SenateS. 5674119th Congress
Recycled Materials Attribution Act of 2026
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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5674 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 5674
To prohibit a person from making a misleading recycled content claim in
advertising, marketing, selling, or offering for sale a product to a
consumer, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 30, 2026
Mr. Curtis introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit a person from making a misleading recycled content claim in
advertising, marketing, selling, or offering for sale a product to a
consumer, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Recycled Materials
Attribution Act of 2026''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Purpose.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Recycled content claims.
Sec. 5. Enforcement by Federal Trade Commission.
Sec. 6. Preemption.
Sec. 7. Applicability.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
It is the purpose of this Act to clarify that mass balance
accounting is an acceptable method for substantiating recycled content
claims and analogous claims if the use of mass balance accounting
complies with the requirements of a third-party certification system.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal
Trade Commission.
(2) Competent and reliable scientific evidence.--The term
``competent and reliable scientific evidence'' means any test,
analysis, research, or study that--
(A) has been conducted and evaluated in an
objective manner by an expert in the relevant field;
(B) is generally accepted in the profession to
yield accurate and reliable results; and
(C) is sufficient in quality and quantity based on
standards generally accepted in the relevant scientific
field to substantiate that a representation is true
when considered in light of the entire body of relevant
scientific evidence.
(3) Mass balance accounting.--The term ``mass balance
accounting'' means a valid chain-of-custody methodology that
allows a manufacturing supply chain--
(A) to mix or co-process alternative feedstocks,
including pre-consumer material and post-consumer
material, with conventional feedstocks; and
(B) to allocate the mass of such alternative
feedstocks to final products on the basis of documented
inputs and outputs.
(4) Post-consumer material.--The term ``post-consumer
material''--
(A) means a subset of recovered material or product
that has completed its life cycle, served its intended
end-use, and been recovered or diverted from waste
destined for disposal; and
(B) includes any term used to describe post-
consumer material content in products, including
``post-consumer waste'' and ``post-consumer recycled''.
(5) Pre-consumer material.--The term ``pre-consumer
material''--
(A) means a waste material or scrap that has been
diverted or recovered from solid waste during the
manufacturing of a product, including any trimming,
stamping, faulty part generated during the
manufacturing process, obsolete inventory, and overrun;
and
(B) does not include reutilization of any material,
such as rework, regrind, or scrap generated in a
process and capable of being reclaimed within the same
process that generated the material.
(6) Recycled.--The term ``recycled'' means a material that
has been processed through recycling.
(7) Recycled content.--The term ``recycled content'' means
the quantity of pre-consumer materials and post-consumer
materials recovered or otherwise diverted from the waste stream
through recycling for use in the production of a new, salable
product.
(8) Recycled content claim.--The term ``recycled content
claim'' includes any claim or representation regarding the
recycled nature of a product or material, including a claim or
representation that a product or material is made of ``recycled
content'', ``recycled plastics'', ``recycled materials'', or
similar terminology.
(9) Recycling.--
(A) In general.--The term ``recycling'' means a
series of activities that includes--
(i) the collection of used, reused, or
unused items that would otherwise be considered
waste;
(ii) sorting and processing such items into
raw materials; and
(iii) remanufacturing the raw materials
into a new, salable product.
(B) Inclusion.--The term ``recycling'' includes the
following:
(i) Mechanical recycling, in which a
material is collected, sorted, cleaned, and
reprocessed (without significantly altering the
chemical structure of the material) for use in
manufacturing products.
(ii) Non-mechanical recycling, in which a
material is collected, sorted, cleaned, and
transformed through technology that alters the
chemical structure of the material and that
produces an output used to manufacture products
(excluding a waste-to-energy facility in which
such a material is used primarily to generate
process heat or electricity).
(10) Third-party certification.--The term ``third-party
certification'' means a written determination, verification, or
attestation that a product, material, process, service, or
entity meets specified standards, criteria, or requirements,
issued by an independent organization that--
(A) is not owned, controlled by, or under common
control with the person or entity seeking
certification;
(B) does not design, manufacture, sell, distribute,
or market the product or material being certified;
(C) conducts its certification activities in
accordance with objectivity, impartiality, and
professional competence; and
(D) does not have financial, commercial, or
organizational interest that could compromise its
independence or impartiality with respect to the
certified product, material, process, service, or
entity.
