Reducing Waste in National Parks Act

II 119TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1926 To encourage reduction of disposable plastic products in units of the National Park System, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 2, 2025 Mr. M ERKLEY (for himself, Ms. D UCKWORTH, Mr. F ETTERMAN, Mr. M UR- PHY, Mr. S ANDERS, Mr. V AN HOLLEN, Ms. W ARREN, Mr. W HITEHOUSE, Mr. WYDEN, and Mr. B LUMENTHAL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources A BILL To encourage reduction of disposable plastic products in units of the National Park System, 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. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reducing Waste in 4 National Parks Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DISPOSABLE PLASTIC PRODUCTS REDUCTION IN 6 UNITS OF THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM. 7 (a) P ROGRAM FOR REDUCTION OF DISPOSABLE 8 PLASTIC PRODUCTS IN UNITS OF THE NPS.—Not later 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Jun 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1926.IS S1926kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 1926 IS than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 1 the Director shall establish, for the National Park System 2 a program for reduction of disposable plastic products 3 and, if applicable, elimination of the sale and distribution 4 of disposable plastic products under subsection (b). Each 5 regional director shall implement the plan for park units 6 in their region. 7 (b) E LIMINATION OF SALE AND DISTRIBUTION OF 8 DISPOSABLE PLASTIC PRODUCTS.— 9 (1) I N GENERAL .—Each regional director con-10 cerned shall eliminate the sale of water in disposable 11 plastic products and the sale and distribution of 12 other disposable plastic products to the greatest ex-13 tent feasible in the relevant unit of the National 14 Park System after consideration of the following fac-15 tors, when applicable, with respect to the relevant 16 unit: 17 (A) The costs and benefits to the overall 18 operations. 19 (B) The amount of waste that would be 20 eliminated. 21 (C) The infrastructure costs and funding 22 sources for bottle refill stations. 23 (D) Any contractual implications with re-24 spect to concessioners, including considerations 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Jun 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1926.IS S1926kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 1926 IS of new leaseholder surrender interest or 1 possessory interest. 2 (E) The operational costs of bottle refill 3 stations, including utilities and regular public 4 health testing. 5 (F) The cost and availability of bisphenol 6 A-free reusable containers. 7 (G) The effect on concessioner and co-8 operation association sales revenue. 9 (H) The availability of water within con-10 cession food service operations. 11 (I) The ability to provide visitor education 12 in the unit and online so that visitors may come 13 prepared with their own water bottles. 14 (J) Input from the National Park Service 15 Office of Public Health. 16 (K) The feasibility of posting signs so that 17 visitors can easily find bottle refill stations. 18 (L) Safety considerations for visitors who 19 may resort to not carrying enough water or 20 drinking from surface water sources with poten-21 tial exposure to disease. 22 (M) Any input from concessioners and co-23 operating associations within the relevant unit. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Jun 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1926.IS S1926kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 1926 IS (2) U NITS OF NPS PREVIOUSLY ELIMINATED 1 SALE OF WATER IN DISPOSABLE PLASTIC PROD -2 UCTS.—With respect to a unit of the National Park 3 System that did not offer for sale water in dispos-4 able plastic products before the date of the enact-5 ment of this Act, the applicable superintendent of 6 the relevant unit may continue to not offer for sale 7 water in disposable plastic bottles. 8 (c) P ROACTIVE VISITOR EDUCATION STRATEGY.— 9 Each regional director concerned shall develop for the rel-10 evant unit of the National Park System a proactive visitor 11 education strategy to address visitor expectations of water 12 availability and explain the rationale for the program and 13 its implementation in the relevant unit. 14 (d) CONTINUITY WITHIN UNIT OF THE NPS.—Each 15 regional director concerned shall, to the extent possible, 16 implement the program in a manner that is consistent 17 throughout the relevant unit of the National Park System, 18 including incorporation of such program into any agree-19 ment with an organization operating within the relevant 20 unit, including a concessioner operating plan and cooper-21 ating association scope of sales. 22 (e) BIENNIAL EVALUATION.—Each regional director 23 concerned shall, not less than once every 2 years— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Jun 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1926.IS S1926kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 1926 IS (1) conduct an evaluation of the program for 1 the relevant unit of the National Park System, in-2 cluding— 3 (A) public response to the program; 4 (B) visitor satisfaction with the availability 5 of water; 6 (C) buying behavior with respect to prod-7 ucts sold in disposable plastic products; 8 (D) public safety including information on 9 cases of dehydration or exposure to disease 10 from drinking from surface water; and 11 (E) disposable plastic bottle collection 12 rates; and 13 (2) submit the evaluation to the Director and 14 the Secretary of the Interior. 15 (f) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this Act— 16 (1) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 17 the National Park Service; 18 (2) the term ‘‘disposable plastic products’’ in-19 cludes— 20 (A) disposable plastic beverage bottles; 21 (B) carryout bags made from film plastic; 22 (C) plastic food ware, including plastic 23 food ware products marketed as compostable or 24 biodegradable; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Jun 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1926.IS S1926kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 1926 IS (D) expanded polystyrene products; 1 (3) the term ‘‘program’’ means the program for 2 recycling and reduction of disposable plastic prod-3 ucts established under subsection (a); and 4 (4) the term ‘‘regional director concerned’’ 5 means, with respect to a unit of the National Park 6 System, the regional director of the region of the 7 National Park System in which the relevant unit is 8 located, working in coordination with the super-9 intendent of such unit. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Jun 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1926.IS S1926kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB