2024 -- S 2850 | |
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LC005790 | |
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND | |
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY | |
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2024 | |
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A N A C T | |
RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- TOXIC PACKAGING REDUCTION ACT | |
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Introduced By: Senators Valverde, Murray, LaMountain, Kallman, Britto, Gu, DiMario, | |
Date Introduced: March 22, 2024 | |
Referred To: Senate Environment & Agriculture | |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: | |
1 | SECTION 1. Sections 23-18.13-2, 23-18.13-3 and 23-18.13-4 of the General Laws in |
2 | Chapter 23-18.13 entitled "Toxic Packaging Reduction Act" are hereby amended to read as follows: |
3 | 23-18.13-2. Findings. |
4 | The general assembly has found and declares that: |
5 | (1) The management of solid waste can pose a wide range of hazards to public health and |
6 | safety and to the environment; |
7 | (2) Packaging comprises a significant percentage of the overall solid waste stream; |
8 | (3) The presence of heavy metals and both perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances |
9 | (PFAS) in packaging is a part of the total concern in light of their likely presence in emissions or |
10 | ash when packaging is incinerated, or in leachate when packaging is landfilled; |
11 | (4) Lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and PFAS, polyvinyl chloride and |
12 | polystyrene on the basis of available scientific and medical evidence, are of particular concern; |
13 | (5) Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polystyrene are difficult to recycle, with tons of PVC and |
14 | polystyrene being buried in the landfill each year. The manufacture of PVC and polystyrene |
15 | includes carcinogenic compounds and toxic additives that negatively impact the environment and |
16 | public health. |
17 | (5)(6) It is desirable as a first step in reducing the toxicity of packaging waste to eliminate |
18 | the addition of these chemicals and materials heavy metals and PFAS to packaging; and |
19 | (6)(7) The intent of this chapter is to achieve this reduction in toxicity without impeding or |
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1 | discouraging the expanded use of post-consumer materials in the production of packaging and its |
2 | components. |
3 | 23-18.13-3. Definitions. |
4 | (1) “Department” means the department of environmental management. |
5 | (2) “Distribution” means the practice of taking title to a package(s) or packaging |
6 | component(s) for promotional purposes or resale. Persons involved solely in delivering a |
7 | package(s) or packaging component(s) on behalf of third parties are not considered distributors. |
8 | (3) “Distributor” means any person, firm, or corporation who or that takes title to goods |
9 | purchased for resale. |
10 | (4) “Food packaging” means any package or packaging component that is applied to or in |
11 | direct contact with any food or beverage. |
12 | (5) “Incidental presence” means the presence of a regulated metal as an unintended or |
13 | undesired ingredient of a package or packaging component. |
14 | (6)(i) “Intentional introduction of PFAS” means deliberately utilizing PFAS in the |
15 | formulation of a package or packaging component where its continued presence is desired in the |
16 | final package or packaging component to provide a specific characteristic, appearance, or quality. |
17 | (ii) The use of a regulated chemical as a processing agent, mold release agent, or |
18 | intermediate is considered intentional introduction for the purposes of this chapter where the |
19 | regulated chemical is detected in the final package or packaging component. (The provisions of |
20 | this subsection shall take effect on July 1, 2027.) |
21 | (iii) [Expires July 1, 2027.] The use of post-consumer recycled materials as feedstock for |
22 | the manufacture of new packaging materials, where some portion of the post-consumer package or |
23 | packaging component may contain amounts of the regulated chemicals but is neither desired nor |
24 | deliberate, is not considered intentional introduction for the purposes of this chapter where said |
25 | final package or packaging component is in compliance with § 23-18.13-4(d). (The provisions of |
26 | subsection (6)(iii) of this section shall sunset on July 1, 2027). |
27 | (7)(i) “Intentional introduction of regulated materials” means the act of deliberately |
28 | utilizing a regulated metal in the formation of a package or packaging component where its |
29 | continued presence is desired in the final package or packaging component to provide a specific |
30 | characteristic, appearance, or quality. |
31 | (ii) The use of a regulated metal as a processing agent or intermediate to impart certain |
32 | chemical or physical changes during manufacturing, whereupon the incidental retention of a residue |
33 | of a regulated metal in the final package or packaging component is neither desired nor deliberate, |
34 | is not considered intentional introduction for the purposes of this chapter where the final package |
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1 | or packaging component is in compliance with § 23-18.13-4(c). |
2 | (iii) The use of post-consumer recycled materials as feedstock for the manufacture of new |
3 | packaging materials where some portion of the recycled materials may contain amounts of the |
4 | regulated metals is not considered intentional introduction for the purposes of this chapter where |
5 | the new package or packaging component is in compliance with § 23-18.13-4(c). |
6 | (8) “Manufacturer” means any person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation who |
7 | sells, offers for sale, or offers for promotional purposes packages or packaging components which |
