A bipartisan group of legislators introduced the Recycled Materials Attribution Act in the US House today, drawing support from a new industry group and scrutiny from a plastics advocacy organization.
New York Rep. Nick Langworthy sponsored the bill, HR 7502, which prohibits misleading recycled content claims in advertising, marketing or selling a product to consumers. Plastic bags in particular have been hit with lawsuits challenging claims about recyclability, with some leading to multimillion-dollar settlements.
“Advanced technology in recycling is transforming how we recover and reuse materials that would otherwise end up in landfills, but our regulations have remained stagnant,” Langworthy said in a statement. “This much-needed legislation changes that by modernizing and updating the rules with a uniform national standard that protects consumers from misleading claims while giving American manufacturers the certainty they need to invest, innovate, and compete. This legislation is a no-brainer for businesses, consumers, and our environment.”
Co-sponsors included both Democrats and Republicans mostly from states with significant plastics manufacturing activity: one each from Colorado, Illinois and North Carolina, and six from Texas.
The act garnered support from the Recycling Leadership Council (RLC), which said that in establishing federal standards for recycling and recycled content marketing claims, the bill would reduce consumer confusion and create regulatory certainty.
“This legislation will help support recycling innovation, reduce plastic waste, and improve recycling in the United States,” the RLC said in a statement. “It will also direct the Federal Trade Commission to update its Green Guides to conform with the legislation, ensuring timely consistent application of evidence-based marketing standards nationwide for consumers and businesses.”
Last month the Consumer Brands Association announced the formation of the RLC, with the goal of working with Congress to encourage innovation in recycling and domestic manufacturing to better manage plastics. The council represents the recycling, manufacturing, packaging and consumer products sectors.
“The Recycling Leadership Council is grateful to Congressman Langworthy for championing this foundational first step toward creating modern, national standards for marketing of recycled content,” said John Hewitt, senior vice president at the Consumer Brands Association. “We welcome this bipartisan commonsense legislation that will unlock investment and innovation, reduce plastic waste, and spur domestic manufacturing jobs.”
Several members of the RLC expressed support for the bill, including the American Chemistry Council, American Circular Textiles and the Consumer Brands Association.
Inclusion of mass-balance accounting draws reproach
Although the text of the bill was not yet publicly available, the Ocean Conservancy said after viewing the text that the legislation was overly broad in its inclusion of mass-balance methods to provide a basis for recyclability claims.
“Mass balance is like accounting for plastics recycling: There are ways it can be entirely above board, and then there are ways where the numbers might add up on paper, but they don’t reflect what’s actually happening in the real world,” said Anja Brandon, director of plastics policy at the Ocean Conservancy. “Broadly codifying all mass balance accounting methods as acceptable, without adequate safeguards or restrictions on plastics-to-fuels, creates a system ripe for greenwashing where companies can claim credit for ‘recycling’ plastics that were actually turned into fuels.
“Meanwhile, mechanical recyclers across the country are struggling to stay afloat, and this legislation does nothing to support the proven recycling infrastructure we already have. At a time when we urgently need to improve our recycling system and rebuild public trust, this bill takes us in the wrong direction.”
