2022 -- S 2539

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LC004724

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2022

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- REFUSE DISPOSAL

     Introduced By: Senators Lombardo, Ciccone, Archambault, and Paolino

     Date Introduced: March 01, 2022

     Referred To: Senate Judiciary

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Section 23-18.9-7 of the General Laws in Chapter 23-18.9 entitled "Refuse

Disposal" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     23-18.9-7. Definitions.

     As used in this chapter, the following terms shall, where the context permits, be construed

as follows:

     (1)(3)"Beneficial reuse material" means a processed, nonhazardous, solid waste not already

defined as recyclable material by this chapter and by regulations of the Rhode Island department

of environmental management that the director has determined can be reused in an environmentally

beneficial manner without creating potential threats to public health, safety, welfare, or the

environment or creating potential nuisance conditions.

     (2)(4) "Beneficial use determination" (BUD) means the case-by-case process by which the

director evaluates a proposal to use a specific solid waste as a beneficial reuse material for a specific

purpose at a specific location within the host municipality.

     (3)(5) "Cocktailing" means the adding, combining, or mixing of hazardous waste as

defined in § 23-19.1-4 with construction debris and demolition debris.

     (4)(6) "Construction and demolition (C&D) debris" means non-hazardous solid waste

resulting from the construction, remodeling, repair, and demolition of utilities and structures and

uncontaminated solid waste resulting from land clearing. This waste includes, but is not limited to,

wood (including painted, treated, and coated wood, and wood products); land-clearing debris; wall

coverings; plaster; drywall; plumbing fixtures; non-asbestos insulation; roofing shingles and other

roof coverings; glass; plastics that are not sealed in a manner that conceals other wastes, empty

buckets ten (10) gallons or less in size and having no more than one inch of residue remaining on

the bottom; electrical wiring and components containing no hazardous liquids; and pipe and metals

that are incidental to any of the previously described waste. Solid waste that is not C&D debris

(even if resulting from the construction, remodeling, repair, and demolition of utilities, structures

and roads; land clearing) includes, but is not limited to, asbestos; waste; garbage; corrugated

container board; electrical fixtures containing hazardous liquids, such as fluorescent light ballasts

or transformers; fluorescent lights; carpeting; furniture; appliances; tires; drums; containers greater

than ten gallons (10 gals.) in size; any containers having more than one inch of residue remaining

on the bottom; and fuel tanks. Specifically excluded from the definition of construction and

demolition debris is solid waste (including what otherwise would be construction and demolition

debris) resulting from any processing technique, other than that employed at a department-approved

C&D debris processing facility, that renders individual waste components unrecognizable, such as

pulverizing or shredding.

     (5)(7) "Construction and demolition debris processing facility" means a solid waste

management facility that receives and processes construction and demolition debris. These

facilities must demonstrate, through records maintained at the facility and provided to the

department, that seventy-five percent (75%) of all material received by the facility is processed and

removed from the site within six (6) weeks of receipt on a continuous basis, and that in no case

stores material on site for over three (3) months; provided, however, these facilities do not include

municipal compost facilities.

     (6)(8) "Construction and demolition debris separation facility" means a facility that

receives, separates, and/or screens construction and demolition debris into its components for

subsequent resale or processing that includes, but is not limited to, grinding, shredding, crushing,

or landfilling at another location separate and apart from the location on which the separation

occurs.

     (7)(9) "Director" means the director of the department of environmental management or

any subordinate or subordinates to whom the director has delegated the powers and duties vested

in him or her by this chapter.

     (8)(10) "Expansion" means any increase in volume, size, or scope, either vertically,

horizontally, or otherwise; provided, however, that this section does not apply to the vertical

expansion of the Charlestown municipal landfill until the closure date of July 1, 2000.

     (9)(11) "Person" includes an individual, firm, partnership, association, and private or

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municipal corporation.

     (10)(14) "Recyclable materials" means those materials separated from solid waste for

reuse. The director of the department of environmental management, through regulations, shall

specify those materials that are to be included within the definition of recyclables. The materials to

be included may change from time to time depending upon new technologies, economic conditions,

waste stream characteristics, environmental effects, or other factors.