8 | shall be used by any other person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation to package a |
9 | product(s). |
10 | (9) “Manufacturing” means physical or chemical modification of a material(s) to produce |
11 | packaging or packaging components. |
12 | (10) “Package” means a container providing a means of marketing, protecting or handling |
13 | a product and shall include a unit package, an intermediate package and a shipping container as |
14 | defined in ASTM D996. “Package” also means and includes such unsealed receptacles as carrying |
15 | cases, crates, cups, pails, rigid foil and other trays, wrappers and wrapping films, bags, and tubs. |
16 | (11) “Packaging component” means any individual assembled part of a package including, |
17 | but not limited to, any interior or exterior blocking, bracing, cushioning, weatherproofing, exterior |
18 | strapping, coatings, closures, inks and labels. Tin-plated steel that meets the American Society for |
19 | Testing and Materials (ASTM) specification A-623 is considered a single package component. |
20 | Electro-galvanized coated steel and hot-dipped coated galvanized steel that meets the ASTM |
21 | specifications A-525 and A-879 shall be treated in the same manner as tin-plated steel. |
22 | (12) “Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances” or “PFAS” means all members of the |
23 | class of fluorinated organic chemicals containing at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom. |
24 | (13) “Post-consumer recycled material” means a material generated by households or by |
25 | commercial, industrial, and institutional facilities in their role as end-users of the product that can |
26 | no longer be used for its intended purpose, including returns of material from the distribution chain. |
27 | Refuse-derived fuel or other material that is destroyed by incineration is not a recycled material. |
28 | (14) "Reusable packaging" means packaging designed and manufactured to maintain its |
29 | shape and structure and to be materially durable for repeated sanitizing and use. |
30 | (14)(15) “Substitute material” means a material used to replace lead, cadmium, mercury, |
31 | hexavalent chromium, PFAS, or other regulated chemical in a package or packaging component. |
32 | 23-18.13-4. Prohibition — Schedule for removal of incidental amounts. |
33 | (a) No package or packaging component shall be offered for sale or for promotional |
34 | purposes by its manufacturer or distributor in the state, which includes, in the package itself or in |
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1 | any packaging component, inks, dyes, pigments, adhesives, stabilizers, or any other additives, any |
2 | lead, cadmium, mercury, or hexavalent chromium that has been intentionally introduced as an |
3 | element during manufacturing or distribution as opposed to the incidental presence of any of these |
4 | elements. |
5 | (b) No product shall be offered for sale or for promotional purposes by its manufacturer or |
6 | distributor in the state in a package which includes, in the package itself or in any of its packaging |
7 | components, inks, dyes, pigments, adhesives, stabilizers, or any other additives, any lead, cadmium, |
8 | mercury, or hexavalent chromium that has been intentionally introduced as an element during |
9 | manufacturing or distribution as opposed to the incidental presence of any of these elements. |
10 | (c) The sum on the concentration levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, and hexavalent |
11 | chromium present in any package or packaging component shall not exceed 100 parts per million |
12 | by weight (0.01%). |
13 | (d) Effective July 31, 2024 January 1, 2025, no food package to which PFAS have been |
14 | intentionally introduced during manufacturing or distribution in any amount shall be offered for |
15 | sale or for promotional purposes by its manufacturer or distributor in the state. |
16 | (e) Effective January 1, 2026, no person, including, but not limited to, a manufacturer, |
17 | shall sell or distribute into commerce any packaging, packaging component or reusable packaging |
18 | that contains polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polystyrene. For purposes of this section, polyvinyl |
19 | chloride shall include polyvinylidene chloride and polystyrene shall include expanded polystyrene. |
20 | (e)(f) No substitute material used to replace a chemical regulated by this chapter in a |
21 | package or packaging component may be used in a quantity or manner that creates a hazard as great |
22 | as or greater than the hazard created by the chemical regulated by this act. The certificate of |
23 | compliance required by § 23-18.13-6 shall require an assurance to this effect. |
24 | (f)(g) Interstate clearinghouse. The department is authorized to participate in the |
25 | establishment and implementation of a regional or national, multi-state clearinghouse to assist in |
26 | carrying out the requirements of this chapter and to help coordinate reviews of the regulatory |
27 | applicability, certificates of compliance, education and outreach activities, and any other related |
28 | functions. The clearinghouse may also maintain reports on the effectiveness of the program, |
29 | certificates of analysis and compliance for product packaging. |
30 | SECTION 2. 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 -- TOXIC PACKAGING REDUCTION ACT | |
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1 | This act updates the existing Toxic Packaging Act by delaying the ban on PFAS in |
2 | processing agents, until July 1, 2027, and also expands the law by banning PVC and polystyrene |
3 | in packaging. The act also grants DEM additional time to write rules and regulations that ban PFAS |
4 | in food packaging. |
5 | This act would take effect upon passage. |
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