Dive Brief:
- The Recycled Materials Attribution Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday. The bipartisan bill aims to establish federal standards for recycling and recycled content marketing claims.
- According to the Recycling Leadership Council, which backed the bill, the RMAA would direct the Federal Trade Commission to update the Green Guides to conform with the legislation.
- It’s the latest federal push to harmonize recycling and recycled content definition and labeling nationally. Supporters say it could protect consumers from misleading claims, while opponents worry it could enable more greenwashing.
Dive Insight:
The Recycled Materials Attribution Act is sponsored by New York Republican Congressman Nick Langworthy. “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 RLC’s announcement.
“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,” he said.
The legislation is championed by the Recycling Leadership Council, which formed in January. Led by the Consumer Brands Association, its members include the American Chemistry Council, Closed Loop Partners, the Household & Commercial Products Association, the Vinyl Institute, and industry groups across agriculture, automotives, petrochemicals, retail and more.
John Hewitt, senior vice president of state affairs at Consumer Brands, called the legislation a “foundational first step toward creating modern, national standards for marketing of recycled content.”
But opponents suggest it’s an effort to advance chemical recycling practices, also known as advanced or molecular recycling, that enable greenwashing. Anja Brandon, director of plastics policy at the Ocean Conservancy, criticized the shortcomings of the mass balance accounting that is often used when considering chemically recycled plastics in new products.
“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,” Brandon said in a statement.
“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,” Brandon added. Other bills stalled in Congress could support mechanical recycling systems, such as the Steward Act.
The RMAA has heavy support from the Texas delegation in the House, including Republicans Dan Crenshaw, Randy Weber and August Pfluger, and Democrats Henry Cuellar, Vicente Gonzalez and Marc Veasey. While the scale of active chemical recycling infrastructure in the U.S. is limited, Texas is a hotspot. The bill’s other co-sponsors include Reps. Don Davis, D-N.C., Gabe Evans, R-Colo., and Jonathan Jackson, D-Ill.
Crenshaw teamed up with House Energy and Commerce colleague Gary Palmer, R-Ala., to introduce the Recycling Technology Innovation Act in January. That American Chemistry Council-backed bill seeks to effectively reclassify chemical recycling as a manufacturing process — a distinction that exists in about half of U.S. states.
Also introduced in the House is the Packaging and Claims Knowledge Act. The bill, sponsored by Weber and championed by Ameripen, would preempt state labeling laws and set certain federal requirements for recyclable, compostable and reusable claims for consumer product packaging, including that they make qualifying claims and are backed by third-party certifications.