     (11)(15) "Segregated solid waste" means material separated from other solid waste for

reuse, but does not include, post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks that are:

     (i) Converted at an advanced recycling facility;

     (ii) Held at such a facility prior to conversion to ensure production is not interrupted; or

     (iii) Stored offsite with the intent that they will be converted at an advanced recycling

facility, but before delivery to such a facility.

     (12)(16) "Solid waste" means garbage, refuse, tree waste as defined by subsection (14) of

this section, and other discarded solid materials generated by residential, institutional, commercial,

industrial, and agricultural sources, but does not include solids or dissolved material in domestic

sewage or sewage sludge or dredge material as defined in chapter 6.1 of title 46, nor does it include

hazardous waste as defined in chapter 19.1 of this title, nor does it include used asphalt, concrete,

or Portland concrete cement. Solid waste does not include post-use polymers or recovered

feedstocks that are:

     (i) Converted at an advanced recycling facility;

     (ii) Held at such a facility prior to conversion; or

     (iii) Stored offsite with the intent that they will be converted at an advanced recycling

facility, but before delivery to such a facility.

     (13)(17) "Solid waste management facility" means any plant, structure, equipment, real

and personal property, except mobile equipment or incinerators with a capacity of less than one

thousand pounds (1,000 lbs.) per hour, operated for the purpose of processing, treating, or disposing

of solid waste but not segregated solid waste. Any solid waste management facility that stores waste

materials containing gypsum on site over three (3) months must install and maintain an active gas

collection system approved by the department of environment management. Solid waste

management facilities do not include advanced recycling facilities.

     (14)(18)(i) "Tree waste" means all parts of a tree, including stumps, branches, and logs that

shall be considered solid waste for purposes of this chapter unless the tree waste meets the following

criteria:

     (A) The tree waste remains on the property where it was generated; or

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     (B) The tree waste remains in the possession of the person who generated it and is stored

above the ground surface, on property that the same person controls, for purposes of recycling and

reuse; or

     (C) The tree waste, whether generated on or off-site, is being actively managed as a usable

wood product such as landscape mulch, wood chips, firewood, or mulch.

     (ii) The application of the criteria set forth in this section shall not be deemed to abrogate,

diminish, or impair the enforcement of the requirements established pursuant to chapter 28.1 of this

title or the authority of the state and/or a city or town to protect the public health, safety, or welfare

from a public nuisance resulting from the storage and handling of tree waste.

     (15)(19) "Organic waste material" means the organic material portion of the solid waste

stream, including, but not limited to, food scraps, food processing residue, and soiled or

unrecyclable paper that has been separated from nonorganic material.

     (16)(20) "Composting facility" means land, appurtenances, structures, or equipment where

organic materials originating from another process or location that have been separated at the point

or source of generation from nonorganic material are recovered using a process of accelerated

biological decomposition of organic material under controlled aerobic conditions.

     (17)(21) "Anaerobic digestion facility" means a facility employing a closed vessel to

perform a closed process of accelerated biodegradation of organic materials and/or organic solid

wastes into biogas and digestate, using microorganisms under controlled conditions in the absence

of oxygen.

     (18)(22) "Other authorized recycling method" means:

     (i) Recycling organic waste material on site or treating organic waste material via on-site

organic treatment equipment permitted pursuant to the general laws or federal law; or

     (ii) Diverting organic waste material for agricultural use, including consumption by

animals.

     (19)(23) "Covered entity" means each commercial food wholesaler or distributor, industrial

food manufacturer or processor, supermarket, resort or conference center, banquet hall, restaurant,

religious institution, military installation, prison, corporation, hospital or other medical care

institution, and casino.

     (20)(24) "Covered educational institution" means a higher educational or research

institution.

     (21)(25) "Covered educational facility" means a building or group of two (2) or more

interconnected buildings owned or used by a covered educational institution at which organic waste

materials are generated.

