Title: ZERO WASTE Act
Policy area: Environmental Protection

Summary:
Zeroing Excess, Reducing Organic Waste, and Sustaining Technical Expertise Act or the ZERO WASTE Act
This bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a grant program for projects that are consistent with zero-waste practices, including source reduction and waste prevention to reduce the amount of materials incinerated or disposed of in landfills.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4050 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4050

 To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to 
     award grants for projects that are consistent with zero-waste 
                   practices, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 25, 2019

   Ms. Omar (for herself, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Norton, Ms. Haaland, Ms. 
  McCollum, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. 
 Pressley, Ms. Pingree, and Ms. Moore) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to 
     award grants for projects that are consistent with zero-waste 
                   practices, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Zeroing Excess, Reducing Organic 
Waste, and Sustaining Technical Expertise Act'' or the ``ZERO WASTE 
Act''.

SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--The Administrator shall establish and carry out a 
program to award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities 
for projects that are consistent with zero-waste practices.
    (b) Grant Use.--
            (1) Organics recycling infrastructure.--An eligible entity 
        receiving a grant under this Act may use grant funds to carry 
        out a project relating to organics recycling infrastructure, 
        including facilities, machinery, equipment, and other physical 
        necessities required for organics collection or processing on a 
        city-wide or county-wide scale, provided that--
                    (A) implementation of such project--
                            (i) results in increased capacity for 
                        residential and commercial source separated 
                        organics streams; and
                            (ii) generates a usable product that has 
                        demonstrable environmental benefits when 
                        compared to the input materials, such as 
                        compost with added nutritional content; and
                    (B) such project does not include mixed-waste 
                composting.
            (2) Electronic waste reuse and recycling.--An eligible 
        entity receiving a grant under this Act may use grant funds to 
        carry out a project relating to electronic waste reuse or 
        recycling, including infrastructure and technology, research 
        and development, and product refurbishment, provided that such 
        project--
                    (A) does not include an electronic waste ``buy-
                back'' program that provides compensation for used 
                electronics where such compensation is applied as a 
                credit toward the purchase of additional electronics; 
                and
                    (B) is carried out by an organization certified in 
                sustainable electronic waste standards by an 
                organization accredited by the National Accreditation 
                Board of the American National Standards Institute & 
                The American Society of Quality, or another accrediting 
                body as determined appropriate by the Administrator.
            (3) Source reduction.--An eligible entity receiving a grant 
        under this Act may use grant funds to carry out a project 
        relating to source reduction, and such project may include--
                    (A) educational programming and outreach activities 
                to encourage behavioral changes in consumers that 
                result in source reduction; and
                    (B) product or manufacturing redesign or 
                redevelopment to reduce byproducts, packaging, and 
                other outputs if--
                            (i) the applicable manufacturer--
                                    (I) is domestically-owned and 
                                operated; and
                                    (II) pays a living wage; and
                            (ii) the redevelopment or redesign does not 
                        result in higher toxicity of the product or 
                        byproducts, more complicated recyclability of 
                        the product or byproducts, or increased volume 
                        of byproducts compared with the original 
                        practice.
            (4) Market development.--An eligible entity receiving a 
        grant under this Act may use grant funds to carry out a project 
        relating to market development with respect to source reduction 
        and waste prevention, including by creating demand for sorted 
        recyclable commodities and refurbished goods and promoting 
        domestically-owned and operated manufacturing for projects 
        relating to source reduction or waste prevention, provided that 
        such project--
                    (A) targets easily or commonly recycled materials 
                which are disproportionately disposed of in landfills 
                or incinerated;
                    (B) addresses the reduction of the volume, weight, 
                or toxicity of waste and waste byproducts; and
                    (C) does not conflict with--
                            (i) minimum-content laws, such as post-
                        consumer recycled content requirements;
                            (ii) beverage container deposits;
                            (iii) programs funded through retail fees 
                        for specific products or classes of products 
                        that use such fees to collect, treat, or 
                        recycle such products; or
                            (iv) any applicable recycled product 
                        procurement laws and expanded sustainable 
                        government purchasing requirements, as 
                        identified by the Administrator.

SEC. 3. GRANT AWARDS.

