H.R. 7502

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7502 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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 
consumer, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 11, 2026

Mr. Langworthy (for himself, Mr. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Mr. Weber 
of Texas, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Evans of Colorado, Mr. Davis of 
North Carolina, Mr. Crenshaw, Mr. Veasey, Mr. Cuellar, and Mr. Pfluger) 
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 offering for sale a product to a 
consumer, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Recycled Materials 
Attribution Act of 2026''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

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.

In this Act:
(1) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal 
Trade Commission.
(2) Competent and reliable scientific evidence.--The term 
``competent and reliable scientific evidence'' means any test, 
analysis, research, or study that--
(A) has been conducted and evaluated in an 
objective manner by an expert in the relevant field;
(B) is generally accepted in the profession to 
yield accurate and reliable results; and
(C) is sufficient in quality and quantity based on 
standards generally accepted in the relevant scientific 
fields to substantiate that a representation is true 
when considered in light of the entire body of relevant 
scientific evidence.
(3) Mass balance accounting.--The term ``mass balance 
accounting'' means a valid chain-of-custody methodology that 
allows a manufacturing supply chain--
(A) to mix or co-process alternative feedstocks, 
including pre-consumer material and post-consumer 
material, with conventional feedstocks; and
(B) to allocate the mass of such alternative 
feedstocks to final products on the basis of documented 
inputs and outputs.
(4) Post-consumer material.--The term ``post-consumer 
material'' means material generated by a household or a 
commercial, industrial, or institutional facility as an end 
user of the product, including through returns of materials 
from the distribution chain.
(5) Pre-consumer material.--The term ``pre-consumer 
material''--
(A) means material diverted during a manufacturing 
process and not used and commercialized; and
(B) does not include re-used material, including 
rework, regrind, and scrap, generated in a given 
process and capable of being reclaimed within such 
process.
(6) Recycled.--The term ``recycled'' means a material that 
has been processed through recycling.
(7) Recycled content.--The term ``recycled content'' means 
the quantity of pre-consumer materials and post-consumer 
materials recovered or otherwise diverted from the waste stream 
through recycling, for use in the production of a new, salable 
product.
(8) Recycled content claim.--The term ``recycled content 
claim'' includes any claim or representation regarding the 
recycled nature of a product or material, including ``recycled 
content'', ``recycled plastics'', ``recycled materials'', and 
similar terminology.
(9) Recycling.--
(A) In general.--The term ``recycling'' means any 
process by which a material recovered or otherwise 
diverted from the waste stream, either during the 
manufacturing process (in the case of pre-consumer 
material) or after consumer use (in the case of post-
consumer material), is reprocessed and converted into a 
raw material for the manufacturing of a new, salable 
product.
(B) Inclusion.--The term ``recycling'' includes the 
following:
(i) Mechanical recycling, in which a 
material is collected, sorted, cleaned, and 
reprocessed (without significantly altering the 
chemical structure of the material) for use in 
manufacturing products.
(ii) Non-mechanical recycling, in which a 
material is collected, sorted, cleaned, and 
transformed through technology that alters the 
chemical structure of the material and that 
produces an output used to manufacture products 
(excluding a waste-to-energy facility in which 
such a material is used primarily to generate 
process heat or electricity).
(10) Third-party certification.--``Third Party 
Certification'' means a written determination, verification, or 
attestation that a product, material, process, service, or 
entity meets specified standards, criteria, or requirements, 
issued by an independent organization that:
(A) is not owned, controlled by, or under common 
control with the person or entity seeking 
certification;
(B) does not design, manufacture, sell, distribute, 
or market the product or material being certified;
(C) conducts its certification activities in 
accordance with objectivity, impartiality, and 
professional competence; and
(D) does not have financial, commercial, or 
organizational interest that could compromise its 
independence or impartiality with respect to the 
certified product, material, or entity; and
(11) Third-party certification system.--For the purposes of 
this Act, the term ``third-party certification system'' means 
an independently administered system that--
(A) establishes a set of rules governing the 
implementation of mass balance accounting approaches; 
and
(B) provides independent certification confirming 
that--
(i) the recycled content attributed to a 
product does not exceed the quantity by weight 
of recovered materials introduced into the 
manufacturing supply chain (accounting for 
process losses);
(ii) an auditable chain-of-custody 
accounting methodology was applied that enables 
the attribution of the mass of inputs to 1 or 
more outputs in accordance with the rules of 
the system; and
(iii) the total mass of alternative 
feedstocks, including pre-consumer material and 
post-consumer material, introduced into the 
manufacturing supply chain has been quantified 
and appropriately allocated to final products.

