[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7502 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7502
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 11, 2026
Mr. Langworthy (for himself, Mr. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Mr. Weber
of Texas, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Evans of Colorado, Mr. Davis of
North Carolina, Mr. Crenshaw, Mr. Veasey, Mr. Cuellar, and Mr. Pfluger)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
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. Definitions.
Sec. 3. Recognition of mass balance accounting for recycled content
claims.
Sec. 4. Recycled content claims.
Sec. 5. Enforcement by Federal Trade Commission.
Sec. 6. Preemption.
Sec. 7. Savings provision.
SEC. 2. 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
fields 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'' means material generated by a household or a
commercial, industrial, or institutional facility as an end
user of the product, including through returns of materials
from the distribution chain.
(5) Pre-consumer material.--The term ``pre-consumer
material''--
(A) means material diverted during a manufacturing
process and not used and commercialized; and
(B) does not include re-used material, including
rework, regrind, and scrap, generated in a given
process and capable of being reclaimed within such
process.
(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 ``recycled
content'', ``recycled plastics'', ``recycled materials'', and
similar terminology.
(9) Recycling.--
(A) In general.--The term ``recycling'' means any
process by which a material recovered or otherwise
diverted from the waste stream, either during the
manufacturing process (in the case of pre-consumer
material) or after consumer use (in the case of post-
consumer material), is reprocessed and converted into a
raw material for the manufacturing of 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.--``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, or entity; and
(11) Third-party certification system.--For the purposes of
this Act, 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) the 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. 3. RECOGNITION OF MASS BALANCE ACCOUNTING FOR RECYCLED CONTENT
CLAIMS.
(a) Recognition of Mass Balance Accounting for Recycled Content
Claims.--Mass balance accounting shall be 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. 4. RECYCLED CONTENT CLAIMS.
(a) Prohibition.--
(1) A person may not advertise, market, sell, or offer for
sale a product to a consumer using a misleading recycled
content claim.
(2) Fuels produced and sold as an end product may not be
marketed as ``recycled content'' under this Act.
(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, including the authorization to
substantiate recycled content claims through mass balance
accounting.
(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 may not base an
enforcement action on, or execute a consent order based
on, practices that are alleged to be inconsistent with
any such guidelines.
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 regulation under section
18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C.
57a(a)(1)(B)) regarding unfair or deceptive acts or practices.
(b) Powers of Commission.--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 section, and 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.
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. SAVINGS PROVISION.
(a) 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) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to modify, limit, or
supersede any other Federal laws or regulations except to the extent
expressly provided. The provisions herein 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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