| Chapter 098 |
| 2025 -- S 0324 Enacted 06/23/2025 |
| A N A C T |
| RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY |
Introduced By: Senators DiMario, Dimitri, Mack, Sosnowski, Britto, Vargas, Acosta, Valverde, Zurier, and Euer |
| Date Introduced: February 21, 2025 |
| It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
| SECTION 1. The general assembly makes the following findings of fact: |
| (1) Rhode Island is facing significant environmental challenges as the state’s only landfill |
| will reach its capacity by 2046; |
| (2) The people of Rhode Island must work together to keep unwanted textiles out of the |
| landfill and improve recycling practices; |
| (3) Clean, segregated textiles are the most common post-consumer materials to be reused |
| for their original purpose, or upcycled into numerous other usable products; |
| (4) The most recent data shows that an estimated twenty-eight thousand eight hundred sixty |
| (28,860) tons of textiles from residential, industrial and commercial institutions were delivered to |
| Rhode Island resource recovery corporation landfill; and |
| (5) While textiles are currently required to be recycled, the state must increase public |
| awareness and expand textile recycling to ensure that the least number of textiles unnecessarily end |
| up in our landfill. |
| SECTION 2. Title 23 of the General Laws entitled "HEALTH AND SAFETY" is hereby |
| amended by adding thereto the following chapter: |
| CHAPTER 18.19 |
| TEXTILE RECYCLING |
| 23-18.19-1. Definition. |
| As used in this chapter: |
| (1) “Corporation” means the Rhode Island resource recovery corporation; |
| (2) “Department” means the department of environmental management; |
| (3) “Private entities” means any entity, including for-profit and nonprofit organizations, |
| involved in the collection of textiles for recycle or reuse purposes, in accordance with the |
| department’s rules and regulations. |
| (4) “Textiles” means clothing, footwear, bedding, towels, curtains, fabric, and similar |
| products, except textiles that are contaminated with mold, bodily fluids, insects, oil, or hazardous |
| substances. |
| 23-18.19-2. Textile waste education. |
| The department shall, in collaboration with the corporation, create a public education |
| outreach program to educate residential households and commercial businesses on the value of, |
| and proper methods to, recycle textiles in the state. The department and the corporation shall create |
| an online directory, and may create a recycling assistance program, to help guide residents, |
| businesses, and municipalities to reduce their textile waste. |
| 23-18.19-3. Textile collection and reporting requirements. |
| (a) Beginning January 1, 2028, all private entities involved in textile collection,shall |
| provide to the department,an annual reporting on the estimated total tonnage of textiles collected. |
| The department shall include this data along with municipal textile data in any reports generated. |
| (b) Beginning January 1, 2029, the department may use this data to establish benchmark |
| goals for the tonnage of municipal and commercial textiles collected, which may be increased |
| annually at the discretion of the department, pursuant to § 23-18.19-4. |
| 23-18.19-4. Regulatory authority and enforcement. |
| The department shall commence collecting data pursuant to § 23-18.19-3, and shall be |
| responsible for formulating and promulgating rules and regulations related to textile waste |
| collection and recycling. The department shall report these regulations to the secretary of state to |
| be made available to the public by June 1, 2026. The department may enforce these regulations and |
| may levy any fines or penalties established by the department. |
| SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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| LC000959 |
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