SEC. 3. RECOGNITION OF MASS BALANCE ACCOUNTING FOR RECYCLED CONTENT 
CLAIMS.

(a) Recognition of Mass Balance Accounting for Recycled Content 
Claims.--Mass balance accounting shall be an acceptable method for 
substantiating recycled content claims and analogous claims if the use 
of mass balance accounting complies with the requirements of a third-
party certification system.

SEC. 4. RECYCLED CONTENT CLAIMS.

(a) Prohibition.--
(1) A person may not advertise, market, sell, or offer for 
sale a product to a consumer using a misleading recycled 
content claim.
(2) Fuels produced and sold as an end product may not be 
marketed as ``recycled content'' under this Act.
(b) Guidance.--
(1) Update to green guides.--Not later than 1 year after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 
update the Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims 
issued by the Federal Trade Commission (part 260 of title 16, 
Code of Federal Regulations) (commonly known as the ``Green 
Guides''), to ensure that the Green Guides are consistent with 
and reflect the definitions, standards, and authorizations 
established under this Act, including the authorization to 
substantiate recycled content claims through mass balance 
accounting.
(2) Additional guidance.--The Commission shall issue 
guidance that establishes the following:
(A) Mass balance accounting as an acceptable method 
for substantiating a recycled content claim, if--
(i) the use of mass balance accounting 
complies with the requirements of a third-party 
certification system; and
(ii) any representation about mass balance 
accounting with respect to a recycled content 
claim is based on competent and reliable 
scientific evidence and presented in a manner 
that is not misleading.
(B) A clear and consistent framework with respect 
to a recycled content claim, establishing that a person 
can advertise, market, sell, or offer for sale a 
product using an accurate recycled content claim.
(3) Limitations.--
(A) No conferring of rights or binding effect.--Any 
guidance issued by the Commission with respect to this 
section shall not confer any rights on any person nor 
shall such guidance operate to bind the Commission or 
any person to the approach recommended in such 
guidance.
(B) Basis of enforcement actions.--In any 
enforcement action brought pursuant to this Act, the 
Commission shall allege a specific violation of a 
provision of this Act. The Commission may not base an 
enforcement action on, or execute a consent order based 
on, practices that are alleged to be inconsistent with 
any such guidelines.

SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT BY FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.

(a) Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices.--A violation of section 
4(a) shall be treated as a violation of a regulation under section 
18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 
57a(a)(1)(B)) regarding unfair or deceptive acts or practices.
(b) Powers of Commission.--The Commission shall enforce section 
4(a) in the same manner, by the same means, and with the same 
jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though all applicable terms and 
provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) 
were incorporated into and made a part of this section, and any person 
who violates section 4(a) shall be subject to the penalties and 
entitled to the privileges and immunities provided in the Federal Trade 
Commission Act.

SEC. 6. PREEMPTION.

No State, or political subdivision of a State, may maintain, 
enforce, prescribe, or continue in effect any law, rule, regulation, 
requirement, standard, or other provision having the force and effect 
of law that relates to the prohibition and enforcement provisions of 
this Act.

SEC. 7. SAVINGS PROVISION.

(a) If any provision of this Act, or the application of that 
provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the 
remainder of this Act, or the application of that provision to persons 
or circumstances other than those as to which it is held invalid, is 
not affected thereby.
(b) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to modify, limit, or 
supersede any other Federal laws or regulations except to the extent 
expressly provided. The provisions herein establish uniform Federal 
standards for recycled content claims, recycling claims, recyclability 
claims, and analogous claims, and apply solely to the matters expressly 
addressed in this Act.
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