| |
| |
| |
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the regulation of recycling and recycled products. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 361.003, Health and Safety Code, is |
|
|
amended by amending Subdivisions (1), (10-a), (24-a), (25), (25-a), |
|
|
(26-a), (27), (34), (35), and (36) and adding Subdivisions (1-a), |
|
|
(6-a), and (37-a) to read as follows: |
|
|
(1) "Advanced recycling facility" means a |
|
|
manufacturing facility that receives, stores, and converts |
|
|
post-use polymers and recoverable feedstocks using advanced |
|
|
recycling technologies and processes including pyrolysis, |
|
|
gasification, solvolysis, and depolymerization. For purposes of |
|
|
this chapter and rules adopted by the commission under this |
|
|
chapter, an advanced recycling facility is not a solid waste |
|
|
facility, final disposal facility, waste-to-energy facility, or |
|
|
incinerator. |
|
|
(1-a) "Apparent recharge zone" means that recharge |
|
|
zone designated on maps prepared or compiled by, and located in the |
|
|
offices of, the commission. |
|
|
(6-a) "Depolymerization" means a manufacturing |
|
|
process through which post-use polymers are broken down into: |
|
|
(A) smaller molecules, including monomers and |
|
|
oligomers; or |
|
|
(B) raw materials or intermediate or final |
|
|
products, including plastics and chemical feedstocks, basic and |
|
|
unfinished chemicals, waxes, lubricants, or coatings. |
|
|
(10-a) "Gasification" means a process through which |
|
|
recoverable feedstocks are heated and converted into a fuel-gas |
|
|
mixture in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere and the mixture is |
|
|
converted into [a] valuable raw materials or valuable[,] |
|
|
intermediate[,] or final products [product], including plastic |
|
|
monomers, chemicals, waxes, lubricants, or chemical feedstocks [a |
|
|
plastic, monomer, chemical, wax, lubricant, or chemical feedstock |
|
|
or crude oil, diesel, gasoline, diesel and gasoline blendstock, |
|
|
home heating oil, ethanol, or another fuel]. The term does not |
|
|
include incineration. |
|
|
(24-a) "Post-use polymers" means plastics that: |
|
|
(A) are derived from any industrial, commercial, |
|
|
agricultural, or domestic activity, including preconsumer |
|
|
recovered materials and postconsumer materials; |
|
|
(B) are sorted from solid waste and other |
|
|
regulated waste and may contain residual amounts of organic |
|
|
material and incidental contaminants or impurities such as paper |
|
|
labels or metal rings; |
|
|
(C) are not mixed with solid waste or hazardous |
|
|
waste onsite or during processing at an advanced recycling |
|
|
facility; |
|
|
(D) are used or intended for use as a feedstock or |
|
|
for the production of feedstocks, raw materials, or other |
|
|
intermediate or final products using advanced recycling; and |
|
|
(E) are processed or held prior to processing at |
|
|
an advanced recycling facility [plastic polymers that derive from |
|
|
any household, industrial, community, commercial, or other sources |
|
|
of operations or activities that might otherwise become waste if |
|
|
not converted into a valuable raw, intermediate, or final product. |
|
|
Post-use polymers include used polymers that contain incidental |
|
|
contaminants or impurities such as paper labels or metal rings but |
|
|
do not include used polymers mixed with solid waste, medical waste, |
|
|
hazardous waste, electronic waste, tires, or construction or |
|
|
demolition debris]. |
|
|
(25) "Processing" means the extraction of materials |
|
|
from or the transfer, volume reduction, conversion to energy, or |
|
|
other separation and preparation of solid waste for reuse or |
|
|
disposal. The term includes the treatment or neutralization of |
|
|
hazardous waste designed to change the physical, chemical, or |
|
|
biological character or composition of a hazardous waste so as to |
|
|
neutralize the waste, recover energy or material from the waste, |
|
|
render the waste nonhazardous or less hazardous, make it safer to |
|
|
transport, store, or dispose of, or render it amenable for recovery |
|
|