    (a) Application.--
            (1) Criteria for all applicants.--To be eligible to receive 
        a grant under this Act, an eligible entity shall submit to the 
        Administrator an application at such time and in such form as 
        the Administrator requires, demonstrating that the eligible 
        entity--
                    (A) has set specific source reduction or waste 
                prevention targets;
                    (B) will carry out such project in communities that 
                are in the 80th percentile or higher for one or more 
                pollutants as noted in the EJSCREEN tool, or any 
                successor system, of the Environmental Protection 
                Agency; and
                    (C) will carry out a project that meets the 
                applicable project requirements under section 2(b).
            (2) Additional application criteria for nonprofit 
        organization.--In the case of an application from an eligible 
        entity that is a nonprofit organization, the application shall 
        include a letter of support for the proposed project--
                    (A) from--
                            (i) a local unit of government; or--
                            (ii) a nonprofit organization that--
                                    (I) has a demonstrated history of 
                                undertaking work in the geographic 
                                region where the proposed project is to 
                                take place; and
                                    (II) is not involved in the project 
                                being proposed; and
                    (B) containing such information as the 
                Administrator may require.
    (b) Priority Factors.--
            (1) In general.--In awarding grants under this Act, the 
        Administrator shall give priority to eligible entities that--
                    (A) have statutorily committed to implementing 
                zero-waste practices;
                    (B) demonstrate how the project to be carried out 
                with grant funds could lead to the creation of new jobs 
                that pay a living wage, with preference for projects 
                that create jobs for individuals with barriers to 
                employment, as determined by the Administrator;
                    (C) will use grant funds for source reduction or 
                waste prevention in schools;
                    (D) will use grant funds to employ adaptive 
                management practices to identify, prevent, or address 
                any negative environmental consequences of the proposed 
                project;
                    (E) have a demonstrated need for additional 
                investment in infrastructure and projects to achieve 
                source reduction and waste prevention targets set by 
                the local unit of government that is responsible for 
                waste and recycling projects in the geographic area;
                    (F) will use grant funds to develop innovative or 
                new technologies and strategies for source reduction 
                and waste prevention;
                    (G) demonstrate how receiving the grant will 
                encourage further investment in source reduction and 
                waste prevention projects; or
                    (H) will incorporate multi-stakeholder involvement, 
                including nonprofit, commercial, and public sector 
                partners, in carrying out a project using grant funds.
            (2) Zero-waste hierarchy.--In determining priority between 
        multiple eligible entities who qualify for priority under 
        paragraph (1), the Administrator shall grant first priority to 
        an eligible entity that can demonstrate how the zero-waste 
        hierarchy was considered with respect to the project to be 
        carried out with grant funds.

SEC. 4. REPORTING.

    An eligible entity receiving a grant under this Act shall report to 
the Administrator, at such time and in such form as the Administrator 
may require, on the results of the project carried out with grant funds 
and any relevant data requested by the Administrator to track the 
effectiveness of the program established under section 2(a).

SEC. 5. ANNUAL CONFERENCE.

    In each of calendar years 2022 through 2027, the Administrator 
shall convene an annual conference for eligible entities, including 
eligible entities that have received a grant under this Act, and other 
stakeholders as identified by the Administrator, to provide an 
opportunity for such eligible entities and stakeholders to share 
experience and expertise in implementing zero-waste practices.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Adaptive management practices.--The term ``adaptive 
        management practices'' means, with respect to a project, the 
        integration of project design, management, and monitoring to 
        identify project impacts and outcomes as they arise and adjust 
        behaviors to improve outcomes.
            (2) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
            (3) Domestically-owned and operated.--The term 
        ``domestically-owned and operated'' means, with respect to a 
        business, a business with--
                    (A) headquarters located within the United States; 
                and
                    (B) primary operations carried out in the United 
                States.
            (4) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means--
                    (A) a single unit of State, local, or Tribal 
                government;
                    (B) a consortium of multiple units of State, local, 
                or Tribal government;
                    (C) one or more units of State, local, or Tribal 
                government in coordination with for-profit or nonprofit 
                organizations; or
                    (D) one or more incorporated nonprofit 
                organizations.
            (5) Embodied energy.--The term ``embodied energy'' means 
        energy that was used to create a product or material.
            (6) Living wage.--The term ``living wage'' means the 
        minimum income necessary to allow a person working 40 hours per 
        week to afford the cost of housing, food, and other material 
        necessities.
            (7) Organics recycling.--The term ``organics recycling'' 
        means the biological processes by which organics streams are 
        converted to compost which is not harmful to humans, plants, or 
        animals.
            (8) Recycling.--The term ``recycling''--
                    (A) means the mechanical processing of material 
                that has reached the end of its current use into 
                material to be used in the production of new products;
                    (B) does not include incineration or any other 
                energy recovery process; and
                    (C) does not include depolymerization or a similar 
                process.
            (9) Reuse.--The term ``reuse''--
                    (A) means--
                            (i) using a product, packaging, or resource 
                        more than once for the same or a new function 
                        with little to no processing; or
                            (ii) repairing a product so it can be used 
                        longer, sharing or renting it, or selling or 
                        donating it to another party; and
                    (B) does not include incineration.
            (10) Source reduction.--The term ``source reduction''--
                    (A) includes--
                            (i) activities that reduce consumption of 
                        products or services that create physical 
                        outputs, such as packaging, that is secondary 
                        to the intended use of the item being consumed;
                            (ii) measures or techniques that reduce the 
                        amount of waste generated during production 
                        processes; and
                            (iii) the reduction or elimination of the 
                        use of materials which are not able to be 
                        recycled without degrading the quality of the 
                        material; and
                    (B) does not include incineration.
            (11) Source separated.--The term ``source separated''--
                    (A) means the separation of a stream of recyclable 
                materials at the point of waste creation before the 
                materials are collected and centralized; and
                    (B) does not include technologies that sort mixed 
                municipal solid waste into recyclable and non-
                recyclable materials.
            (12) Waste prevention.--The term ``waste prevention'' 
        includes reuse, recycling, and other methods to reduce the 
        amount of materials disposed of in landfills or incinerated.
            (13) Zero-waste.--The term ``zero-waste'' means the 
        conservation of all resources by means of responsible 
        production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of products, 
        packaging, and materials without burning or otherwise 
        destroying embodied energy, with no discharges to land, water, 
        or air that threaten the environment or human health.
            (14) Zero-waste practice.--The term ``zero-waste practice'' 
        means a practice used to help achieve zero-waste, including 
        source reduction and waste prevention.

SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to 
carry out this Act $250,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2020 
through 2027.
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