Bill Text: TX HB1953 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to the conversion of plastics and other recoverable materials through pyrolysis or gasification.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2019-05-17 - Effective immediately [HB1953 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-HB1953-Introduced.html
 
 
  By: Thompson of Brazoria H.B. No. 1953
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to relating to reducing the volume of wastes disposed of in
  landfills by promoting the beneficial conversion of plastics and
  other recoverable materials using pyrolysis and gasification
  processes.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 361.003, Health and Safety Code, is
  amended by amending Subsection (35) and adding Subsections (40)
  through (45) to read as follows:
               (35)  This subdivision is effective on delegation of
  the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act authority to the
  Railroad Commission of Texas. Subject to the limitations of 42
  U.S.C. Section 6903(27) and 40 C.F.R. Section 261.4(a), "solid
  waste" means garbage, rubbish, refuse, sludge from a waste
  treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution
  control facility, and other discarded material, including solid,
  liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from
  industrial, municipal, commercial, mining, and agricultural
  operations and from community and institutional activities. The
  term:
                     (A)  does not include:
                           (i)  solid or dissolved material in domestic
  sewage, or solid or dissolved material in irrigation return flows,
  or industrial discharges subject to regulation by permit issued
  under Chapter 26, Water Code;
                           (ii)  soil, dirt, rock, sand, and other
  natural or man-made inert solid materials used to fill land if the
  object of the fill is to make the land suitable for the construction
  of surface improvements; or
                           (iii)  waste materials that result from
  activities associated with the exploration, development, or
  production of oil or gas or geothermal resources and other
  substance or material regulated by the Railroad Commission of Texas
  under Section 91.101, Natural Resources Code; and
                     (B)  does include hazardous substances, for the
  purposes of Sections 361.271 through 361.277, 361.280, and 361.343
  through 361.345.; or
                           (iv)  post-use polymers or recoverable
  feedstocks processed through pyrolysis or gasification.
               (40)  "Gasification" means a process through which
  recoverable feedstocks are heated and converted into a fuel-gas
  mixture in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere and the mixture is
  converted into valuable raw, intermediate and final products
  including, but not limited to plastic, monomers, chemicals, waxes,
  lubricants, chemical feedstocks, crude oil, diesel, gasoline,
  diesel and gasoline blendstocks, home heating oil, and other fuels,
  including ethanol and transportation fuel. Gasification shall not
  be considered "processing" or "incineration."
               (41)  "Gasification facility" means a facility that
  receives, separates, stores and converts post-use polymers and
  recoverable feedstocks using gasification. The commission may not
  consider a gasification facility to be a "solid waste facility,"
  "solid waste management facility" or "incinerator."
               (42)  "Recoverable feedstocks" means one or more of the
  following materials, derived from recoverable waste, that has been
  processed so that it may be used as feedstock in a gasification
  facility:
                     (a)  Post-use polymers;
                     (b)  Materials, including but not limited to
  municipal solid waste that contains post-use polymers and other
  post-industrial waste containing post-use polymers, that has been
  processed into a fuel or feedstock for which the federal
  Environmental Protection Agency has made a non-waste determination
  under 40 CFR 241.3(c) or otherwise determined are not waste or for
  which the Board has made a non-waste determination. Recoverable
  feedstocks do not include coal refuse.
               (43)  "Post-use polymers" means plastic polymers that
  derive from any household, industrial, community, commercial or
  other sources of operations or activities which might otherwise
  become a waste if not converted into valuable raw, intermediate and
  final products including, but not limited to plastic, monomers,
  chemicals, waxes, lubricants, chemical feedstocks, crude oil,
  diesel, gasoline, diesel and gasoline blendstocks, home heating
  oil, and other fuels, including ethanol and transportation fuel.
  Post-use polymers as defined in this Section may contain incidental
  contaminants or impurities such as paper labels or metal rings.
  Post-use polymers are not mixed with solid waste, medical waste,
  hazardous waste, e-waste, tires or construction demolition debris.
  Post-use polymers as described in this Section are not "solid
  wastes."