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     (1) "Advanced recycling" means a manufacturing process for the conversion of post-use

polymers and recovered feedstock into basic hydrocarbon raw materials, feedstocks, chemicals,

and other products like waxes and lubricants through thermochemical processes that convert

plastics into their basic molecular components. The recycled products produced at advanced

recycling facilities include, but are not limited to, recycled plastics, monomers, oligomers, plastics,

plastics and chemical feedstocks, basic and unfinished chemicals, waxes, lubricants, and coatings.

Advanced recycling shall not be considered resource recovery, materials recovery, treatment,

utilization, conversion, waste processing, reconstituting, waste management, incineration,

combustion, or disposal.

     (2) "Advanced recycling facility" means a facility that receives, stores and converts post-

use polymers and recovered feedstocks it receives using advanced recycling. An advanced

recycling facility is a manufacturing facility subject to applicable department manufacturing

regulations for air, water, waste, and land use. Advanced recycling facilities shall not be considered

solid waste management facilities, waste processing facilities, resource recovery facilities,

materials recovery facilities, intermediate processing facilities, or incinerators.

     (12) "Post-use polymer" means a plastic polymer to which all of the following apply:

     (i) It is derived from any industrial, commercial, agricultural, or domestic activities.

     (ii) It is not mixed with solid waste or hazardous waste onsite or during conversion at the

advanced recycling facility.

     (iii) The plastic's use or intended use is as a feedstock for the manufacturing of feedstocks,

other basic hydrocarbons, raw materials, or other intermediate products or final products using

advanced recycling.

     (iv) The plastic has been sorted from solid waste and other regulated waste but may contain

residual amounts of solid waste such as organic material and incidental contaminants or impurities

(e.g., paper labels and metal rings).

     (v) The plastic is converted at an advanced recycling facility or held at such facility prior

to conversion. Post-use polymer shall not be considered co-mingled recyclable materials.

     (13) "Recovered feedstock" means one or more of the following materials, derived from

recoverable waste, that has been converted so that it may be used as feedstock in an advanced

recycling facility:

     (i) Post-use polymers.

     (ii) Materials for which the United States Environmental Protection Agency has made a

nonwaste determination under 40 C.F.R. 241.3(c) or has otherwise determined are feedstock and

not solid waste.

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     (iii) Recovered feedstock does not include unprocessed municipal solid waste.

     (iv) Recovered feedstock is not mixed with solid waste or hazardous waste onsite or during

conversion at an advanced recycling facility.

     (v) Recovered feedstock shall not be considered co-mingled recyclable materials.

     SECTION 2. Title 23 of the General Laws entitled "HEALTH AND SAFETY" is hereby

amended by adding thereto the following chapter:

CHAPTER 18.18

PLASTICS RECYCLING MANDATE

     23-18.18-1. Definitions.

     The following terms and phrases used in this chapter shall, where context permits, be

construed as follows:

     (1) "Advanced recycling feedstocks" means post-use polymer and recovered feedstocks.

Advanced recycling feedstocks shall not be considered solid wastes.

     (2) "Advanced recycling product" means materials produced through mass balance

attribution and/or directly through conversion of advanced recycling feedstocks using advanced

recycling processes, and include, but are not limited to, monomers, oligomers, plastics, plastics and

chemical feedstocks, specialty chemicals, basic chemicals, chemical intermediates, unfinished

chemicals, waxes, lubricants, coatings, asphalt blends, other basic hydrocarbons, and other

products. Advanced recycling products shall not be considered solid waste.

     (3) "Approved certification system" means an accounting and recordkeeping program

developed by the director to facilitate implementation of the plastic recycling mandate.

     (4) "Attribution" means a methodology by which a manufacturer using mass balance under

an approved certification system attributes an equivalent mass of the advanced recycling feedstocks

inputted into its advanced recycling process, adjusted for losses, across the mass of one or more of

the advanced recycling products manufactured in connection with that process.

