I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4360
To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act of 1980 to clarify liability under that Act for certain
recycling transactions.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 5, 1994
Ms. LAMBERT (for herself, Mr. UPTON, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. SCHAEFER, and
Mr. MANTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to
the Committees on Energy and Commerce and Public Works and Trans-
portation
A BILL
To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Com-
pensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to clarify liability
under that Act for certain recycling transactions.
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 ‘‘Superfund Recycling
Equity Act of 1994’’.
SEC. 2. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to promote the reuse and recycling of scrap
material in furtherance of the goals of waste mini-
mization and natural resource conservation while
protecting human health and the environment;
(2) to level the playing field between the use of
virgin materials and recycled materials; and
(3) to remove the disincentives and impedi-
ments to recycling because of potential Superfund li-
ability.
SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF LIABILITY UNDER CERCLA FOR
RECYCLING TRANSACTIONS.
Title I of the Comprehensive Environmental Re-
sponse, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 is
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 127. RECYCLING TRANSACTIONS.
‘‘(a) LIABILITY CLARIFICATION.—As provided in
subsections (b), (c), and (d), a person who arranged for
the recycling of recyclable material shall not be liable
under section 107(a)(3) or 107(a)(4).
‘‘(b) RECYCLABLE MATERIAL DEFINED.—For pur-
poses of this section, the term ‘recyclable material’ means
scrap paper, scrap plastic, scrap glass, scrap textiles,
scrap rubber (other than whole tires), scrap metal, or
scrap lead-acid and nickel-cadmium batteries, as well as
minor amounts of material incident to or adhering to the
scrap material as a result of its normal and customary
use prior to becoming scrap.
‘‘(c) TRANSACTIONS
INVOLVING
SCRAP
PAPER,
PLASTIC, GLASS, TEXTILES, OR RUBBER.—Transactions
involving scrap paper, scrap plastic, scrap glass, scrap tex-
tiles, or scrap rubber (other than whole tires) shall be
deemed to be arranging for recycling if the person who
arranged for the transaction (by selling recyclable material
or otherwise arranging for the recycling of recyclable ma-
terial) can demonstrate by a preponderance of the evi-
dence that all of the following criteria were met at the
time of the transaction:
‘‘(1) The recyclable material met a commercial
specification grade.
‘‘(2) A market existed for the recyclable mate-
rial.
‘‘(3) A substantial portion of the recyclable ma-
terial was made available for use as a feedstock for
the manufacture of a new saleable product.
‘‘(4) The recyclable material could have been a
replacement or substitute for a virgin raw material,
or the product made from the recyclable material
could have been a replacement or substitute for a
product made, in whole or in part, from a virgin raw
material.
‘‘(5) For transactions occurring 90 days or
more after the date of enactment of this section, the
person exercised reasonable care to determine that
the facility where the recyclable material would be
handled, processed, reclaimed, or otherwise managed
by another person (hereinafter in this section re-
ferred to as a ‘consuming facility’) was in compli-
ance with substantive (not procedural or administra-
tive) provisions of any Federal, State, or local envi-
ronmental law or regulation, or compliance order or
decree issued pursuant thereto, applicable to the
handling, processing, reclamation, storage, or other
management activities associated with the recyclable
material. For purposes of this subsection, ‘reason-
able care’ shall be determined using criteria that in-
cludes (but is not limited to) (A) the price paid in
the recycling transaction; (B) the ability of the per-
son to detect the nature of the consuming facility’s
operations concerning its handling, processing, rec-
lamation, or other management activities associated
with the recyclable material; and (C) the result of
inquiries made to the appropriate Federal, State, or
local environmental agency (or agencies) regarding
the consuming facility’s past and current compliance
with substantive (not procedural or administrative)
provisions of any Federal, State, or local environ-
mental law or regulation, or compliance order or de-
cree issued pursuant thereto, applicable to the han-
dling, processing, reclamation, storage, or other
management activities associated with the recyclable
material. For the purposes of this paragraph, a re-
quirement to obtain a permit applicable to the han-
dling, processing, reclamation, or other management
activity associated with the recyclable materials shall
be deemed to be a substantive provision.
‘‘(d) TRANSACTIONS INVOLVING SCRAP METAL.—
‘‘(1) Transactions involving scrap metal shall be
deemed to be arranging for recycling if the person
who arranged for the transaction (by selling recycla-
ble material or otherwise arranging for the recycling
of recyclable material) can demonstrate by a prepon-
derance of the evidence that at the time of the
transaction—
‘‘(A) the person met the criteria set forth
in subsection (c) with respect to the scrap
metal;
‘‘(B) the person was in compliance with
any applicable regulations or standards regard-
ing the storage, transport, management, or
other activities associated with the recycling of
scrap metal that the Administrator promulgates
under the Solid Waste Disposal Act subsequent
to the enactment of this section and with re-
gard to transactions occurring after the effec-
tive date of such regulations or standards; and
‘‘(C) the person did not melt the scrap
metal prior to the transaction.
