Bill > A2094

Introduced Session

This bill requires every producer of packaging products sold in the State, either individually or as a part of a group of producers, to develop and implement a packaging product stewardship plan, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection (department). The bill defines "producer" to mean: the manufacturer of a packaging product who sells, offers for sale, or distributes the product in the State under the person's own name or brand; the owner or licensee of a trademark under which a packaging product is sold, offered for sale, or distributed in this State, whether or not the trademark is registered in this State; any person who sells, offers for sale, or distributes a packaging product in the State; and any person who imports a packaging product for use by a commercial enterprise that sells, offers for sale, or distributes packaging products in this State. The term would not include a municipality or other local government unit. The bill further defines "packaging product" to mean any product or material that is designed and used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery, or presentation of another product, including, but not limited to, a food or beverage item, that is sold, offered for sale, imported, or distributed in the State. The term expressly includes: primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging; service packaging, including carry-out bags, bulk goods bags, take-out bags, home delivery food service packaging, and prescription bottles, which are designed and intended to be filled at the point of sale; beverage containers; ancillary elements that are attached to another product and that serve a packaging function; and any other product, whether constituted of paper, plastic, glass, metal, a mixture thereof, or any other material, which serves a packaging function. The purpose of a stewardship plan is to: 1) ensure that participating producers remain responsible for managing and facilitating the collection, transportation, reuse, and recycling or disposal of all discarded packaging products in the State, in accordance with environmentally sound management practices; 2) encourage participating producers to increase the post-consumer content in packaging products and reduce the amount of waste generated from discarded packaging products; 3) prioritize and promote the reuse and recycling of discarded packaging products; and 4) otherwise minimize public sector involvement in the life-cycle management of packaging waste. To the extent practicable, a packaging product stewardship plan is to provide for the use of existing solid waste collection and recycling infrastructure in the State. The stewardship plan is also to provide for all of the costs associated with the collection, transportation, reuse, and recycling or disposal of discarded packaging products to be borne by participating producers. The bill requires the department and participating producers to jointly develop a method to ensure the provision of prompt payment to counties and municipalities, recycling and other solid waste collection and disposal facilities, and other appropriate entities that provide services pursuant to the plan. Each packaging product stewardship plan that is adopted pursuant to the bill is to identify, and provide contact information for, each producer participating in the plan, and is to also include a comprehensive list of the packaging products that are covered by the plan. Each plan is additionally required to: 1) identify the means, methods, processes, procedures, systems, and strategies that will be used by participating producers to: a) reduce, through product design modifications and program innovation, the amount of material used for each packaging product and the amount of waste resulting from use of each packaging product; b) facilitate and promote the prompt and efficient collection of discarded packaging products throughout the State in a manner that is as, or more, convenient for consumers than the other collection programs available prior to the implementation of the packaging product stewardship plan; c) transport discarded packaging products to authorized storage and recycling facilities; and d) facilitate the reuse of discarded packaging products for alternate second-life purposes, the processing and recycling of used packaging products that cannot be reused for alternate second-life purposes, and the proper end-of-life disposal, in accordance with environmentally sound management practices, of discarded packaging products that cannot be reused or recycled; 2) identify performance goals for a minimum post-consumer recycled material content rate and a minimum recycling rate for packaging products, and describe how such goals will be met or exceeded; 3) describe the ways in which existing municipal solid waste collection and recycling infrastructure will be used to implement the stewardship plan or, if existing infrastructure will not be used, provide an explanation as to why it is necessary to establish a separate infrastructure, as well as a description of how the separate infrastructure system will function, and an indication of the date by which the separate infrastructure system is expected to be placed into operation; 4) describe the ways in which the producer or stewardship organization will work with existing waste haulers, recyclers, and counties and municipalities throughout the State to effectuate the collection, transportation, reuse, recycling, and other disposal of packaging products, in accordance with environmentally sound management practices, and identify the name and location of all authorized recyclers that will be directly utilized pursuant to the plan; 5) certify that the participating producers will use open, competitive, and fair procurement practices when directly entering into contractual agreements with municipalities and other service providers, pursuant to the stewardship plan; 6) describe the means and methods that will be used by participating producers to finance the collection, transportation, reuse, and recycling or other environmentally sound disposal of discarded packaging products under the stewardship plan; 7) identify the process that was used, during the development of the stewardship plan, to receive, consider, and implement the comments of various stakeholders, as well as the nature of