industries is needed to preserve and expand 
America’s reuse and recycling infrastructure. 
SEC. 3. SPECIAL DEPRECIATION ALLOWANCE FOR CERTAIN 
REUSE AND RECYCLING PROPERTY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 168 of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 (relating to accelerated cost recovery 
system) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new subsection: 
‘‘(l) SPECIAL ALLOWANCE FOR CERTAIN REUSE AND 
RECYCLING PROPERTY.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any qualified 
reuse and recycling property— 
‘‘(A) the depreciation deduction provided 
by section 167(a) for the taxable year in which 
such property is placed in service shall include 
an allowance equal to 50 percent of the ad-
justed basis of the qualified reuse and recycling 
property, and 
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‘‘(B) the adjusted basis of the qualified 
reuse and recycling property shall be reduced by 
the amount of such deduction before computing 
the amount otherwise allowable as a deprecia-
tion deduction under this chapter for such tax-
able year and any subsequent taxable year. 
‘‘(2) QUALIFIED REUSE AND RECYCLING PROP-
ERTY.—For purposes of this subsection— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified 
reuse and recycling property’ means any reuse 
and recycling property— 
‘‘(i) to which this section applies, 
‘‘(ii) which has a useful life of at least 
5 years, 
‘‘(iii) the original use of which com-
mences with the taxpayer after December 
31, 2006, and 
‘‘(iv) which is— 
‘‘(I) acquired by purchase (as de-
fined in section 179(d)(2)) by the tax-
payer after December 31, 2006, but 
only if no written binding contract for 
the acquisition was in effect before 
January 1, 2007, or 
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‘‘(II) acquired by the taxpayer 
pursuant to a written binding contract 
which was entered into after Decem-
ber 31, 2006. 
‘‘(B) EXCEPTIONS.— 
‘‘(i) 
ALTERNATIVE
DEPRECIATION 
PROPERTY.—The term ‘qualified reuse and 
recycling property’ shall not include any 
property to which the alternative deprecia-
tion system under subsection (g) applies, 
determined without regard to paragraph 
(7) of subsection (g) (relating to election to 
have system apply). 
‘‘(ii) ELECTION OUT.—If a taxpayer 
makes an election under this clause with 
respect to any class of property for any 
taxable year, this subsection shall not 
apply to all property in such class placed 
in service during such taxable year. 
‘‘(C) 
SPECIAL
RULE
FOR
SELF-CON-
STRUCTED PROPERTY.—In the case of a tax-
payer manufacturing, constructing, or pro-
ducing property for the taxpayer’s own use, the 
requirements of clause (iv) of subparagraph (A) 
shall be treated as met if the taxpayer begins 
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manufacturing, constructing, or producing the 
property after December 31, 2006. 
‘‘(D) DEDUCTION
ALLOWED
IN
COM-
PUTING MINIMUM TAX.—For purposes of deter-
mining alternative minimum taxable income 
under section 55, the deduction under sub-
section (a) for qualified reuse and recycling 
property shall be determined under this section 
without regard to any adjustment under section 
56. 
‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub-
section— 
‘‘(A) REUSE AND RECYCLING PROPERTY.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘reuse 
and recycling property’ means any machin-
ery and equipment (not including buildings 
or real estate), along with all appur-
tenances thereto, including software nec-
essary to operate such equipment, which is 
used exclusively to collect, distribute, or re-
cycle qualified reuse and recyclable mate-
rials. 
‘‘(ii) EXCLUSION.—Such term does 
not include— 
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‘‘(I) rolling stock or other equip-
ment used to transport reuse and re-
cyclable materials, and 
‘‘(II) equipment used to produce 
new products or commodities from re-
cycled products. 
‘‘(B) QUALIFIED REUSE AND RECYCLABLE 
MATERIALS.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘quali-
fied reuse and recyclable materials’ means 
scrap plastic, scrap glass, scrap textiles, 
scrap rubber, scrap packaging, recovered 
fiber, scrap ferrous and nonferrous metals, 
or electronic scrap generated by an indi-
vidual or business. 
‘‘(ii) ELECTRONIC SCRAP.—For pur-
poses of clause (i), the term ‘electronic 
scrap’ means— 
‘‘(I) any cathode ray tube, flat 
panel screen, or similar video display 
device with a screen size greater than 
4 inches measured diagonally, or 
‘‘(II) 
any 
central 
processing 
unit.’’. 
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(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
this section shall apply to property placed in service after 
December 31, 2006. 
Æ 
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