| Chapter 120 |
| 2024 -- H 7619 SUBSTITUTE A Enacted 06/17/2024 |
| A N A C T |
| RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- TOXIC PACKAGING REDUCTION ACT |
Introduced By: Representatives Cortvriend, Casimiro, Speakman, McEntee, and Nardone |
| Date Introduced: February 15, 2024 |
| It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
| SECTION 1. Sections 23-18.13-3 and 23-18.13-4 of the General Laws in Chapter 23-18.13 |
| entitled "Toxic Packaging Reduction Act" are hereby amended to read as follows: |
| 23-18.13-3. Definitions. |
| (1) “Department” means the department of environmental management. |
| (2) “Distribution” means the practice of taking title to a package(s) or packaging |
| component(s) for promotional purposes or resale. Persons involved solely in delivering a |
| package(s) or packaging component(s) on behalf of third parties are not considered distributors. |
| (3) “Distributor” means any person, firm, or corporation who or that takes title to goods |
| purchased for resale. |
| (4) “Food packaging” means any package or packaging component that is applied to or in |
| direct contact with any food or beverage. |
| (5) “Incidental presence” means the presence of a regulated metal as an unintended or |
| undesired ingredient of a package or packaging component. |
| (6)(i) “Intentional introduction of PFAS” means deliberately utilizing PFAS in the |
| formulation of a package or packaging component where its continued presence is desired in the |
| final package or packaging component to provide a specific characteristic, appearance, or quality. |
| (ii) The On or after July 1, 2027, the use of a regulated chemical as a processing agent, |
| mold release agent, or intermediate is shall be considered intentional introduction for the purposes |
| of this chapter where the regulated chemical is detected in the final package or packaging |
| component. |
| (iii) [Expires July 1, 2027.] The use of post-consumer recycled materials as feedstock for |
| the manufacture of new packaging materials, where some portion of the post-consumer package or |
| packaging component may contain amounts of the regulated chemicals but is neither desired nor |
| deliberate, is not considered intentional introduction for the purposes of this chapter where said |
| final package or packaging component is in compliance with § 23-18.13-4(d). (The provisions of |
| subsection (6)(iii) of this section shall sunset on July 1, 2027). |
| (7)(i) “Intentional introduction of regulated materials” means the act of deliberately |
| utilizing a regulated metal in the formation of a package or packaging component where its |
| continued presence is desired in the final package or packaging component to provide a specific |
| characteristic, appearance, or quality. |
| (ii) The use of a regulated metal as a processing agent or intermediate to impart certain |
| chemical or physical changes during manufacturing, whereupon the incidental retention of a residue |
| of a regulated metal in the final package or packaging component is neither desired nor deliberate, |
| is not considered intentional introduction for the purposes of this chapter where the final package |
| or packaging component is in compliance with § 23-18.13-4(c). |
| (iii) The use of post-consumer recycled materials as feedstock for the manufacture of new |
| packaging materials where some portion of the recycled materials may contain amounts of the |
| regulated metals is not considered intentional introduction for the purposes of this chapter where |
| the new package or packaging component is in compliance with § 23-18.13-4(c). |
| (8) “Manufacturer” means any person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation who |
| sells, offers for sale, or offers for promotional purposes packages or packaging components which |
| shall be used by any other person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation to package a |
| product(s). |
| (9) “Manufacturing” means physical or chemical modification of a material(s) to produce |
| packaging or packaging components. |
| (10) “Package” means a container providing a means of marketing, protecting or handling |
| a product and shall include a unit package, an intermediate package and a shipping container as |
| defined in ASTM D996. “Package” also means and includes such unsealed receptacles as carrying |
| cases, crates, cups, pails, rigid foil and other trays, wrappers and wrapping films, bags, and tubs. |
| (11) “Packaging component” means any individual assembled part of a package including, |
| but not limited to, any interior or exterior blocking, bracing, cushioning, weatherproofing, exterior |
| strapping, coatings, closures, inks and labels. Tin-plated steel that meets the American Society for |
| Testing and Materials (ASTM) specification A-623 is considered a single package component. |
| Electro-galvanized coated steel and hot-dipped coated galvanized steel that meets the ASTM |
| specifications A-525 and A-879 shall be treated in the same manner as tin-plated steel. |
| (12) “Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances” or “PFAS” means all members of the |
| class of fluorinated organic chemicals containing at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom. |
| (13) “Post-consumer recycled material” means a material generated by households or by |
| commercial, industrial, and institutional facilities in their role as end-users of the product that can |
| no longer be used for its intended purpose, including returns of material from the distribution chain. |
| Refuse-derived fuel or other material that is destroyed by incineration is not a recycled material. |
| (14) “Substitute material” means a material used to replace lead, cadmium, mercury, |
| hexavalent chromium, PFAS, or other regulated chemical in a package or packaging component. |
| 23-18.13-4. Prohibition — Schedule for removal of incidental amounts. |
| (a) No package or packaging component shall be offered for sale or for promotional |
| purposes by its manufacturer or distributor in the state, which includes, in the package itself or in |
| any packaging component, inks, dyes, pigments, adhesives, stabilizers, or any other additives, any |
| lead, cadmium, mercury, or hexavalent chromium that has been intentionally introduced as an |
| element during manufacturing or distribution as opposed to the incidental presence of any of these |
| elements. |
| (b) No product shall be offered for sale or for promotional purposes by its manufacturer or |
| distributor in the state in a package which includes, in the package itself or in any of its packaging |
| components, inks, dyes, pigments, adhesives, stabilizers, or any other additives, any lead, cadmium, |
| mercury, or hexavalent chromium that has been intentionally introduced as an element during |
| manufacturing or distribution as opposed to the incidental presence of any of these elements. |
| (c) The sum on the concentration levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, and hexavalent |
| chromium present in any package or packaging component shall not exceed 100 parts per million |
| by weight (0.01%). |
| (d) Effective July 31, 2024 January 1, 2025, no food package to which PFAS have been |
| intentionally introduced during manufacturing or distribution in any amount shall be offered for |
| sale or for promotional purposes by its manufacturer or distributor in the state. |
| (e) No substitute material used to replace a chemical regulated by this chapter in a package |
| or packaging component may be used in a quantity or manner that creates a hazard as great as or |
| greater than the hazard created by the chemical regulated by this act. The certificate of compliance |
| required by § 23-18.13-6 shall require an assurance to this effect. |
| (f) Interstate clearinghouse. The department is authorized to participate in the |
| establishment and implementation of a regional or national, multi-state clearinghouse to assist in |
| carrying out the requirements of this chapter and to help coordinate reviews of the regulatory |
| applicability, certificates of compliance, education and outreach activities, and any other related |
| functions. The clearinghouse may also maintain reports on the effectiveness of the program, |
| certificates of analysis and compliance for product packaging. |
| SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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| LC004641/SUB A/3 |
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