Sponsors (8)
The bill seeks to clarify and target regulation of polymer conversion outputs—providing faster petition paths and clearer definitions to reduce uncertainty and better protect air quality—while raising the risk of higher compliance costs, transitional impacts, and interim uncertainty for facility owners and nearby communities.
Owners and operators of polymer conversion units can petition the EPA for an exclusion and receive a decision within 180 days, giving clearer, faster regulatory determinations for affected facilities.
The bill clarifies which plastic/post‑use polymer conversion processes are treated as solid waste incineration, reducing legal uncertainty for industry and regulators and lowering compliance risk.
By defining 'product' to exclude incidental outputs (soot, ash, electricity, heat), the bill focuses regulation on marketable material outputs and avoids treating energy co‑products as regulated 'products', reducing unnecessary regulatory burden.
Many polymer conversion units being regulated as solid waste incinerators could impose significant compliance costs, permitting burdens, and retrofitting expenses on facility owners, potentially increasing operating costs and consumer prices.
If more units are classified as incinerators, nearby and disadvantaged communities could face prolonged construction or retrofitting activities and uncertainty about emission profiles during the transition period.
The 50% by‑mass 'product' threshold (with the EPA to set the measurement method) creates interim ambiguity until EPA issues implementing rules, leaving owners/operators uncertain about their compliance obligations.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Revises the "solid waste incineration unit" definition to include many polymer conversion units unless at least 50% by mass of outputs are usable 'products', and creates an EPA petition and rulemaking process for exclusions.
Introduced December 10, 2025 by Daniel Crenshaw · Last progress December 10, 2025
Amends the federal definition of “solid waste incineration unit” to expressly include units that convert or transform plastics or post‑use polymers using listed chemical or thermal processes, unless those units produce at least 50% of their output by mass as usable "products." The bill requires EPA to set the measurement method by rule, creates a petition process for operators of polymer conversion units that fall below the 50% threshold to seek exclusion, and requires EPA to publish petitions, solicit public comment, and approve or deny petitions within 180 days. Also restructures and clarifies the statutory text describing included materials and categories, and defines "product" to mean a usable material sold or used as an input (explicitly excluding electricity, heat, steam, soot, char, dust, or ash).