               (44)  "Pyrolysis" means a manufacturing process
  through which post-use polymers are heated in the absence of oxygen
  until melted, and thermally decomposed, and are then cooled,
  condensed and converted into valuable raw, intermediate and final
  products including, but not limited to plastic, monomers,
  chemicals, waxes, lubricants, chemical feedstocks, crude oil,
  diesel, gasoline, diesel and gasoline blendstocks, home heating
  oil, and other fuels, including ethanol and transportation fuel.
  Pyrolysis shall not be considered "processing" or "incineration."
               (45)  "Pyrolysis facility" means a manufacturing
  facility that receives, separates, stores and converts post-use
  polymers using pyrolysis. The commission may not consider a
  pyrolysis facility to be a "solid waste facility," "solid waste
  management facility" or "incinerator."
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter B, Chapter 361, Health and Safety
  Code, is amended by adding Subsection 361.045 to read as follows:
         Sec. 361.045.  TREATMENT OF POST-USE POLYMER AND RECOVERABLE
  FEEDSTOCKS AS SOLID WASTE. The commission may not consider
  post-use polymers and recoverable feedstocks as solid waste if they
  are converted using pyrolysis or gasification into valuable raw,
  intermediate and final products including, but not limited to
  plastic, monomers, chemicals, waxes, lubricants, chemical
  feedstocks, crude oil, diesel, gasoline, diesel and gasoline
  blendstocks, home heating oil, and other fuels, including ethanol
  and transportation fuel.
         SECTION 3.  Section 361.119, Health and Safety Code, is
  amended by adding a new Subsection (d) and renumbering Subsections
  (d), (e), and (f) to read as follows:
         Sec. 361.119.  REGULATION OF CERTAIN FACILITIES AS SOLID
  WASTE FACILITIES.
         (d)  A facility that reuses or converts recyclable
  materials, including post-use polymers and recoverable feedstocks,
  in a pyrolysis or gasification process, and the operations
  conducted and materials handled at the facility, are not subject to
  regulation under rules adopted under this section if the owner or
  operator of the facility demonstrates that:
               (1)  the primary function of the facility is to convert
  materials that have a resale value greater than the cost of
  converting the materials for subsequent beneficial use; and
               (2)  all the solid waste generated from converting the
  materials is disposed of in a solid waste facility authorized under
  this chapter, with the exception of small amounts of solid waste
  that may be inadvertently and unintentionally disposed of in
  another manner.
         (d) (e)  A facility that is owned, operated, or affiliated
  with a person that has a permit to dispose of municipal solid waste
  is not subject to regulation or requirements for financial
  assurance under rules adopted under this section.
         (e) (f)  A solid waste processing facility that is owned or
  operated by a local government is not subject to rules adopted under
  this section.
         (f) (g)  The commission shall adopt rules to ensure that the
  owner or operator of a recycling facility, including a composting
  or mulching facility, has in place sufficient financial assurance
  conditioned on satisfactorily operating and closing the facility
  and consistent with the requirements of Section 361.085 for a solid
  waste facility other than a facility for the disposal of hazardous
  waste. This subsection applies only to an owner or operator of a
  recycling facility:
               (1)  at which combustible material is stored outdoors;
  or
               (2)  that poses a significant risk to public health and
  safety as determined by the commission.
         SECTION 4.  Section 361.421, Health and Safety Code, is
  amended by amending Subsections (5), (6) and (8) to read as follows:
  SUBCHAPTER N. WASTE REDUCTION PROGRAMS; DISPOSAL FEES
         Sec. 361.421.  DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
               (5)  "Recyclable material" means material that has been
  recovered or diverted from the solid waste stream for purposes of
  reuse, recycling, or reclamation, a substantial portion of which is
  consistently used in the manufacture of products which may
  otherwise be produced using raw or virgin materials. Recyclable
  material is not solid waste unless the material is deemed to be
  hazardous solid waste by the Administrator of the United States
  Environmental Protection Agency, whereupon it shall be regulated
  accordingly unless it is otherwise exempted in whole or in part from
  regulation under the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended
  by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (42 U.S.C.
