basic and unfinished chemicals, waxes, lubricants, 
coatings, and adhesives. Advanced recycling shall not 
be considered incineration of plastics or municipal 
waste combustion, and products sold as fuel are not 
recycled products. Advanced recycling shall not be 
considered ‘‘solid waste management’’, ‘‘solid waste 
processing’’, ‘‘solid waste recovery’’, ‘‘incineration’’, 
‘‘treatment’’, ‘‘thermal destruction’’, ‘‘municipal 
waste combustion’’, ‘‘waste-to-energy’’, or similar 
designations that would prevent the process from 
being considered a recycling process and the prod-
ucts from such process being considered recycled 
products. Advanced recycling shall be regulated as a 
manufacturing process under any potentially appli-
cable Federal, State, or local environmental laws, 
rules, and regulations, including, but not limited to, 
the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.), the 
Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.), and the 
Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq,). 
(3) ADVANCED
RECYCLING
FACILITY; 
AD-
VANCED PLASTICS RECYCLING FACILITY.—The term 
‘‘advanced recycling facility’’ or ‘‘advanced plastics 
recycling facility’’ means a manufacturing facility 
that receives, stores, and converts post-use polymers 
and advanced recycling plastic feedstocks it receives 
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using advanced recycling. Advanced recycling or ad-
vanced plastics recycling facilities shall not be con-
sidered ‘‘solid waste facilities’’, ‘‘solid waste disposal 
facilities’’, ‘‘solid waste management facilities’’, ‘‘re-
source recovery facilities’’, ‘‘materials recovery facili-
ties’’, ‘‘thermal destruction facilities’’, ‘‘inciner-
ators’’, ‘‘municipal waste combustors’’, ‘‘combustion 
facilities’’, ‘‘treatment facilities’’, ‘‘reclamation facili-
ties’’, ‘‘recycling facilities’’, or ‘‘recycling centers’’, 
as defined herein or in under definitions in the Solid 
Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.), the 
Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.), or any other 
potentially applicable Federal, State, or local envi-
ronmental laws, rules, and regulations. Advanced re-
cycling or advanced plastics recycling facilities shall 
be regulated as manufacturing facilities under any 
potentially applicable Federal, State, or local envi-
ronmental laws, rules, and regulations, including, 
but not limited to, the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 
7401 et seq.) and the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 
1251 et seq.). 
(4) APPROVED
CERTIFICATION
SYSTEM.—The 
term ‘‘approved certification system’’ shall have the 
meaning ascribed to that term in section 202(c)(2) 
of this Act. 
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(5) AUDITABLE.—The term ‘‘auditable’’ means 
a system for verifying the chain of custody between 
advanced recycling plastic feedstocks, advanced recy-
cling products, and the plastics produced from ad-
vanced recycling products through attribution using 
mass balance. 
(6) CERTIFIED COMPOSTABLE PRODUCT.—The 
term ‘‘certified compostable product’’ means a prod-
uct that is certified by a recognized third-party inde-
pendent verification body as meeting the inter-
national standard specification ASTM D6400 (relat-
ing to standard specification for labeling of plastics 
designed to be aerobically composted in municipal or 
industrial facilities) or ASTM D6868 (relating to 
standard specifications for labeling of end items that 
incorporate plastics and polymers as coatings or ad-
ditives with paper and other substrates designed to 
be aerobically or anaerobically composted in homes 
or municipal or industrial facilities). 
(7) CERTIFIED
RECYCLED.—The term ‘‘cer-
tified recycled’’ shall have the same meaning as recy-
cled plastics. 
(8) CHAIN OF CUSTODY.—The term ‘‘chain of 
custody’’ means a system to document and verify the 
path taken through means, including but not limited 
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to, physical methods or mass balance attribution 
during the production of products. 
(9) CIRCULAR ECONOMY.—The term ‘‘circular 
economy’’ shall have the meaning provided in section 
2 of the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act (33 U.S.C. 4201). 
(10) COMMITTEE.—The term ‘‘Committee’’ 
means the National Plastic Recycling Standards Ad-
visory Committee established under section 101. 
(11) DISPOSAL.—The term ‘‘disposal’’ has the 
meaning given such term under section 1004 of the 
Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6903). 
(12) GASIFICATION.—The term ‘‘gasification’’ 
means a manufacturing process through which post- 
use polymers or recovered feedstocks are heated in 
an oxygen-controlled atmosphere and converted to 
syngas (carbon monoxide and hydrogen), followed by 
conversion into valuable raw, intermediate, and final 
products. 
(13) HAZARDOUS
WASTE.—The term ‘‘haz-
ardous waste’’ has the meaning given such term in 
section 1004 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 
U.S.C. 6903). 
