Requires merchants and manufacturers of consumer commodities sold in New York state to disclose on the label of the package of such commodities the post-consumer recycled content of the package; defines the term consumer commodities to mean food or beverages, whether solid, liquid, or mixed, and all substances or ingredients added thereto for any purpose, used or intended for consumption by human beings or animals, and goods, customarily sold at retail, that are used by consumers in the performance of services ordinarily rendered within the household or business, and that are usually consumed or expended in the course of such use.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2114
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 18, 2011
___________
Introduced by Sen. KRUGER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Consumer Protection
AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to labelling the
recycled content level of consumer packaging
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known as the "recycling
2 right to know act".
3 § 2. Legislative findings and declaration. The legislature hereby
4 finds and declares that waste reduction and recycling are the most envi-
5 ronmentally sound solid waste management programs. The legislature
6 further finds that New York consumers can play a major role in promoting
7 recycling by purchasing products made of recycled materials and that
8 consumers need basic information to make informed consumer choices. The
9 legislature further finds that by requiring packaging to carry a product
10 label identifying the recycled content level of such packaging, consum-
11 ers will be able to make such informed choices. The legislature also
12 finds that as more products use recycled material for packaging, the
13 markets for recycled products will be positively affected.
14 § 3. The general business law is amended by adding a new section 399-
15 ff to read as follows:
16 § 399-ff. Recycled content level of consumer packaging. 1. Defi-
17 nitions. For purposes of this section:
18 (a) "Label" shall mean any written, printed or graphic matter affixed,
19 imprinted and/or impressed to any package containing a consumer commod-
20 ity.
21 (b) "Consumer commodity" or "commodity" shall mean the following, if
22 sold in a package:
23 (i) food or beverages, whether solid, liquid or mixed, and all
24 substances or ingredients added thereto for any purpose, used or
25 intended for consumption by human beings or animals; and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06793-01-1
S. 2114 2
1 (ii) goods, customarily sold at retail, that are used by consumers in
2 the performance of services ordinarily rendered within the household or
3 business, and that are usually consumed or expended in the course of
4 such use.
5 (c) "Package" shall mean a container in which any consumer commodity
6 is enclosed for sale at retail, and which contains a single item, a
7 quantity of the same item, a set or an item with all its component
8 parts.
9 (d) "Product" shall mean that portion of a consumer commodity offered
10 for sale at retail or wholesale that is not a package.
11 (e) "Material" shall mean any substance or combination of substances
12 from which packaging is made, including, but not limited to paper,
13 glass, plastic and metal.
14 (f) "Multi-material packaging" shall mean packaging made of more than
15 one material.
16 (g) "Post-consumer material" means only those products, packages or
17 materials generated by a business or consumer which have served their
18 intended end use as consumer items, and which have been separated or
19 diverted from the waste stream for the purposes of collection, and recy-
20 cling as a secondary material feedstock, but shall not include waste
21 material generated after the completion of a manufacturing or converting
22 process.
23 2. No merchant, manufacturer, firm, corporation, association or agent
24 or employee thereof shall sell any consumer commodity which fails to
25 disclose on the label of its package the post-consumer recycled content
26 of the package. The label shall contain a circle with three chasing
27 arrows on the circumference of the circle all facing the same direction,
28 with the percentage of the post-consumer recycled content of the package
29 located within such circles. The label must appear on the face of the
30 package, must be easily visible and be of significant size. Multi-mater-
31 ial packaging must include the average post-consumer recycled content of
32 each of the materials that make up the total package.
33 3. Whenever there shall be a violation of this section, application
34 may be made by the attorney general in the name of the people of the
35 state of New York to a court or justice having jurisdiction by a special
36 proceeding to issue an injunction, and upon notice to the defendant of
37 not less than five days, to enjoin and restrain the continuance of such
38 violation; and if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the court or
39 justice, that the defendant has, in fact, violated this section, an
40 injunction may be issued by such court or justice, enjoining and
41 restraining any further violation, without requiring proof that any
42 person has, in fact, been injured or damaged thereby. In any such
43 proceeding, the court may make allowances to the attorney general as
44 provided in paragraph six of subdivision (a) of section eighty-three
45 hundred three of the civil practice law and rules, and direct restitu-
46 tion. Whenever the court shall determine that a violation of this
47 section has occurred, the court may impose a civil penalty of not more
48 than five thousand dollars for each violation. In connection with any
49 such proposed application, the attorney general is authorized to take
50 proof and make a determination of the relevant facts and to issue
51 subpoenas in accordance with the civil practice law and rules.
52 § 4. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
53 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