     (5) "Certified compostable products" means products that are certified by a recognized

third-party independent verification body as meeting international standard specifications ASTM

D6400, "Specifications for Labeling of Plastics Designed to be Aerobically Composed in

Municipal or Industrial Facilities" or ASTM D6868 "Standard Specification for Labeling of End

Items that Incorporate Plastics and Polymers as Coatings or Additives with Paper and Other

Substrates Designed to be Aerobically Composted in Municipal or Industrial Facilities," as

amended.

     (6) "Consumer commodity" or "commodity" means any article, product, good or

commodity of any kind or class which is customarily produced or distributed for sale through retail

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sales agencies or instrumentalities for consumption or use.

     (7) "Mass balance" means an auditable chain of custody method that enables the attribution

of the mass of advanced recycling feedstocks to one or more advanced recycling products produced

in connection with the advanced recycling process within a predefined system boundary and within

a given booking period (usually one year) and adjusted for losses.

     (8) "Marketers" means persons which:

     (i) Either manufacture or purchase manufactured consumer commodities, food or

beverages, and

     (ii) Enclose, contain, store, protect, preserve, or identify those consumer commodities, food

or beverages in plastic packaging for sale, market, or distribution within the state.

     (9) "Mechanical recycling" means operations that recycle plastic via physical processes,

such as grinding, washing, separating, drying, melting, re-granulating, and compounding.

     (10) "Plastic" means any material made of polymeric organic compounds derived from

monomers and additives that can be shaped by flow.

     (11) "Plastics packaging" means any immediate container or wrapping in which the

principal structural element is composed of plastics that is used to enclose, contain, store, protect,

preserve, transport, or identify consumer commodities, food, or beverages for use in the sale of the

consumer commodities, food, or beverages.

     (12) "Recycled plastics" or "recycled plastic" means plastics certified under an approved

certification system and produced:

     (i) From mechanical recycling using pre-consumer recovered materials, and post-consumer

materials; or

     (ii) From advanced recycling feedstocks or advanced recycling products using mass

balance attribution. The term "recycled content" shall have the same meaning as recycled plastics.

Recycled plastics shall not be considered solid waste.

     23-18.18-2. Mandates.

     (a) Applicability.

     (1) Entities subject to the minimum mandate for recycled plastics in plastics packaging in

their annual portfolios are marketers.

     (2) Recycled plastics or the feedstocks and/or materials used to produce recycled plastics

can be sourced within or outside the state.

     (3) The mandate shall apply to marketers’ total annual portfolio of plastics packaging in

the state, except for plastics packaging:

     (i) Manufactured from certified compostable products; or

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     (ii) Subject to electrostatic discharge restrictions.

     (b) Minimum annual recycled plastics mandate. Not later 2030, a marketer’s annual

portfolio of plastics packaging sold, marketed, and distributed in the state shall include thirty

percent (30%) recycled plastics.

     (c) A person subject to the minimum mandate for recycled plastics in plastic packaging in

their annual portfolio not in compliance with this act shall submit to the department a plan subject

to departmental approval to comply with this chapter.

     SECTION 3. Section 23-19-5 of the General Laws in Chapter 23-19 entitled "Rhode Island

Resource Recovery Corporation" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     23-19-5. Definitions.

     The following words and phrases have the meanings ascribed to them in this section unless

the context clearly indicates otherwise:

     (1) "Advanced recycling" means a manufacturing process for the conversion of post-use

polymers and recovered feedstocks into basic hydrocarbon raw materials, feedstocks, chemicals,

and other products like waxes and lubricants through thermochemical processes that convert

plastics into their basic molecular components. The recycled products produced at advanced

recycling facilities include, but are not limited to, certified recycled plastics, monomers, oligomers,

plastics, plastics and chemical feedstocks, basic and unfinished chemicals, waxes, lubricants, and

coatings. Advanced recycling shall not be considered resource recovery, materials recovery,

treatment, utilization, conversion, waste processing, reconstituting, waste management,

incineration, combustion, or disposal.