stakeholder comments received during the plan development period, and describe the extent to which the stakeholders' comments were incorporated into the stewardship plan; 8) describe the means and methods that will be used by participating producers to facilitate public outreach, education, and communication with respect to the stewardship plan, in accordance with the bill's provisions; 9) describe how the stewardship plan will be administered, and identify the staff members who will be responsible for ensuring proper administration of the plan; and 10) include any other information the commissioner deems appropriate. The performance goals established in a stewardship plan are to provide, at a minimum, for all single-use packaging products to be composed of at least 75 percent post-consumer content by January 1, 2027; all single-use packaging products to be readily recyclable or compostable by January 1, 2030; and all single-use plastic packaging to be reduced to the maximum extent practicable, or by at least 25 percent, by January 1, 2030. A stewardship plan adopted pursuant to the bill may not be implemented without the prior approval of the Commissioner of Environmental Protection (commissioner). Not more than 120 days after the commissioner receives a completed packaging product stewardship plan, the commissioner will be required to approve, conditionally approve, or disapprove the plan and provide written notice of the determination to the participating manufacturers. If the commissioner does not provide written notice of such determination within this 120-day timeframe, the plan will be deemed to have been approved. If the plan is approved, participating producers will be required to implement the plan within 90 days after receipt of the commissioner's notice or the expiration of the 120-day timeframe set for the determination, as the case may be, or within another timeframe agreed to by the commissioner. If the plan is conditionally approved, the commissioner's written notice is to specify the conditions that are to be satisfied in order for the plan to be deemed approved and implemented under the bill, and the participating producers will be required to implement the conditionally approved plan, in accordance with the conditions stated in the notice, either within 90 days after receipt of the commissioner's notice or within another timeframe agreed to by the commissioner. If the plan is disapproved, the commissioner's written notice is to be accompanied by a detailed statement describing the reasons for disapproval. Not more than 30 days after receipt of the notice of disapproval, the participating producers will be required to submit a revised plan to the commissioner, who will be required to approve, conditionally approve, or disapprove of the revised plan in accordance with the bill's provisions. Within 90 days after approving a packaging product stewardship plan, or any revisions thereto, the department will be required to post the plan on the department's Internet website, together with a list identifying the producers participating in the plan and the packaging products covered thereunder. The bill requires a packaging product stewardship plan to be reviewed and updated by the participating manufacturers, and resubmitted to the department, at least once every five years. However, the bill also authorizes the commissioner, at any time, to review a previously approved stewardship plan and order modifications to the plan in order to ensure that it is being implemented in accordance with the bill's provisions. Producers implementing a packaging product stewardship plan will be required to engage in public outreach, to address public questions and concerns, and to provide consumers with educational and informational materials related to the stewardship plan and the services that are available thereunder. Participating producers will also be authorized to provide educational and informational materials to retailers regarding the implementation of the stewardship plan. Eighteen months after the bill's effective date, a producer will be prohibited from selling, offering for sale, importing, or distributing any packaging product in the State unless the producer is engaged in the implementation of, or has fully implemented, a packaging product stewardship plan in accordance with the bill. The bill further provides that, if a producer violates the terms and conditions of an approved packaging product stewardship plan in which the producer is participating, the commissioner may order the producer to stop selling, offering for sale, distributing, or importing for sale or distribution, any packaging products in the State. The bill also establishes various civil and administrative penalties for persons who violate the provisions of the bill, any rules or regulations adopted pursuant thereto, any stewardship plan approved thereunder, or any order issued by the commissioner in enforcing the bill. Producers participating in an approved stewardship plan will be required to submit an annual report to the department describing the actions being undertaken by participating producers pursuant to the plan, and evaluating the plan's costs and effectiveness. The commissioner will be required to post each annual report on the department's Internet website, and will be further required to prepare, and post on the department's Internet website, a summary report describing the progress that is being made under each stewardship plan, as well as any corrective action that has been ordered by the commissioner under the bill. The bill specifies that any actions undertaken by producers under the bill will not be deemed to constitute a violation of any State law relating to antitrust, restraint of trade, unfair trade practices, or the regulation of trade or commerce, so long as the action is necessary to plan for or implement the organized collection or recycling of packaging products pursuant to the bill's provisions. However, this exemption from liability will not apply to any agreement that establishes or affects the price of a product or that restricts the output or production of a product or the geographic area or customers to which a product will be sold.

Committee Categories

Clinton Calabrese (D)*,  Shama Haider (D)*,  Jim Kennedy (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste Committee (on 01/09/2024)

Official Document