  Section 6901 et seq.), by Environmental Protection Agency
  regulation. However, recyclable material may become solid waste at
  such time, if any, as it is abandoned or disposed of rather than
  recycled, whereupon it will be solid waste with respect only to the
  party actually abandoning or disposing of the material. For
  purposes of this subchapter, the term includes post-use polymers
  and recoverable feedstocks provided the materials are converted
  using pyrolysis or gasification into valuable raw, intermediate and
  final products including, but not limited to plastic, monomers,
  chemicals, waxes, lubricants, chemical feedstocks, crude oil,
  diesel, gasoline, diesel and gasoline blendstocks, home heating
  oil, and other fuels, including ethanol and transportation fuel.
               (6)  "Recycled material" means materials, goods, or
  products that consist of recyclable material or materials derived
  from postconsumer waste, industrial waste, or hazardous waste which
  may be used in place of a raw or virgin material in manufacturing a
  new product. When used in a pyrolysis or gasification process, the
  term "recycled materials" includes post-use polymers and
  recoverable feedstocks.
               (8)  "Recycling" means a process by which materials
  that have served their intended use or are scrapped, discarded,
  used, surplus, or obsolete are collected, separated, or processed
  and returned to use in the form of raw materials in the production
  of new products. Recycling includes:
                     (A)  the composting process if the compost
  material is put to beneficial reuse as defined by the commission;
  and
                     (B)  the application to land, as organic
  fertilizer, of processed sludge or biosolids from municipal
  wastewater treatment plants and other organic matter resulting from
  poultry, dairy, livestock, or other agricultural operations.; and
                     (C)  the conversion of post-use polymers and
  recoverable feedstocks using a pyrolysis or gasification process.
         SECTION 5.  Subchapter N, Chapter 361, Health and Safety
  Code, is amended by adding Subsection 361.430 to read as follows:
         Sec. 361.430.  ALTERNATIVES AND INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES.
  (a) In developing and implementing the state solid waste
  management strategies and plans, the commission and the controller
  shall utilize the pollution prevention advisory committee as set
  out in Section 361.0215 of the Health and Safety Code to promote
  Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) and the development and use
  of pyrolysis and gasification processes to divert recoverable
  polymers and other materials away from landfills and toward
  conversion into valuable raw, intermediate and final products
  including, but not limited to plastic, monomers, chemicals, waxes,
  lubricants, chemical feedstocks, crude oil, diesel, gasoline,
  diesel and gasoline blendstocks, home heating oil, and other fuels,
  including ethanol and transportation fuel, by reducing unnecessary
  and inappropriate barriers to the siting, permitting and operation
  of facilities utilizing such technologies.
         (b)  Definitions.  In this Subsection:
               (1)  Engineered Fuel.  The term "engineered fuel"
  means a solid fuel that is manufactured from recoverable
  constituents of municipal solid waste or other secondary materials.
               (2)  Feedstock.  The term "feedstock" means raw
  material that is used in a machine or industrial process."
               (3)  Sustainable Materials Management.  The term
  "sustainable materials management" means a systematic approach to
  using and reusing materials more productively over their entire
  life cycle, taking into account life-cycle cost benefit analysis
  considerations.
         (c)  Study.  With respect to post-use polymers and
  recoverable feedstocks that are often deposited in landfills, the
  commission shall conduct a study to: (a) evaluate recycling and
  recovery based on the energy and water savings and greenhouse gas
  reductions achieved by improving material recovery from the solid
  waste stream, including by measuring certain environmental
  benefits of waste prevention; and (b) determine the manner in which
  the State and local government officials can promote and make
  progress toward sustainable materials management and a
  cost-effective system (including with respect to environmental
  issues), through the use of pyrolysis, gasification, and other
  innovative technologies such as engineered fuels, to convert
  post-use polymers, alone or in combination with other recoverable
  feedstocks, into materials that can be used as plastic, monomers,
  chemicals and chemical feedstocks or to generate energy or fuels.
         (d)  Completion of Study.  Not later than 2 years after the
  date of enactment of this Act, the commission and controller shall
  complete the study described in subsection (c) and submit to the
  Governor and General Assembly a report providing findings and
  recommendations developed through the study."
         SECTION 6.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
  provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect ________________
  .
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