     (2) "Advanced recycling facility" means a facility that receives, stores and converts post-

use polymers and recovered feedstocks it receives using advanced recycling. An advanced

recycling facility is a manufacturing facility subject to applicable department manufacturing

regulations for air, water, waste, and land use. Advanced recycling facilities shall not be considered

solid waste management facilities, resource recovery facilities, materials recovery facilities,

intermediate processing facilities, waste processing facilities, or incinerators.

     (1)(3) "Bonds and notes" means bonds, including without limitation refunding bonds,

notes, including without limitation renewal notes and bond anticipation notes, and other obligations

or evidences of indebtedness of the corporation issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter

and the resolutions of the corporation.

     (2)(4) "Central landfill" means the central landfill located in Johnston.

     (3)(5) "Corporation" means the Rhode Island resource recovery corporation created and

established pursuant to this chapter.

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     (4)(6) "Landfill revenues" means the surplus, if any, of all tipping fees and other revenues

received at the central landfill over the annual costs of the landfill, and a pro-rata share of the

corporation's administrative expenses.

     (5)(7) "Municipal solid waste" means that solid waste generated by the residents of a

municipality in the course of their daily living, the disposal of which the governing body of that

municipality has undertaken in the discharge of its duties to protect the health of the municipality.

Municipal solid waste does not include solid waste generated by residents of a municipality in the

course of their employment or that generated by any manufacturing or commercial enterprise.

     (6)(8) "Municipal solid waste disposal arrangements" means those arrangements entered

into by a municipality which provide for the final disposal of wastes in a manner approved by the

department of health, the department of environmental management, and the corporation; provided,

however, that the disposal of wastes in transfer stations or facilities for interim storage shall not

constitute final disposal of the wastes.

     (7)(9) "Municipality" means any town or city within the state.

     (8)(10)"Person" means any individual, firm, institution, partnership, association or

corporation, public, or private, organized or existing under the laws of the state or other states

including federal corporations, but excluding municipalities.

     (11) "Post-use polymer" means a plastic polymer to which all of the following apply:

     (i) It is derived from any industrial, commercial, agricultural, or domestic activities.

     (ii) It is not mixed with solid waste or hazardous waste onsite or during conversion at the

advanced recycling facility.

     (iii) The plastic’s use or intended use is as a feedstock for the manufacturing of feedstocks,

blendstocks, other basic hydrocarbons, raw materials, or other intermediate products or final

products using advanced recycling.

     (iv) The plastic has been sorted from solid waste and other regulated waste but may contain

residual amounts of solid waste such as organic material and incidental contaminants or impurities

(e.g., paper labels and metal rings).

     (v) The plastic is converted at an advanced recycling facility or held at such facility prior

to conversion. Post-use polymer shall not be considered co-mingled recyclable materials.

     (9)(12) "Project" means the design, acquisition, ownership, operation, construction,

rehabilitation, improvement, development, sale, lease, or other disposition of, or the provision of

financing for, any solid waste management facility or the industrial and/or business parks in the

town of Johnston authorized by § 23-19-9(a)(7) and the highway access authorized by § 23-19-

10.3.

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     (13) "Recovered feedstock" means one or more of the following materials, derived from

recoverable waste, that has been converted so that it may be used as feedstock in an advanced

recycling facility:

     (i) Post-use polymers.

     (ii) Materials for which the United States Environmental Protection Agency has made a

nonwaste determination under 40 C.F.R. 241.3(c) or has otherwise determined are feedstocks and

not solid waste.

     (iii) Recovered feedstock does not include unprocessed municipal solid waste.

     (iv) Recovered feedstock is not mixed with solid waste or hazardous waste onsite or during

conversion at an advanced recycling facility.

     (v) Recovered feedstock shall not be considered co-mingled recyclable materials.

     (10)(14) "Recyclable materials" means those materials separated from solid waste for

reuse. The director of the department of environmental management through regulations shall

specify those materials that are to be included within the definition of recyclables. The materials to

be included may change from time to time depending upon new technologies, economic conditions,

characteristics of the waste stream, environmental effects, or other factors.