(14) MASS
BALANCE
CERTIFICATION.—The 
term 
‘‘mass 
balance 
certification’’ 
means 
an 
auditable chain of custody accounting methodology 
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with rules defined by a third-party certification sys-
tem that enables the attribution of the mass of ad-
vanced recycling plastic feedstocks to one or more 
advanced recycling products. 
(15) MARKETER.—The term ‘‘marketer’’ means 
a person who— 
(A) manufactures or purchases manufac-
tured consumer commodities, food, and bev-
erages; and 
(B) encloses, contains, stores, protects, 
preserves, or identifies such consumer commod-
ities, food, and beverages in plastic packaging 
for the purpose of selling, importing, or distrib-
uting in the United States. 
(16) 
MECHANICAL
RECYCLING.—The 
term 
‘‘mechanical recycling’’ means a recycling process 
that recycles material, including plastic through a 
physical process, including grinding, washing, sepa-
rating, drying, regranulating, and compounding. 
(17) MINIMUM
MANDATE.—The term ‘‘min-
imum mandate’’ means the minimum mandate es-
tablished under section 201(3). 
(18) MUNICIPAL
SOLID
WASTE.—The term 
‘‘municipal solid waste’’ means garbage, refuse, in-
dustrial lunchroom, or office waste, and other mate-
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rial, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained 
gaseous material resulting from operation of residen-
tial, municipal, commercial, or institutional estab-
lishments and from community activities, generated 
by a household, collected and disposed of at munic-
ipal solid waste facilities, and any sludge not meet-
ing the definition of residual or hazardous waste 
hereunder from a municipal, commercial, or institu-
tional water supply treatment plant, waste water 
treatment plant, or air pollution control facility. The 
term does not include advanced recycling feedstocks 
that are collected, sorted, transported, stored, or 
processed for conversion to advanced recycling prod-
ucts through advanced recycling. Municipal solid 
waste can be used as advanced recycling feedstocks 
upon physical separation or sorting. 
(19) NATIONAL
PLASTIC
RECYCLING
STAND-
ARDS.—The term ‘‘national plastic recycling stand-
ards’’ means the standards established under section 
102. 
(20) NATIONAL RECYCLING GOAL.—The term 
‘‘National Recycling Goal’’ means the goal set forth 
by the Environmental Protection Agency during the 
2020 America Recycles Summit to increase the na-
tional recycling rate to 50 percent by 2030. 
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(21) NATIONAL
RECYCLING
STRATEGY.—The 
term ‘‘National Recycling Strategy’’ or the ‘‘Strat-
egy’’ means the National Recycling Strategy final-
ized by the Environmental Protection Agency in No-
vember 2021. 
(22) PLASTIC.—The term ‘‘plastic’’ or ‘‘plas-
tics’’ means any material made of polymeric organic 
compounds derived from monomers and additives 
that can be shaped by flow. 
(23) PLASTICS PACKAGING.—The term ‘‘plas-
tics packaging’’ means any immediate container or 
wrapping in which the principal structural element is 
composed of plastic that is used to enclose, contain, 
store, protect, preserve, transport, or identify con-
sumer commodities, food, or beverages for use in the 
sale of such consumer commodities, food, or bev-
erages. 
(24) PLASTICS
RECYCLING
ACCOUNTING
AND 
LABELING PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Plastics Recycling 
Accounting and Labeling Program’’ means the ac-
counting and labeling program established under 
section 203(a) of this Act. 
(25) POST-USE PLASTIC.—The term ‘‘post-use 
plastic’’ means a pre-consumer recovered material or 
a post-consumer recovered material that— 
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(A) contains plastic derived from a resi-
dential, municipal, industrial, community, or 
commercial source; 
(B) is not mixed with hazardous waste ex-
cept to the extent allowed by the national plas-
tic recycling standards; and 
(C) is in a form acceptable for mechanical 
recycling and advanced recycling. 
(26) POST-USE PLASTIC PRODUCT.—The term 
‘‘post-use plastic product’’ means material made 
wholly or in part of post-use plastics. 
(27) POST-USE POLYMER.—The term ‘‘post-use 
polymer’’ means a plastic to which all of the fol-
lowing apply: 
(A) The plastic is derived from any indus-
trial, commercial, agricultural, or domestic ac-
tivities, and includes pre-consumer recovered 
materials and post-consumer materials. 
(B) The plastic has been sorted form solid 
waste and other regulated waste but may con-
tain residual amounts of waste such as organic 
material and incidental contaminants or impuri-
ties (e.g., paper labels and metal rings). 