or storage, or reduce its volume. The term does not include: |
|
|
(A) pyrolysis, [or] gasification, solvolysis, or |
|
|
depolymerization; or |
|
|
(B) activities concerning those materials |
|
|
exempted by the administrator of the United States Environmental |
|
|
Protection Agency under the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act, as |
|
|
amended by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, as |
|
|
amended (42 U.S.C. Section 6901 et seq.), unless the commission |
|
|
determines that regulation of the activity under this chapter is |
|
|
necessary to protect human health or the environment. |
|
|
(25-a) "Pyrolysis" means a manufacturing process |
|
|
through which post-use polymers are heated in an oxygen-deficient |
|
|
atmosphere [until melted and thermally decomposed and then cooled, |
|
|
condensed,] and the pyrolysis product is converted into [a] |
|
|
valuable raw materials or valuable[,] intermediate[,] or final |
|
|
products [product], including plastic monomers, chemicals, |
|
|
naphtha, waxes, polymers, or plastic and chemical feedstocks [a |
|
|
plastic, monomer, chemical, wax, lubricant, or chemical feedstock |
|
|
or crude oil, diesel, gasoline, diesel and gasoline blendstock, |
|
|
home heating oil, ethanol, or another fuel]. The term does not |
|
|
include incineration. |
|
|
(26-a) "Recoverable feedstock" means one or more of |
|
|
the following materials, derived from recoverable waste other than |
|
|
coal refuse, that has been processed so that it may be used as |
|
|
feedstock in an advanced recycling facility or through [a] |
|
|
gasification [facility]: |
|
|
(A) post-use polymers; and |
|
|
(B) material, including municipal solid waste |
|
|
[containing post-use polymers] and other post-industrial waste: |
|
|
(i) [containing post-use polymers, that has |
|
|
been processed into a fuel or feedstock] for which the commission or |
|
|
the United States Environmental Protection Agency has made a |
|
|
non-waste determination under 40 C.F.R. Section 241.3(c); or |
|
|
(ii) that the commission or the United |
|
|
States Environmental Protection Agency has otherwise determined |
|
|
are feedstocks and not solid waste. |
|
|
(27) "Recycling" has the meaning assigned by Section |
|
|
361.421 [means the legitimate use, reuse, or reclamation of solid |
|
|
waste]. |
|
|
(34) This subdivision expires on delegation of the |
|
|
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 authority to the |
|
|
Railroad Commission of Texas. Subject to the limitations of 42 |
|
|
U.S.C. Section 6903(27) and 40 C.F.R. Section 261.4(a), "solid |
|
|
waste" means garbage, rubbish, refuse, sludge from a waste |
|
|
treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution |
|
|
control facility, and other discarded material, including solid, |
|
|
liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from |
|
|
industrial, municipal, commercial, mining, and agricultural |
|
|
operations and from community and institutional activities. The |
|
|
term: |
|
|
(A) does not include: |
|
|
(i) solid or dissolved material in domestic |
|
|
sewage, or solid or dissolved material in irrigation return flows, |
|
|
or industrial discharges subject to regulation by permit issued |
|
|
under Chapter 26, Water Code; |
|
|
(ii) soil, dirt, rock, sand, and other |
|
|
natural or man-made inert solid materials used to fill land if the |
|
|
object of the fill is to make the land suitable for the construction |
|
|
of surface improvements; |
|
|
(iii) waste materials that result from |
|
|
activities associated with the exploration, development, or |
|
|
production of oil or gas or geothermal resources and other |
|
|
substance or material regulated by the Railroad Commission of Texas |
|
|
under Section 91.101, Natural Resources Code, unless the waste, |
|
|
substance, or material results from activities associated with |
|
|
gasoline plants, natural gas or natural gas liquids processing |
|
|
plants, pressure maintenance plants, or repressurizing plants and |
|
|
is hazardous waste as defined by the administrator of the United |
|
|
States Environmental Protection Agency under the federal Solid |
|
|
Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the Resource Conservation and |
|
|
Recovery Act of 1976, as amended (42 U.S.C. Section 6901 et seq.); |
|
|
or |
|
|
(iv) post-use polymers or recoverable |
|
|
feedstocks processed through pyrolysis, [or] gasification, |
|
|
solvolysis, or depolymerization that do not qualify as hazardous |
|
|
waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (42 |
|
|
U.S.C. Section 6901 et seq.); and |
|
|
(B) does include hazardous substances, for the |
|
|
purposes of Sections 361.271 through 361.277 and 361.343 through |
|
|
361.345. |
|
|
(35) This subdivision is effective on delegation of |
|
|
the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 authority to the |
|
|
Railroad Commission of Texas. Subject to the limitations of 42 |
|
|
U.S.C. Section 6903(27) and 40 C.F.R. Section 261.4(a), "solid |
|
|
waste" means garbage, rubbish, refuse, sludge from a waste |
|
|
treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution |
|
|
control facility, and other discarded material, including solid, |
|
|
liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from |
|
|
industrial, municipal, commercial, mining, and agricultural |
|
|
operations and from community and institutional activities. The |
|
|
term: |
|
|
(A) does not include: |
|
|
(i) solid or dissolved material in domestic |
|
|
sewage, or solid or dissolved material in irrigation return flows, |
|
|
or industrial discharges subject to regulation by permit issued |
|
|
under Chapter 26, Water Code; |
|
|
(ii) soil, dirt, rock, sand, and other |
|
|
natural or man-made inert solid materials used to fill land if the |
|
|
object of the fill is to make the land suitable for the construction |
|
|
of surface improvements; |
|
|
(iii) waste materials that result from |
|
|
activities associated with the exploration, development, or |
|
|
production of oil or gas or geothermal resources and other |
|
|
substance or material regulated by the Railroad Commission of Texas |
|
|
under Section 91.101, Natural Resources Code; or |
|
|
(iv) post-use polymers or recoverable |
|
|
feedstocks processed through pyrolysis, [or] gasification, |
|
|
solvolysis, or depolymerization that do not qualify as hazardous |
|
|
waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (42 |
|
|
U.S.C. Section 6901 et seq.); and |
|
|
(B) does include hazardous substances, for the |
|
|
purposes of Sections 361.271 through 361.277 and 361.343 through |
|
|
361.345. |
|
|
(36) "Solid waste facility" means all contiguous land, |
|
|
including structures, appurtenances, and other improvements on the |
|
|
land, used for processing, storing, or disposing of solid |
|
|
waste. The term includes a publicly or privately owned solid waste |
|
|
facility consisting of several processing, storage, or disposal |
|
|
operational units such as one or more landfills, surface |
|
|
impoundments, or a combination of units. The term does not include |
|
|
an advanced recycling [a pyrolysis or gasification] facility. |
|
|
(37-a) "Solvolysis" means a manufacturing process |
|
|
through which post-use polymers are purified with the aid of |
|
|
solvents while heated at low temperatures, pressurized, or both |
|
|
heated at low temperatures and pressurized, to remove additives and |
|
|
contaminants and make useful products, including monomers, |
|
|
intermediates, valuable chemicals, plastic and chemical |
|
|
feedstocks, and raw materials. The process includes hydrolysis, |
|
|
aminolysis, ammonolysis, methanolysis, and glycolysis. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 361.0151, Health and Safety Code, is |
|
|
amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows: |
|
|
(c) Notwithstanding any other law, the commission or a |
|
|
political subdivision of this state that establishes goals or |
|
|
requirements for recycling or the use of recycled material must |
|
|
base those goals or requirements on the definitions and principles |
|
|
established by Subchapter N. This subsection does not apply to a |
|
|
program described by Subchapter Y or Z. |
|
|
