HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1587        FILED ON: 1/19/2017

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 447

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Paul McMurtry

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act reducing packaging waste in the Commonwealth.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1587        FILED ON: 1/19/2017

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 447

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 3418 OF 2015-2016.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninetieth General Court
(2017-2018)

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An Act reducing packaging waste in the Commonwealth.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Chapter 21A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2014 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 11C the following section:-

Section 11D. (a) For the purposes of this section the following terms shall, unless the context clearly appears otherwise, have the following meanings:-

“Department”, the department of environmental protection.

“Fee”, the packaging reduction and recovery fee.

“Packaging”, any material used to hold, protect, and present goods for sale. 

“Producer”, a manufacturer or importer of packaged products with over $1,000,000 per year in annual revenues from their sale in the commonwealth.

“Product”, any physical product sold to consumers in the commonwealth through retail establishments or mail order.

(b) A product sold in the commonwealth contained in packaging by a producer shall be subject to a fee.  The department shall promulgate a fee schedule for packaging based on the following:-

(1) end of life management cost per unit volume, including collection, disposal, recycling, contamination cost at material recovery facilities;

(2) environmental impact of production, recovery and disposal as determined by independent third party life cycle assessment; and

(3) recovery rate for material based on audits of incoming loads at representative disposal and recovery facilities in the commonwealth. 

The department shall evaluate the fee every 4 years based on packaging category, updated recovery rate evaluation and management cost.  Amounts collected by the commissioner of revenue pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the Sustainable Packaging Trust established by section 35BBB of chapter 10.

(c) There shall be a sustainable packaging advisory board who shall assist the commissioner of the department with the purposes of this section and the Sustainable Packaging Trust established in section 35BBB of chapter 10. The board shall consist of 10 members appointed by the governor: 1 of whom shall be the secretary of environmental affairs or a designee; 1 of whom shall be the commissioner of the department of environmental protection or a designee, 2 of whom shall be representatives of producers subject to the fee;  2 of whom shall be representatives of the solid waste management and recycling industries; 2 of whom shall be representatives of statewide environmental organizations; and 2 of whom shall be representatives of municipal solid waste programs.

(d) The commissioner of environmental protection shall file with the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means and report within 90 days of each fee re-evaluation regarding recovery rates for beverage packaging.

SECTION 2. Chapter 10 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 35AAA the following section:-

Section 35BBB. (a)There shall be established on the books of the commonwealth an expendable trust to be known as the Sustainable Packaging Trust. Amounts deposited in the trust shall be used for programs described in subsections (c) and (d). Proceeds of the trust shall be invested by the treasurer and shall be under the care and custody of the commissioner of the department of environmental protection, in consultation with the packaging recovery advisory board established in section 11D of chapter 21A. Interest earnings on funds deposited in said trust shall be credited to and become part of the trust. The proceeds of the trust shall be expended by said commissioner without further appropriation to cover administrative costs for the implementation and enforcement of this section.

(b) The commissioner of environmental protection shall cause to be filed with the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means an annual report regarding the revenues and expenditures provided from the trust.

(c) Not more than 80 per cent of amounts deposited in the trust shall be used for material recovery programs including, but not limited to: establishment of commercial recycling collection programs; establishment and operation of public space recycling programs; statewide waste reduction educational programs;  zero interest loans to recycling processors for equipment upgrades; municipal performance-based incentive grants; unit-based pricing programs; and municipal grants for recycling equipment and technical assistance, based on the recommendations of the board.

(d) Not more than 20 per cent of amounts deposited in the fund shall be used for the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this section and section 11D of chapter 21A including the hiring of 2 full-time equivalent department of environmental staff.  Funds shall be distributed to the department of environmental protection and local authorities based initially on the projected costs, and thereafter on actual costs.

SECTION 3. The department of environmental protection shall, on or before July 1, 2016, promulgate regulations to set a timeline for the types of packaging to be covered by the fee set forth in section 1, with priority materials being those that are most costly to manage based on aggregate disposed weight and aggregate contamination volume at material recovery facilities. All packaging types as defined in section 1 shall be included by 5 years from initial promulgation.

SECTION 4.  Effective January 1, 2017, packaged products sold in the commonwealth shall become subject to a packaging reduction and recovery fee according to the schedule set by the department as authorized by section 11D of chapter 21A.