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(C) It is not mixed with solid waste or haz-
ardous waste onsite or during processing at the 
advanced recycling facility. 
(D) The plastic’s use or intended use is as 
a feedstock for the manufacturing of feedstocks, 
raw materials, or other intermediate products 
or final products using advanced recycling. 
(E) The plastic is processed at an ad-
vanced recycling facility or held at such facility 
prior to processing. 
(28) PRE-CONSUMER RECOVERED PLASTIC MA-
TERIAL.—The term ‘‘pre-consumer plastic recovered 
material’’ means material that has never reached the 
end user, having been diverted from the waste 
stream during a manufacturing process. The term 
does not include material generated in a process and 
capable of being reused or reutilized as a substitute 
for a raw material without being modified in any 
way. Pre-consumer recovered plastic material col-
lected, sorted, transported, stored, or processed for 
use in mechanical or advanced recycling shall not be 
considered solid waste under the Solid Waste Dis-
posal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.) or its imple-
menting regulations. 
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(29) PROCESSING.—The term ‘‘processing’’ 
means any method or technology used for the pur-
pose of reducing the volume or bulk of municipal or 
residual solid waste for disposal. The term does not 
include any method or technology used to convert 
part or all of such materials for on-site reuse in ad-
vanced recycling. 
(30) PYROLYSIS.—The term ‘‘pyrolysis’’ means 
a manufacturing process through which post-use 
polymers or recovered feedstocks are heated in the 
absence of oxygen until melted and thermally decom-
posed (non-catalytically or catalytically) and are 
then cooled, condensed, and converted into valuable 
raw materials and intermediate and final products, 
including but not limited to, plastic monomers, 
chemicals, naphtha, waxes, plastic, and chemical 
feedstocks that are returned to economic utility in 
the form of raw materials and products. 
(31) RECOVERED FEEDSTOCK.—The term ‘‘re-
covered feedstock’’ means one or more of the fol-
lowing materials that has been processed so that it 
may be used as feedstock in an advanced recycling 
facility post-use polymers or materials for which the 
Environmental Protection Agency has made a non- 
waste determination or has otherwise determined are 
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feedstocks and not solid waste. Recovered feedstock 
does not include unprocessed municipal waste. Re-
covered feedstock is not mixed with solid waste or 
hazardous waste on-site or during processing at an 
advanced recycling facility. 
(32) RECYCLED PLASTIC.—The term ‘‘recycled 
plastic’’ means products that are produced from me-
chanical recycling of pre-consumer recovered feed-
stocks or plastics, and post-consumer plastics or 
from the advanced recycling of pre-consumer recov-
ered feedstocks or plastics, and post-consumer plas-
tics via mass balance attribution under a third-party 
certification system. The terms ‘‘recycled content’’ 
and ‘‘certified recycled’’ shall have the same mean-
ing as ‘‘recycled plastic’’. 
(33) RECYCLING RATE.—The term ‘‘recycling 
rate’’ means the percentage of post-use materials re-
cycled from the total post-use materials generated, 
as it is measured by the Environmental Protection 
Agency. Products marketed or sold as fuels or en-
ergy are not recycled materials for purposes of cal-
culating the recycling rate. 
(34) SOLID WASTE.—The term ‘‘solid waste’’ 
has the meaning given such term in section 1004 of 
the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6903). 
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Post-use plastics and recovered feedstocks that are 
collected, sorted, transported, stored, or processed 
for use in an advanced recycling facility using ad-
vanced recycling technologies or held at an advanced 
recycling facility prior to processing are not solid 
waste. 
(35) THIRD-PARTY CERTIFICATION SYSTEM.— 
The term ‘‘third-party certification system’’ means 
an international and multi-national third-party cer-
tification system, which consists of a set of rules for 
the implementation of mass balance attribution ap-
proaches for advanced recycling of materials. 
TITLE I—NATIONAL PLASTICS 
RECYCLING STANDARDS 
SEC. 101. NATIONAL PLASTICS RECYCLING STANDARDS AD-
VISORY COMMITTEE. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 
establish the National Plastics Recycling Standards Advi-
sory Committee for a period of not less than 4 years, upon 
which the Administrator may renew the charter of the 
Committee pursuant to section 1013 of title 5, United 
States Code. 
(b) COMPOSITION.— 
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(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Committee shall be 
composed of 14 members who shall be appointed as 
follows: 
(A) 2 members appointed by the Adminis-
trator. 
(B) 3 members appointed by the Chairman 
of the Committee on Environment and Public 
Works of the Senate. 
(C) 3 members appointed by the ranking 
minority member of the Committee on Environ-
ment and Public Works of the Senate. 