‘‘(2) For purposes of paragraph (1)(C), melting
of scrap metal does not include the thermal separa-
tion of 2 or more materials due to differences in
their melting points (referred to as ‘sweating’).
‘‘(3) For the purposes of this subsection, the
term ‘scrap metal’ means bits and pieces of metal
parts (e.g. bars, turnings, rods, sheets, wire) or
metal pieces that may be combined together with
bolts or soldering (e.g. radiators, scrap automobiles,
railroad box cars), which when worn or superfluous
can be recycled, except for scrap metals that the Ad-
ministrator excludes from this definition by regula-
tion.
‘‘(e) 
TRANSACTIONS
INVOLVING
BATTERIES.—
Transactions involving spent lead-acid batteries or nickel-
cadmium batteries shall be deemed to be arranging for re-
cycling if the person who arranged for the transaction (by
selling recyclable material or otherwise arranging for the
recycling of recyclable material) can demonstrate by a pre-
ponderance of the evidence that at the time of the trans-
action—
‘‘(1) the person met the criteria set forth in
subsection (c) with respect to the spent lead-acid
batteries or nickel-cadmium batteries but did not re-
cover the valuable components of such batteries; and
‘‘(2) either—
‘‘(A) with respect to transactions involving
nickel-cadmium batteries, the Administrator has
promulgated regulations or standards regarding
the storage, transport, management, or other
activities associated with the recycling of spent
nickel-cadmium batteries, and the person was in
compliance with applicable regulations or stand-
ards or any amendments thereto; or
‘‘(B) with respect to transactions involving
lead-acid batteries, the person was in compli-
ance with applicable regulations or standards,
and any amendments thereto, regarding the
storage, transport, management, or other activi-
ties associated with the recycling of spent lead-
acid batteries.
‘‘(f) EXCLUSIONS.—(1) The exemptions set forth in
subsections (c), (d), and (e) shall not apply if—
‘‘(A) the person had an objectively reasonable
basis to believe at the time of the recycling trans-
action—
‘‘(i) that the recyclable material would not
be recycled,
‘‘(ii) that the recyclable material would be
burned as fuel, or for energy recovery or incin-
eration, or
‘‘(iii) for transactions occurring during the
90-day period beginning on the date of the en-
actment of this section, that the consuming fa-
cility was not in compliance with a substantive
(not a procedural or administrative) provision
of any Federal, State, or local environmental
law or regulation, or compliance order or decree
issued pursuant thereto, applicable to the han-
dling, processing, reclamation, or other manage-
ment activities associated with the recyclable
material;
‘‘(B) the person added hazardous substances
into the recyclable material for purposes other than
processing or recycling; or
‘‘(C) the person failed to exercise reasonable
care with respect to the management and handling
of the recyclable material.
‘‘(2) For purposes of this subsection, an objectively
reasonable basis for belief shall be determined using cri-
teria that includes (but is not limited to) the size of the
person’s business, customary industry practices, the price
paid in the recycling transaction, and the ability of the
person to detect the nature of the consuming facility’s op-
erations concerning its handling, processing, reclamation
or other management activities associated with the recy-
clable material.
‘‘(3) For purposes of this subsection, a requirement
to obtain a permit applicable to the handling, processing,
reclamation, or other management activities associated
with recyclable material shall be deemed to be a sub-
stantive provision.
‘‘(g) EFFECT
ON OTHER LIABILITY.—Nothing in
this section shall be deemed to affect the liability of a per-
son under paragraph (1) or (2) of section 107(a).
‘‘(h) PCBS.—An exemption under this section does
not apply if the recyclable material contained poly-
chlorinated biphenyls in excess of 50 parts per million or
any new standard promulgated pursuant to applicable
Federal laws.
‘‘(i) REGULATIONS.—The Administrator has the au-
thority, under section 115, to promulgate additional regu-
lations concerning this section.
‘‘(j) EFFECT
ON PENDING
OR CONCLUDED AC-
TIONS.—The exemptions provided in this section shall not
affect any concluded judicial or administrative action or
any pending judicial action initiated by the United States
prior to enactment of this section.
‘‘(k) LIABILITY FOR ATTORNEY’S FEES FOR CER-
TAIN ACTIONS.—Any person who commences an action in
contribution against a person who is not liable by oper-
ation of this section shall be liable to that person for all
reasonable costs of defending that action, including all
reasonable attorney’s and expert witness fees.
‘‘(l) RELATIONSHIP TO LIABILITY UNDER OTHER
LAWS.—Nothing in this section shall affect—
‘‘(1) liability under any other Federal, State, or
local statute or regulation promulgated pursuant to
any such statute, including any requirements pro-
mulgated by the Administrator under the Solid
Waste Disposal Act; or
‘‘(2) the ability of the Administrator to promul-
gate regulations under any other statute, including
the Solid Waste Disposal Act.’’.
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