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The Vermont Statutes Online
Title
10
:
Conservation and Development
Chapter
159
:
WASTE MANAGEMENT
Subchapter
001
:
GENERAL PROVISIONS
§
6620a. Limitations on the use of heavy metals in packaging
(a) This section
shall take effect on the date the secretary determines that a law similar to
this section has been adopted by any combination of the northeast states with
an aggregate population of at least ten million people. For purposes of this
section, northeastern states shall include the New England states,
Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.
(b) As used in
this section, the following definitions shall apply:
(1)
"Package" means a container providing a means of marketing,
protecting, or handling a product and shall include a unit package, an
intermediate package and a shipping container. "Package" also shall
mean and include such unsealed receptacles as carrying cases, crates, cups,
pails, rigid foil and other trays, wrappers and wrapping films, bags, and tubs.
(2)
"Distributor" means any person, firm or corporation that takes title
to goods purchased for resale.
(3)
"Packaging component" means any individual assembled part of a package
such as, but not limited to any interior or exterior blocking, bracing,
cushioning, weatherproofing, exterior strapping, coatings, closures, inks and
labels. Tin-plated steel that meets the American Society for Testing and
Materials (ASTM) specification A-623 shall be considered as a single package
component. Electro-galvanized coated steel and hot dipped coated galvanized
steel that meets the ASTM specifications A-525 and A-879 shall be treated in
the same manner as tin-plated steel.
(4)
"Intentional introduction" means the act of deliberately utilizing a
regulated metal in the formulation of a package or packaging component where
its continued presence is desired in the final package or packaging component
to provide a specific characteristic, appearance, or quality.
(5)
"Incidental presence" means the presence of a regulated metal as an
unintended or undesired ingredient of a package or packaging component.
(6)
"Manufacturing" means physical or chemical modification of one or
more materials to produce packaging or packaging components.
(7)
"Distribution" means the practice of taking title to one or more
package or packaging components for promotional purposes or resale. Persons
involved solely in delivering one or more packages or packaging components on
behalf of their parties are not considered distributors.
(8)
"Manufacturer" means any person, firm, association, partnership, or
corporation producing one or more packages or packaging components as defined
in this section.
(9)
"Supplier" means any person, firm, association, partnership, or
corporation which sells, offers for sale, or offers for promotional purposes
packages or packaging components which shall be used by any other person, firm,
association, partnership or corporation to package a product.
(c)(1) As soon
as feasible, but not later than one year after the secretary makes the finding
described in subsection (a) of this section, no package or packaging component
shall be offered for sale or for promotional purposes by its manufacturer or
distributor in the state of Vermont which includes, in the package itself or in
any packaging component, inks, dyes, pigments, adhesives, stabilizers, or any
other additives containing any lead, cadmium, mercury, or hexavalent chromium
which has been intentionally introduced as an element during manufacturing or
distribution as opposed to the incidental presence of any of these elements.
(2) The use of a
regulated metal as a processing agent or intermediate to impart certain
chemical or physical changes during manufacturing, resulting in the incidental
retention of a residue of that metal in the final package or packaging
component which is neither desired nor deliberate, is not considered
intentional introduction for the purposes of this section where that final
package or packaging component is in compliance with subdivision (e)(3) of this
section and where there is no reasonable alternative.
(3) The use of
recycled materials as feedstock for the manufacture of new packaging materials,
where some portion of the recycled materials may contain amounts of the
regulated metals, is not considered intentional introduction for the purposes
of this section where the new package or packaging component is in compliance
with subdivision (e)(3) of this section.
(d) As soon as
feasible, but not later than one year after the secretary makes the finding
described in subsection (a) of this section, no product shall be offered for
sale or for promotional purposes by its manufacturer or distributor in the
state of Vermont in a package which includes, in the package itself or in any
packaging component, inks, dyes, pigments, adhesives, stabilizers, or any other
additives containing any lead, cadmium, mercury, or hexavalent chromium which
has been intentionally introduced as an element during manufacturing or
distribution as opposed to the incidental presence of any of these elements.
(e) The sum of
the concentration levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, and hexavalent chromium
present in any package or packaging component shall not exceed the following:
(1) 600 parts
per million by weight (0.06 percent) effective two years after the secretary
makes the findings described in subsection (a) of this section;
(2) 250 parts
per million by weight (0.025 percent) effective three years after the secretary
makes the findings described in subsection (a) of this section; and
(3) 100 parts
per million by weight (0.01 percent) effective four years after the secretary
makes the findings described in subsection (a) of this section.
