Minimum Post-Consumer Recycled Content Model Legislation for Plastics - Call for Comments

You are invited to submit comments on the Minimum Post-consumer Recycled Plastic Content Draft Model Requirements for the Sale of Trash and Carry-out Bags and Food, Beverage, and Household Product Containers. The public comment period for the Draft Model Legislation is open until February 11, 2022, midnight Eastern. Please use this Feedback Form to submit your comments and suggested edits. 

NERC and NEWMOA will be hosting a webinar on January 13, 1:00 PM Eastern to walk through the Draft Model Legislation. Registration Link

Over the past 18-months, a group of state recycling officials from the northeast has worked together to develop the draft Model Legislation for minimum post-consumer recycled plastic content in trash and carry-out bags and food, beverage, and household product containers. The Model Legislation is intended as a common starting point in the development of legislation requiring the use of post-consumer recycled plastic in specified products sold in the states.

The main goals of the Model Legislation are to incentivize markets for recycled plastic, improve the economics of recovering plastic for recycling, and reduce the environmental impact of virgin plastic production. 

The Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) and Northeast Waste Management Officials’ Association (NEWMOA) convened a Workgroup to develop the Model Legislation. The Workgroup included representatives of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP), Maine Department of Environmental Protection (ME DEP), Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (Mass DEP), New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP), New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), and Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (VT DEC). In drafting the Model, the Workgroup consulted experts in trade associations, the consulting community, industry, and other state governments to seek their advice, information, and learn from their experience. In addition, the Workgroup reviewed existing post-consumer recycled content mandates for plastic products that have been enacted in California and Washington State and proposed legislation in New Jersey.  

The Draft Model Legislation does not necessarily represent the views of individual Workgroup members or the Agencies they represent, nor are NERC and NEWMOA taking an official position regarding the legislation. Both organizations, however, support increased use of post-consumer plastic in products and packaging.