     (11)(15) "Recycling" means the reuse of recovered resources in manufacturing, agriculture,

power production, or other processes.

     (12)(16)"Resource recovery" means the processing of solid wastes in such a way as to

produce materials or energy that may be used in manufacturing, agriculture, and other processes.

     (13)(17) "Resource recovery system" means the corporation's integrated system of resource

recovery consisting of a series of waste processing facilities designed to process a minimum of

seventy percent (70%) of the municipal and commercial solid waste streams by employing an on-

site waste separation technology for the purpose of recycling and/or reusing a minimum of seventy

percent (70%) of the solid waste stream, and minimal use of landfills for the purpose of providing

temporary backup or bypass landfill capacity and residue disposal from waste processing facilities

and any other related facilities and services.

     (14)(18) "Resource recovery system costs" means all operating costs of the system; debt

service and other financing costs related to the resource recovery system; the costs of recycling

grants-in-aid and similar obligations of the corporation; allocations for extraordinary and

unexpected costs; and a pro-rata share of the corporation's administrative expenses.

     (15)(19) "Resource recovery system revenues" means all amounts received by the

corporation as municipal tipping fees, non-municipal tipping fees, energy revenues, revenues from

the sale of recyclable materials, and all other revenues received with respect to the resource

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recovery system, but shall not include any landfill revenues and any amounts received as a state

subsidy.

     (16)(20) "Revenues" means monies or income received by the corporation in whatever

form, including but not limited to fees, charges, lease payments, interest payments on investments,

payments due and owing on account of an instrument, contract, or agreement between the

corporation, any municipality, or person, gifts, grants, or any other monies or payments to which

the corporation is entitled under the provisions of this chapter or any other law, or of any agreement,

contract, or indenture.

     (17)(21) "Segregated solid waste" means material which has been separated from the waste

stream at the generation source for the purpose of recovering and recycling the materials but does

not include post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks.

     (18)(22) "Solid waste" means garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water

supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded materials, including

solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material generated by residential, institutional,

commercial, industrial, and agricultural sources but does not include solids or dissolved materials

in domestic sewage. Solid waste does not include post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks.

     (19)(23) "Solid waste management facility" means any plant, structure, equipment, and

other property, real, personal, or mixed, or the modification or replacement of any of the foregoing,

for the receipt, storage, treatment, utilization, processing, transporting, or final disposition of or

recovery of resources from solid waste other than segregated solid waste, or any facility which

disposes of solid waste by reconstituting, converting, or otherwise recycling it into material which

is not waste; or any property or system to be used in whole or in part for any of the previously

mentioned purposes, whether or not another purpose is also served by it; or any other property or

system incidental to, or which has to do with, or the end purpose of which, is any of the foregoing;

or any combination of two (2) or more of the foregoing. Solid waste management facilities do not

include advanced recycling facilities.

     (20)(24) "Statewide resource recovery system development plan" means that plan which

will specify the location, size, and type of solid waste management facilities that may be required

to develop an integrated statewide resource recovery system for the effective management of solid

waste in Rhode Island. It will also specify a proposed schedule by which the component facilities

will be phased into the statewide system, and it will provide for the administrative and financial

requirements for implementing the plan.

     (21)(25) "Waste management" means actions taken to effectuate the receipt, storage,

transportation, and processing for resource recovery and recycling, or for the ultimate disposal, of

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solid waste.

     (22)(26) "Waste processing facility" means a solid waste facility employing recycling

based technology employing an on-site waste separation technology designed to process both

nonsource separated and source separated solid waste for the purpose of recycling, and/or

composting, and/or reusing a minimum of seventy percent (70%) of the municipal and commercial

solid waste streams.

     SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- REFUSE DISPOSAL

***

     This act would add advanced recycling as a definition for refuse disposal. Additionally this

act would add the advanced recycling facility which would mean a facility that receives, stores and

converts post-use polymers and recovered feedstocks it receives using advanced recycling.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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