SECTION 3. Section 361.041(a), Health and Safety Code, is |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(a) The commission may not consider post-use polymers or |
|
|
recoverable feedstock to be solid waste if they are converted using |
|
|
pyrolysis, [or] gasification, solvolysis, or depolymerization into |
|
|
[a] valuable raw materials or valuable[,] intermediate[,] or final |
|
|
products [product], including plastic monomers, chemicals, waxes, |
|
|
lubricants, or chemical feedstocks [a plastic, monomer, chemical, |
|
|
wax, lubricant, or chemical feedstock or crude oil, diesel, |
|
|
gasoline, diesel and gasoline blendstock, home heating oil, |
|
|
ethanol, or another fuel]. |
|
|
SECTION 4. Section 361.119(c-1), Health and Safety Code, is |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(c-1) A facility that reuses or converts recyclable |
|
|
materials through pyrolysis, [or] gasification, solvolysis, or |
|
|
depolymerization, and the operations conducted and materials |
|
|
handled at the facility, are not subject to regulation under rules |
|
|
adopted under this section if the owner or operator of the facility |
|
|
demonstrates that: |
|
|
(1) the primary function of the facility is to convert |
|
|
materials into products [that have a resale value greater than the |
|
|
cost of converting the materials] for subsequent beneficial use; |
|
|
and |
|
|
(2) all the solid waste generated from converting the |
|
|
materials is disposed of in a hazardous solid waste management |
|
|
facility or a solid waste facility authorized under this chapter, |
|
|
as appropriate, with the exception of small amounts of solid waste |
|
|
that may be inadvertently and unintentionally disposed of in |
|
|
another manner. |
|
|
SECTION 5. Section 361.421, Health and Safety Code, is |
|
|
amended by amending Subdivisions (5), (6), (7), and (8) and adding |
|
|
Subdivision (6-a) to read as follows: |
|
|
(5) "Recyclable material" means material that can be |
|
|
or has been recovered or diverted from the [solid] waste stream for |
|
|
purposes of reuse, recycling, or reclamation, a substantial portion |
|
|
of which is consistently used in the manufacture of products which |
|
|
may otherwise be produced using raw or virgin materials. The term |
|
|
includes any waste stream, including post-use polymers and |
|
|
recoverable feedstocks that are converted through pyrolysis, [or] |
|
|
gasification, solvolysis, or depolymerization into valuable raw |
|
|
materials or valuable[,] intermediate[,] and final products. |
|
|
Recyclable material is not solid waste unless the material is |
|
|
deemed to be hazardous solid waste by the Administrator of the |
|
|
United States Environmental Protection Agency, whereupon it shall |
|
|
be regulated accordingly unless it is otherwise exempted in whole |
|
|
or in part from regulation under the federal Solid Waste Disposal |
|
|
Act, as amended by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of |
|
|
1976 (42 U.S.C. Section 6901 et seq.), by Environmental Protection |
|
|
Agency regulation. However, recyclable material may become solid |
|
|
waste at such time, if any, as it is abandoned or disposed of rather |
|
|
than recycled, whereupon it will be solid waste with respect only to |
|
|
the party actually abandoning or disposing of the material. |
|
|
(6) "Recycled material" means materials, goods, or |
|
|
products that consist of recovered recyclable material or materials |
|
|
derived from recoverable feedstocks, post-use polymers, |
|
|
postconsumer waste, industrial waste, or hazardous waste which may |
|
|
be used in place of a raw or virgin material in manufacturing a new |
|
|
product or that are certified under a third-party certification |
|
|
system for mass balance attribution identified by the commission |
|
|
under Section 361.4215. The term includes recycled plastics |
|
|
[post-use polymers and recoverable feedstocks used in pyrolysis or |
|
|
gasification]. |
|
|
(6-a) "Recycled plastics" means products that are |
|
|
produced from: |
|
|
(A) mechanical recycling of post-use polymers; |
|
|
or |
|
|
(B) nonmechanical recycling of recoverable |
|
|
feedstocks or post-use polymers that are certified under a |
|
|