(11) Third-party certification system.--The term ``third-
party certification system'' means an independently
administered system that--
(A) establishes a set of rules governing the
implementation of mass balance accounting approaches;
and
(B) provides independent certification confirming
that--
(i) any recycled content attributed to a
product does not exceed the quantity by weight
of recovered materials introduced into the
manufacturing supply chain (accounting for
process losses);
(ii) an auditable chain-of-custody
accounting methodology was applied that enables
the attribution of the mass of inputs to 1 or
more outputs in accordance with the rules of
the system; and
(iii) the total mass of alternative
feedstocks, including pre-consumer material and
post-consumer material, introduced into the
manufacturing supply chain has been quantified
and appropriately allocated to final products.
SEC. 4. RECYCLED CONTENT CLAIMS.
(a) Prohibition.--A person may not--
(1) advertise, market, sell, or offer for sale a product to
a consumer using a misleading recycled content claim; or
(2) market fuels produced and sold as an end product as
``recycled content''.
(b) Guidance.--
(1) Update to green guides.--Not later than 1 year after
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall
update the Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims
issued by the Federal Trade Commission (part 260 of title 16,
Code of Federal Regulations) (commonly known as the ``Green
Guides'') to ensure that the Green Guides are consistent with
and reflect the definitions, standards, and authorizations
established under this Act.
(2) Additional guidance.--The Commission shall issue
guidance that establishes the following:
(A) Mass balance accounting as an acceptable method
for substantiating a recycled content claim, if--
(i) the use of mass balance accounting
complies with the requirements of a third-party
certification system; and
(ii) any representation about mass balance
accounting with respect to a recycled content
claim is based on competent and reliable
scientific evidence and presented in a manner
that is not misleading.
(B) A clear and consistent framework with respect
to a recycled content claim, establishing that a person
can advertise, market, sell, or offer for sale a
product using an accurate recycled content claim.
(3) Limitations.--
(A) No conferring of rights or binding effect.--Any
guidance issued by the Commission with respect to this
section shall not confer any rights on any person nor
shall such guidance operate to bind the Commission or
any person to the approach recommended in such
guidance.
(B) Basis of enforcement actions.--In any
enforcement action brought pursuant to this Act, the
Commission shall allege a specific violation of a
provision of this Act. The Commission shall not base an
enforcement action on, or execute a consent order based
on, practices that are alleged to be inconsistent with
any guidance issued by the Commission with respect to
this section.
SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT BY FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.
(a) Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices.--A violation of section
4(a) shall be treated as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or
deceptive act or practice described under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the
Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)).
(b) Powers of the Commission.--
(1) In general.--The Commission shall enforce section 4(a)
in the same manner, by the same means, and with the same
jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though all applicable terms
and provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C.
41 et seq.) were incorporated into and made a part of this Act.
(2) Privileges and immunities.--Any person who violates
section 4(a) shall be subject to the penalties and entitled to
the privileges and immunities provided in the Federal Trade
Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.).
(3) Authority preserved.--Nothing in this Act shall be
construed to limit the authority of the Commission under any
other provision of law.
(4) Rulemaking.--The Commission shall promulgate in
accordance with section 553 of title 5, United States Code,
such rules as may be necessary to carry out this Act.
SEC. 6. PREEMPTION.
No State, or political subdivision of a State, may maintain,
enforce, prescribe, or continue in effect any law, rule, regulation,
requirement, standard, or other provision having the force and effect
of law that relates to the prohibition and enforcement provisions of
this Act.
SEC. 7. APPLICABILITY.
(a) Severability.--If any provision of this Act, or the application
of that provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid,
the remainder of this Act, or the application of that provision to
persons or circumstances other than those as to which it is held
invalid, is not affected thereby.
(b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act may be construed to
modify, limit, or supersede any other Federal law or regulation except
to the extent expressly provided.
(c) Federal Standards.--The provisions in this Act establish
uniform Federal standards for recycled content claims, recycling
claims, recyclability claims, and analogous claims, and apply solely to
the matters expressly addressed in this Act.
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