(D) 3 members appointed by the Chairman 
of the Committee on Energy and Commerce of 
the House of Representatives. 
(E) 3 members appointed by the ranking 
minority member of the Committee on Energy 
and Commerce of the House of Representatives. 
(2) FAIR
BALANCE
OF
MEMBERSHIP.—Not 
later than 60 days after finalization of the Com-
mittee roster, the Advisory Committee Management 
Officer, designated pursuant to section 1007 of title 
5, United States Code, and the designated officer or 
employee of the Federal Government, designated 
pursuant to section 1009 of title 5, United States 
Code, shall prepare and submit a report to the Ad-
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ministrator confirming that the members appointed 
under paragraph (1) represents a fair balance be-
tween the points of views from each of the following: 
(A) Companies that haul or manage mu-
nicipal solid waste. 
(B) Companies that manufacture plastic 
resin. 
(C) Companies directly involved in the de-
sign, production, use, and recycling of plastic 
materials. 
(D) Consumer brands and retail companies 
that sell end products utilizing plastic pack-
aging directly to consumers. 
(E) Municipalities that administer residen-
tial waste and recycling programs. 
(F) Companies engaged in the advanced 
recycling of plastic packaging. 
(G) Companies engaged in the mechanical 
recycling of plastic packaging. 
(3) TERM.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 
subparagraph (B), each member shall serve a 
term of 4 years. 
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(B) INITIAL STAGGERING.—The initial ap-
pointments made by the Administrator under 
paragraph (1) shall be for a term of 2 years. 
(c) DUTIES.— 
(1) STUDY TO DEVELOP NATIONAL PLASTIC RE-
CYCLING STANDARDS.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 
after its formation, the Committee shall begin 
conducting a study for the purpose of advising 
the Administrator in the establishment and im-
plementation of the national plastic recycling 
standards. 
(B) SOLICITATION.—In conducting the 
study under subparagraph (A), the Committee 
shall solicit information from relevant stake-
holders, including— 
(i) local government officials; and 
(ii) representatives from the plastic, 
recycling, waste haulers, and advanced re-
cycling industries. 
(C) STUDY TOPICS.—The study conducted 
under subparagraph (A) shall evaluate and pro-
vide recommendations on the following topics: 
(i) The elements to be included in the 
national plastic recycling standards. 
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(ii) Ways that the national plastic re-
cycling standards may be better har-
monized with international, multinational 
and State efforts, regulations, and chain of 
custody and certified mass balance meth-
odologies to increase the efficiency and im-
pact of the national plastic recycling stand-
ards. 
(iii) The best practices and strategies 
developed by community recycling pro-
grams, including consumer outreach and 
education, and how and to what extent 
such practices and strategies can and 
should be— 
(I) incorporated into the National 
Recycling Strategy; 
(II) incorporated into the activi-
ties of Federal agencies to increase 
the national recycling rate; or 
(III) potential strategies to en-
courage the development and imple-
mentation of efficient waste collection, 
sortation, pre-processing, and mechan-
ical and advanced recycling tech-
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nologies with respect to plastic mate-
rials. 
(iv) Ways that the National Plastics 
Recycling Standards for sorted or partially 
sorted mixed materials containing post-use 
plastic may best support the increased use 
of advanced recycling technologies to cre-
ate feedstocks for the production of cir-
cular plastics and be harmonized with, or 
exempted from, other Federal, State, and 
local laws to increase advanced recycling 
capacity. 
(v) Ways in which the national plastic 
recycling standards may increase the sup-
ply of materials entering recycling systems 
and 
minimizing 
the 
incineration, 
landfilling, and improper disposal of mate-
rials in the environment. 
(vi) Potential strategies to address 
materials that enter the recycling collection 
system that are not composed of post-use 
plastics that significantly and adversely im-
pact the advancement of mechanical and 
advanced recycling processes from achiev-
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(II) prioritize innovation in prod-
uct design, post-use collecting, sort-
ing, and processing; 
(III) expand public space recy-
cling; 
(IV) improve existing recycling 
systems and capacities; 
(V) enhance reporting for recy-
cling, reuse, and compositing bio- 
based plastics; and 
(VI) incorporate mass balance 
certification. 
(xi) The benefits of innovative mate-
rials on durable goods and infrastructure, 
such as long-term pavement performance, 
emissions, plant and construction oper-
ations, infrastructure resiliency, and re- 
recyclability. 
(xii) The environmental, social, and fi-
nancial benefits of annual mandates for re-
cycled plastics in plastics packaging and 
the benefits of third-party certification sys-
tems for mechanical and advanced recy-
cling. 
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