(f) All packages
and packaging components shall be subject to subsections (c), (d) and (e) of
this section except the following:
(1) those
packages or packaging components with a code indicating date of manufacture
that were manufactured prior to the effective date of this statute;
(2) those
packages or packaging components to which lead, cadmium, mercury, or hexavalent
chromium have been added in the manufacturing, forming, printing, or
distribution process in order to comply with health or safety requirements of
federal law, provided that the manufacturer of a package or packaging component
must petition the secretary for any exemption from the provisions of this
subsection for a particular package or packaging component based upon either
criterion; and provided further, that the secretary may grant an exemption for
up to two years if warranted by the circumstances; and provided further, that
such an exemption may, upon meeting the criterion of this subsection, be
renewed at two-year intervals;
(3) packages and
packaging components that would not exceed the maximum contaminant levels set
forth in this section but for the addition of recycled materials; and provided
that the exemption under this subdivision shall expire on January 1, 2000;
(4) packages and
packaging components that are reused but exceed contaminant levels set forth in
this section, provided that the product being conveyed by that package and the
package and packaging itself are regulated under federal or state health or
safety laws, or both; and provided that transportation of those packaged
products is regulated under federal or state transportation provisions, or
both; and provided that disposal of the package is performed according to
federal and state radioactive or hazardous waste disposal requirements, and provided
that an exemption under this subdivision shall expire on January 1, 2000;
(5) packages and
packaging components having a controlled distribution and reuse (referred to as
"reusable entities") that exceed the contaminant levels set forth in
this section, provided that the manufacturers or distributors of those packages
or packaging components must petition the secretary for exemption and receive
approval from the secretary, working with the CONEG toxics in a packaging
clearinghouse, according to standards established below, set by the secretary
and based upon satisfactory demonstrations that the environmental benefit of
the controlled distribution and reuse is significantly greater as compared to
the same package manufactured in compliance with the contaminant levels set
forth in this section; and provided that an exemption under this subdivision
shall expire on January 1, 2000. A plan, to be proposed by the manufacturer
seeking the exemption, or the manufacturer's designee, shall include each of
the following elements:
(A) a means of
identifying in a permanent and visible manner those reusable entities
containing regulated metals for which an exemption is sought;
(B) a method of
regulatory and financial accountability so that a specified percentage of reusable
entities manufactured and distributed to other persons are not discarded by
those persons after use, but are returned to the manufacturer or the
manufacturer's designee;
(C) a system of
inventory and record maintenance to account for the reusable entities placed
in, and removed from, service;
(D) a means of
transforming returned entities, that are no longer reusable, into recycled
materials for manufacturing or into manufacturing wastes which are subject to
existing federal or state laws or regulations, or both, governing those
manufacturing wastes, to ensure that these wastes do not enter the commercial
or municipal waste stream; and
(E) a system of
annually reporting to the secretary changes to the system and changes in
designees.
(g) Once the secretary
has made the finding described in subsection (a), the secretary may notify a
manufacturer that there are grounds for suspecting that a package or packaging
component produced by that manufacturer may not be in compliance with this
section, and may request the manufacturer to certify that the package or
component is in compliance. If the manufacturer certifies that the package or
component is exempt, the specific basis for the exemption shall be stated. If
the manufacturer does not certify that the product is in compliance or is
exempt, the secretary may order that the packages or components in question be
withdrawn from sale or promotional use within the state. For purposes of this
subsection, the term manufacturer shall include the importer of a product
manufactured outside the United States. False or fraudulent statements by a
manufacturer may subject the manufacturer to the penalties of 13 V.S.A. § 3016.
(h) The
secretary shall review the effectiveness of this section by the second January
first that follows the determination made under subsection (a) of this section
and shall provide a report based upon that review to the governor and the
natural resources and energy committees of the general assembly. The report may
contain recommendations to add other toxic substances contained in packaging to
the list set forth in this section in order to further reduce the toxicity of
packaging waste, and a description of the nature of the substitutes used in
lieu of lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium. The secretary shall,
in consultation with the source reduction task force of the Coalition of North
Eastern Governors (CONEG), review the extension of the recycling exemption as
it is provided for in subdivision (f)(3) of this section. This review shall
commence no later than January 1, 1997. A report based upon that review shall
be provided to the governor and legislature by January 1, 1999. (Added 1989,
No. 286 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 1995, No. 57, § 5; 1995, No. 143 (Adj.
Sess.), § 1.)
