An Act to Provide That Advanced Recycling Facilities Are Subject to Solid Waste Regulation and That Advanced Recycling Does Not Constitute Recycling
Maine Legislature, Session 131, LD 1660
Committee: Environment and Natural Resources
Sponsors: CARNEY
Amends: 38 MRSA §1303-C

Legislative Document
No. 1660
S.P. 665
In Senate, April 13, 2023
An Act to Provide That Advanced Recycling Facilities Are Subject 
to Solid Waste Regulation and That Advanced Recycling Does Not 
Constitute Recycling
Reference to the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources suggested and ordered 
printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator CARNEY of Cumberland.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  38 MRSA §1303-C, sub-§1-D is enacted to read:
1-D.  Advanced recycling.  "Advanced recycling" means a process that converts 
municipal solid waste or plastic into basic raw materials, feedstock chemicals, waxes and 
lubricants through any means, including, but not limited to, gasification, pyrolysis, 
hydropyrolysis, solvolysis or depolymerization.
Sec. 2.  38 MRSA §1303-C, sub-§1-E is enacted to read:
1-E.  Advanced recycling facility.  "Advanced recycling facility" means a facility that 
receives, stores and converts municipal solid waste and plastic using advanced recycling.
Sec. 3.  38 MRSA §1303-C, sub-§11-A is enacted to read:
11-A.  Depolymerization.  "Depolymerization" means a process through which heat, 
pressure or solvents are used to break plastic polymers into oligomers or monomers.
Sec. 4.  38 MRSA §1303-C, sub-§12-A is enacted to read:
12-A.  Gasification.  "Gasification" means a process through which materials are 
exposed to heat, converting carbon-based materials to synthetic fuels, chemical feedstocks, 
waxes, lubricants or other substances and solid residues, slag, ash, char, liquid wastes or 
wastewater.
Sec. 5.  38 MRSA §1303-C, sub-§14, as enacted by PL 1989, c. 585, Pt. E, §4, is 
amended to read:
14.  Handle.  "Handle" means to store, transfer, collect, separate, salvage, process, 
recycle, convert using advanced recycling, reduce, recover, incinerate, dispose of or treat.
Sec. 6.  38 MRSA §1303-C, sub-§15-C is enacted to read:
15-C.  Hydropyrolysis.  "Hydropyrolysis" means a process through which materials 
are exposed to heat in the presence of hydrogen, converting carbon-based materials to 
synthetic fuels, chemical feedstocks, waxes, lubricants or other substances and solid 
residues, slag, ash, char, liquid wastes or wastewater.
Sec. 7.  38 MRSA §1303-C, sub-§19-D is enacted to read:
19-D.  Plastic.  "Plastic" means a synthetic material made from linking monomers 
through a chemical reaction to create a polymer chain, including material derived from 
either petroleum or a biologically based polymer, such as corn or other plant sources.
Sec. 8.  38 MRSA §1303-C, sub-§19-E is enacted to read:
19-E.  Pyrolysis.  "Pyrolysis" means a process through which materials are exposed to 
heat in the absence of oxygen, converting carbon-based materials to synthetic fuels, 
chemical feedstocks, waxes, lubricants or other substances and solid residues, slag, ash, 
char, liquid wastes or wastewater.
Sec. 9.  38 MRSA §1303-C, sub-§22, as enacted by PL 1989, c. 585, Pt. E, §4, is 
repealed and the following enacted in its place:
22.  Recycling.  "Recycling" means the series of activities by which material is 
collected, transported, sorted and processed for use as an industrial feedstock in place of 
raw materials to manufacture new products with minimal loss of material quality and 
quantity. "Recycling" does not include energy recovery or energy generation by any means, 
including, but not limited to, advanced recycling, combustion, gasification, incineration, 
pyrolysis, solvolysis, hydropyrolysis thermal desorption, waste-to-energy, waste-to-fuel or 
any other chemical or molecular conversion process.
Sec. 10.  38 MRSA §1303-C, sub-§22-A, as enacted by PL 2019, c. 619, §2, is 
amended to read:
22-A.  Recycling facility.  "Recycling facility" means a facility engaged exclusively 
in the recycling of materials. "Recycling facility" does not include an advanced recycling 
facility.
Sec. 11.  38 MRSA §1303-C, sub-§32-B is enacted to read:
32-B.  Solvolysis.  "Solvolysis" means a process through which materials are combined 
with a solvent and subjected to heat or high pressure.
SUMMARY
This bill amends the definition of "recycling" and defines "advanced recycling," 
"advanced recycling facility" and terms used in those definitions in the laws governing the  
management of solid waste.  The bill provides that advanced recycling facilities are not 
recycling facilities for the purposes of regulating solid waste.  It also amends the definition 
of "handle" to clarify that a facility that converts solid waste or plastic using advanced 
recycling is a solid waste facility.