North Carolina HB 882: Break Free From Plastic and Forever Chemicals.

Bill Text

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 1
HOUSE BILL 882

Short Title: Break Free From Plastic & Forever Chemicals. (Public)
Sponsors: Representatives Harrison, Butler, Price, and Greenfield (Primary Sponsors).
For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
Referred to: Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
April 10, 2025
*H882-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO ESTABLISH EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY FOR CERTAIN 2
PRODUCERS OF PACKAGING MATERIALS, BAN CERTAIN TOXIC SUBSTANCES 3
IN PACKAGING MATERIALS, AND BAN INTENTIONALLY ADDED PFAS IN 4
COVERED PRODUCTS. 5
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 6
7
PART I. ESTABLISH EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY FOR CERTAIN 8
PRODUCERS OF PACKAGING MATERIALS 9
SECTION 1.(a) Article 9 of Chapter 130A of the General Statutes is amended by 10
adding a new Part to read: 11
"Part 2K. Extended Producer Responsibility. 12
"§ 130A-309.250. Definitions. 13
Unless a different meaning is required by the context, the following definitions apply 14
throughout this Part: 15
(1) Collector. – Any publicly or privately owned solid waste management 16
services or recycler that gathers discarded packaging materials from 17
residential, commercial, industrial, or governmental establishments. 18
(2) Fulfillment service provider. – A person that handles, on behalf of a 19
responsible producer, products in which the producer retains a property 20
interest and offers at least two of the following services as part of a 21
commercial activity: (i) warehousing, (ii) packaging, and (iii) addressing and 22
shipping. For purposes of this Part, "fulfillment service provider" does not 23
include postal or freight service providers. 24
(3) Packaging material. – Any part of a package or container, regardless of 25
recyclability or compostability, including material types such as paper, plastic, 26
glass, or metal, that is used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery, 27
transport, distribution, and presentation of a product that is sold, offered for 28
sale, or distributed in North Carolina. Bags are included within this definition. 29
Packaging material does not include any of the following: 30
a. Material, or a category of material, intended to be used for long-term 31
storage or protection of a durable product that can be expected to be 32
usable for that purpose for a period of at least five years. 33

General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 House Bill 882-First Edition
b. Medical devices and packaging that are included with products 1
regulated as a drug, medical device, or dietary supplement under the 2
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. § 321, et seq. 3
c. Packaging products used to contain substances hazardous to the 4
environment, regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and 5
Rodenticide Act, 7 U.S.C. § 136, et seq. 6
(4) Postconsumer waste material. – As defined in G.S. 105-129.25. 7
(5) Producer responsibility fund. – A privately held account established and 8
managed by the producer responsibility organization pursuant to 9
G.S. 130A-309.237(d). 10
(6) