Sponsors (5)
The bill encourages recycling and reduces costs for cement and energy producers by exempting certain recovered materials from hazardous-waste rules, but it raises substantial health/environmental and fiscal risk to communities and limits EPA's ability to adapt oversight, potentially shifting cleanup and compliance burdens onto taxpayers and small businesses.
Cement manufacturers and fuel generators can use certain recovered materials as fuel or ingredients without hazardous-waste regulation, lowering material and disposal costs for energy and cement producers.
Local governments and nearby communities may see more recycling of secondary materials into cement production, reducing landfill disposal and conserving resources.
State governments and industry gain clearer rules because the bill codifies part 241 non-waste determinations into statute, reducing regulatory uncertainty for EPA and regulated parties.
Local communities and rural residents face increased health and safety risks if broad exclusions reduce hazardous-waste oversight, potentially increasing emissions or improper handling near them.
Taxpayers and local governments could bear cleanup and public-health costs if excluded materials later prove harmful because they are not subject to stricter hazardous-waste controls.
EPA and state governments lose regulatory flexibility because the bill locks in part 241 criteria as of enactment, limiting the agencies' ability to update legitimacy standards over time.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Excludes certain EPA‑designated non‑waste secondary materials and qualifying recovered materials from the statutory definition of solid waste when used in cement manufacture or as fuel.
Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act definition of solid waste to add and clarify exclusions for certain secondary and recovered materials used in cement or clinker manufacture or as fuel. The change narrows what counts as hazardous "solid waste" when materials meet specified EPA non‑waste determinations or legitimacy/management criteria, so some byproducts and recovered resources can be treated as commodities or fuels rather than discarded hazardous waste. The amendment reorganizes list formatting and inserts two specific exclusion categories: non‑hazardous secondary materials the EPA has determined are non‑waste under existing regulations, and recovered materials/resources that would not be hazardous if discarded and that meet legitimacy and handling conditions when used in cement production or as fuel.
Official title: To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to provide that solid waste shall not include certain recovered materials and recovered resources, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 11, 2026 by Jay Obernolte · Last progress June 11, 2026