third-party certification system for mass balance attribution |
|
|
identified by the commission under Section 361.4215. |
|
|
(7) "Recycled product" means a product that is |
|
|
eligible to be considered a recycled product under [which meets the |
|
|
requirements for recycled material content as prescribed by] the |
|
|
rules established by the commission under [described in] Section |
|
|
361.427. The term does not include a product sold as fuel. |
|
|
(8) "Recycling" means a process by which materials |
|
|
that have served their intended use or are scrapped, discarded, |
|
|
used, surplus, or obsolete are collected, separated, or processed |
|
|
and returned to use in the form of raw materials or feedstocks used |
|
|
in the manufacture [production] of new products. The term does not |
|
|
include incineration of plastics or waste-to-energy processes. |
|
|
Recycling includes: |
|
|
(A) the composting process if the compost |
|
|
material is put to beneficial reuse as defined by the commission; |
|
|
(B) the application to land, as organic |
|
|
fertilizer, of processed sludge or biosolids from municipal |
|
|
wastewater treatment plants and other organic matter resulting from |
|
|
poultry, dairy, livestock, or other agricultural operations; and |
|
|
(C) the conversion of post-use polymers and |
|
|
recoverable feedstocks through pyrolysis, [or] gasification, |
|
|
solvolysis, or depolymerization. |
|
|
SECTION 6. Subchapter N, Chapter 361, Health and Safety |
|
|
Code, is amended by adding Section 361.4215 to read as follows: |
|
|
Sec. 361.4215. MASS BALANCE ATTRIBUTION. The commission by |
|
|
rule shall identify third-party certification systems for mass |
|
|
balance attribution that may be used for the purposes of Sections |
|
|
361.421(6) and (6-a). |
|
|
SECTION 7. Sections 361.427(a) and (b), Health and Safety |
|
|
Code, are amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(a) The commission, in consultation with the comptroller, |
|
|
shall promulgate rules to establish guidelines by which a product |
|
|
is eligible to be considered a recycled product based on: |
|
|
(1) the percent of the total content of a product that |
|
|
consists of recycled material; or |
|
|
(2) the portion of the total content of a product that |
|
|
is determined to consist of recycled material according to a |
|
|
third-party certification system for mass balance attribution |
|
|
identified by the commission under Section 361.4215. [which specify |
|
|
the percent of the total content of a product which must consist of |
|
|
recycled material for the product to be a "recycled product."] |
|
|
(b) The guidelines established under this section shall |
|
|
specify a minimum percent of the recycled material in a product |
|
|
which must be postconsumer waste or post-use polymers. |
|
|
SECTION 8. Sections 361.003(10-b) and (25-b), Health and |
|
|
Safety Code, are repealed. |
|
|
SECTION 9. As soon as practicable after the effective date |
|
|
of this Act, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality shall |
|
|
adopt rules necessary to implement the changes in law made by this |
|
|
Act. |
|
|
SECTION 10. This Act takes effect immediately if it |
|
|
receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each |
|
|
house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. |
|
|
If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate |
|
|
effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2023. |
| |
| |
| |
______________________________ |
______________________________ |
| |
President of the Senate |
Speaker of the House |
| |
| |
|
|
I certify that H.B. No. 3060 was passed by the House on April |
|
|
26, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 146, Nays 0, 1 present, not |
|
|
voting. |
|
|
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
|
Chief Clerk of the House |
| |
| |
|
|
I certify that H.B. No. 3060 was passed by the Senate on May |
|
|
12, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0. |
|
|
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
|
Secretary of the Senate |
|
|
APPROVED: _____________________ |
|
|
Date |
|
|
|
|
|
_____________________ |
|
|
Governor |