I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 593
To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to authorize States to restrict 
receipt of foreign municipal solid waste, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 2, 2005
Mr. ROGERS of Michigan (for himself, Mr. CAMP, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. 
KNOLLENBERG, Mrs. MILLER of Michigan, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. UPTON, 
and Mr. SCHWARZ of Michigan) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to authorize States 
to restrict receipt of foreign municipal solid waste, and 
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. INTERSTATE AND INTERNATIONAL TRANSPOR-
TATION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL SOLID 
WASTE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Dis-
posal Act (42 U.S.C. 6941 et seq.) is amended by adding 
after section 4010 the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 4011. INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION AND DIS-
POSAL OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE. 
‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—A State may enact a law or laws 
imposing limitations (including a prohibition) on the re-
ceipt and disposal of foreign municipal solid waste. 
‘‘(b) EFFECT ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COM-
MERCE.—No State action taken as authorized by this sec-
tion shall be considered to impose an undue burden on 
interstate and foreign commerce or to otherwise impair, 
restrain, or discriminate against interstate and foreign 
commerce. 
‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 
‘‘(1) FOREIGN MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE.—The 
term ‘foreign municipal solid waste’ means munic-
ipal solid waste generated outside of the United 
States. 
‘‘(2) MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE.—
‘‘(A) WASTE INCLUDED.—Except as pro-
vided in subparagraph (B), the term ‘municipal 
solid waste’ means—
‘‘(i) all waste materials discarded for 
disposal by households, including single 
and multifamily residences, and hotels and 
motels; and 
‘‘(ii) all waste materials discarded for 
disposal that were generated by commer-
cial, institutional, municipal, and industrial 
sources, to the extent such materials—
‘‘(I) are essentially the same as 
materials described in clause (i); and 
‘‘(II) were collected and disposed 
of with other municipal solid waste 
described in clause (i) or subclause (I) 
of this clause as part of normal mu-
nicipal solid waste collection services, 
except that this subclause does not 
apply to hazardous materials other 
than hazardous materials that, pursu-
ant to regulations issued under sec-
tion 3001(d), are not subject to regu-
lation under subtitle C. 
Examples of municipal solid waste include food 
and yard waste, paper, clothing, appliances, 
consumer product packaging, disposable dia-
pers, office supplies, cosmetics, glass and metal 
food containers, and household hazardous 
waste. Such term shall include debris resulting 
from construction, remodeling, repair, or demo-
lition of structures.
‘‘(B) WASTE NOT INCLUDED.—The term 
‘municipal solid waste’ does not include any of 
the following: 
‘‘(i) Any solid waste identified or list-
ed as a hazardous waste under section 
3001, except for household hazardous 
waste. 
‘‘(ii) Any solid waste, including con-
taminated soil and debris, resulting from—
‘‘(I) a response action taken 
under section 104 or 106 of the Com-
prehensive Environmental Response, 
Compensation, and Liability Act (42 
U.S.C. 9604 or 9606); 
‘‘(II) a response action taken 
under a State law with authorities 
comparable to the authorities of such 
section 104 or 106; or 
‘‘(III) a corrective action taken 
under this Act. 
‘‘(iii) Recyclable materials that have 
been separated, at the source of the waste, 
from waste otherwise destined for disposal 
or that have been managed separately from 
waste destined for disposal.
‘‘(iv) Scrap rubber to be used as a 
fuel source. 
‘‘(v) Materials and products returned 
from a dispenser or distributor to the man-
ufacturer or an agent of the manufacturer 
for credit, evaluation, and possible reuse. 
‘‘(vi) Any solid waste that is—
‘‘(I) generated by an industrial 
facility; and 
‘‘(II) transported for the purpose 
of treatment, storage, or disposal to a 
facility or unit thereof that is owned 
or operated by the generator of the 
waste, located on property owned by 
the generator or a company with 
which the generator is affiliated, or 
the capacity of which is contractually 
dedicated exclusively to a specific gen-
erator, so long as the disposal area 
complies with local and State land use 
and zoning regulations applicable to 
the disposal site. 
‘‘(vii) Any medical waste that is seg-
regated from or not mixed with solid 
waste.
‘‘(viii) Sewage sludge and residuals 
from any sewage treatment plant. 
‘‘(ix) Combustion ash generated by re-
source recovery facilities or municipal in-
cinerators, or waste from manufacturing or 
processing (including pollution control) op-
erations not essentially the same as waste 
normally generated by households.’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS AMENDMENT.—The table 
of contents of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 
prec. 6901) is amended by adding after the item relating 
to section 4010 the following new item:
‘‘Sec. 4011. International transportation and disposal of municipal solid 
waste.’’.
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