Recycled Materials Attribution Act of 2026

I 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 con- sumer, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 11, 2026 Mr. L ANGWORTHY (for himself, Mr. V ICENTE GONZALEZ of Texas, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. J ACKSON of Illinois, Mr. E VANS of Colorado, Mr. DAVIS of North Carolina, Mr. C RENSHAW, Mr. V EASEY, Mr. C UELLAR, and Mr. P FLUGER) 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 offer- ing for sale a product to a consumer, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) S HORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Recycled Materials Attribution Act of 2026’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6 this Act is as follows: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:57 May 12, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7502.IH H7502lotter on DSK8BHNXB4PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7502 IH 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. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) C OMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 3 means the Federal Trade Commission. 4 (2) C OMPETENT AND RELIABLE SCIENTIFIC 5 EVIDENCE.—The term ‘‘competent and reliable sci-6 entific evidence’’ means any test, analysis, research, 7 or study that— 8 (A) has been conducted and evaluated in 9 an objective manner by an expert in the rel-10 evant field; 11 (B) is generally accepted in the profession 12 to yield accurate and reliable results; and 13 (C) is sufficient in quality and quantity 14 based on standards generally accepted in the 15 relevant scientific fields to substantiate that a 16 representation is true when considered in light 17 of the entire body of relevant scientific evidence. 18 (3) M ASS BALANCE ACCOUNTING .—The term 19 ‘‘mass balance accounting’’ means a valid chain-of- 20 custody methodology that allows a manufacturing 21 supply chain— 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:57 May 12, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7502.IH H7502lotter on DSK8BHNXB4PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7502 IH (A) to mix or co-process alternative feed-1 stocks, including pre-consumer material and 2 post-consumer material, with conventional feed-3 stocks; and 4 (B) to allocate the mass of such alternative 5 feedstocks to final products on the basis of doc-6 umented inputs and outputs. 7 (4) P OST-CONSUMER MATERIAL .—The term 8 ‘‘post-consumer material’’ means material generated 9 by a household or a commercial, industrial, or insti-10 tutional facility as an end user of the product, in-11 cluding through returns of materials from the dis-12 tribution chain. 13 (5) P RE-CONSUMER MATERIAL .—The term 14 ‘‘pre-consumer material’’— 15 (A) means material diverted during a man-16 ufacturing process and not used and commer-17 cialized; and 18 (B) does not include re-used material, in-19 cluding rework, regrind, and scrap, generated in 20 a given process and capable of being reclaimed 21 within such process. 22 (6) R ECYCLED.—The term ‘‘recycled’’ means a 23 material that has been processed through recycling. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:57 May 12, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7502.IH H7502lotter on DSK8BHNXB4PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7502 IH (7) R ECYCLED CONTENT .—The term ‘‘recycled 1 content’’ means the quantity of pre-consumer mate-2 rials and post-consumer materials recovered or oth-3 erwise diverted from the waste stream through recy-4 cling, for use in the production of a new, salable 5 product. 6 (8) R ECYCLED CONTENT CLAIM .—The term 7 ‘‘recycled content claim’’ includes any claim or rep-8 resentation regarding the recycled nature of a prod-9 uct or material, including ‘‘recycled content’’, ‘‘recy-10 cled plastics’’, ‘‘recycled materials’’, and similar ter-11 minology. 12 (9) RECYCLING.— 13 (A) I N GENERAL .—The term ‘‘recycling’’ 14 means any process by which a material recov-15 ered or otherwise diverted from the waste 16 stream, either during the manufacturing proc-17 ess (in the case of pre-consumer material) or 18 after consumer use (in the case of post-con-19 sumer material), is reprocessed and converted 20 into a raw material for the manufacturing of a 21 new, salable product. 22 (B) INCLUSION.—The term ‘‘recycling’’ in-23 cludes the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:57 May 12, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7502.IH H7502lotter on DSK8BHNXB4PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7502 IH (i) Mechanical recycling, in which a 1 material is collected, sorted, cleaned, and 2 reprocessed (without significantly altering 3 the chemical structure of the material) for 4 use in manufacturing products. 5 (ii) Non-mechanical recycling, in 6 which a material is collected, sorted, 7 cleaned, and transformed through tech-8 nology that alters the chemical structure of 9 the material and that produces an output 10 used to manufacture products (excluding a 11 waste-to-energy facility in which such a 12 material is used primarily to generate 13 process heat or electricity). 14 (10) T HIRD-PARTY CERTIFICATION .—‘‘Third 15 Party Certification’’ means a written determination, 16 verification, or attestation that a product, material, 17 process, service, or entity meets specified standards, 18 criteria, or requirements, issued by an independent 19 organization that: 20 (A) is not owned, controlled by, or under 21 common control with the person or entity seek-22 ing certification; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:57 May 12, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7502.IH H7502lotter on DSK8BHNXB4PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7502 IH (B) does not design, manufacture, sell, dis-1 tribute, or market the product or material being 2 certified; 3 (C) conducts its certification activities in 4 accordance with objectivity, impartiality, and 5 professional competence; and 6 (D) does not have financial, commercial, or 7 organizational interest that could compromise 8 its independence or impartiality with respect to 9 the certified product, material, or entity; and 10 (11) T HIRD-PARTY CERTIFICATION SYSTEM .— 11 For the purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘third-party 12 certification system’’ means an independently admin-13 istered system that— 14 (A) establishes a set of rules governing the 15 implementation of mass balance accounting ap-16 proaches; and 17 (B) provides independent certification con-18 firming that— 19 (i) the recycled content attributed to a 20 product does not exceed the quantity by 21 weight of recovered materials introduced 22 into the manufacturing supply chain (ac-23 counting for process losses); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:57 May 12, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7502.IH H7502lotter on DSK8BHNXB4PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7502 IH (ii) an auditable chain-of-custody ac-1 counting methodology was applied that en-2 ables the attribution of the mass of inputs 3 to 1 or more outputs in accordance with 4 the rules of the system; and 5 (iii) the total mass of alternative feed-6 stocks, including pre-consumer material 7 and post-consumer material, introduced 8 into the manufacturing supply chain has 9 been quantified and appropriately allocated 10 to final products. 11 SEC. 3. RECOGNITION OF MASS BALANCE ACCOUNTING 12 FOR RECYCLED CONTENT CLAIMS. 13 (a) R ECOGNITION OF MASS BALANCE ACCOUNTING 14 FOR RECYCLED CONTENT CLAIMS.—Mass balance ac-15 counting shall be an acceptable method for substantiating 16 recycled content claims and analogous claims if the use 17 of mass balance accounting complies with the require-18 ments of a third-party certification system. 19 SEC. 4. RECYCLED CONTENT CLAIMS. 20 (a) PROHIBITION.— 21 (1) A person may not advertise, market, sell, or 22 offer for sale a product to a consumer using a mis-23 leading recycled content claim. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:57 May 12, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7502.IH H7502lotter on DSK8BHNXB4PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 7502 IH (2) Fuels produced and sold as an end product 1 may not be marketed as ‘‘recycled content’’ under 2 this Act. 3 (b) GUIDANCE.— 4 (1) U PDATE TO GREEN GUIDES .—Not later 5 than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 6 Act, the Commission shall update the Guides for the 7 Use of Environmental Marketing Claims issued by 8 the Federal Trade Commission (part 260 of title 16, 9 Code of Federal Regulations) (commonly known as 10 the ‘‘Green Guides’’), to ensure that the Green 11 Guides are consistent with and reflect the defini-12 tions, standards, and authorizations established 13 under this Act, including the authorization to sub-14 stantiate recycled content claims through mass bal-15 ance accounting. 16 (2) A DDITIONAL GUIDANCE .—The Commission 17 shall issue guidance that establishes the following: 18 (A) Mass balance accounting as an accept-19 able method for substantiating a recycled con-20 tent claim, if— 21 (i) the use of mass balance accounting 22 complies with the requirements of a third- 23 party certification system; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:57 May 12, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7502.IH H7502lotter on DSK8BHNXB4PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 7502 IH (ii) any representation about mass 1 balance accounting with respect to a recy-2 cled content claim is based on competent 3 and reliable scientific evidence and pre-4 sented in a manner that is not misleading. 5 (B) A clear and consistent framework with 6 respect to a recycled content claim, establishing 7 that a person can advertise, market, sell, or 8 offer for sale a product using an accurate recy-9 cled content claim. 10 (3) LIMITATIONS.— 11 (A) N O CONFERRING OF RIGHTS OR BIND -12 ING EFFECT .—Any guidance issued by the 13 Commission with respect to this section shall 14 not confer any rights on any person nor shall 15 such guidance operate to bind the Commission 16 or any person to the approach recommended in 17 such guidance. 18 (B) B ASIS OF ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS .— 19 In any enforcement action brought pursuant to 20 this Act, the Commission shall allege a specific 21 violation of a provision of this Act. The Com-22 mission may not base an enforcement action on, 23 or execute a consent order based on, practices 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:57 May 12, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7502.IH H7502lotter on DSK8BHNXB4PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 7502 IH that are alleged to be inconsistent with any 1 such guidelines. 2 SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT BY FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION. 3 (a) U NFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRACTICES.— 4 A violation of section 4(a) shall be treated as a violation 5 of a regulation under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal 6 Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)) regard-7 ing unfair or deceptive acts or practices. 8 (b) P OWERS OF COMMISSION.—The Commission 9 shall enforce section 4(a) in the same manner, by the same 10 means, and with the same jurisdiction, powers, and duties 11 as though all applicable terms and provisions of the Fed-12 eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were 13 incorporated into and made a part of this section, and any 14 person who violates section 4(a) shall be subject to the 15 penalties and entitled to the privileges and immunities 16 provided in the Federal Trade Commission Act. 17 SEC. 6. PREEMPTION. 18 No State, or political subdivision of a State, may 19 maintain, enforce, prescribe, or continue in effect any law, 20 rule, regulation, requirement, standard, or other provision 21 having the force and effect of law that relates to the prohi-22 bition and enforcement provisions of this Act. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:57 May 12, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7502.IH H7502lotter on DSK8BHNXB4PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 7502 IH SEC. 7. SAVINGS PROVISION. 1 (a) If any provision of this Act, or the application 2 of that provision to any person or circumstance, is held 3 to be invalid, the remainder of this Act, or the application 4 of that provision to persons or circumstances other than 5 those as to which it is held invalid, is not affected thereby. 6 (b) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to modify, 7 limit, or supersede any other Federal laws or regulations 8 except to the extent expressly provided. The provisions 9 herein establish uniform Federal standards for recycled 10 content claims, recycling claims, recyclability claims, and 11 analogous claims, and apply solely to the matters expressly 12 addressed in this Act. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:57 May 12, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7502.IH H7502lotter on DSK8BHNXB4PROD with BILLS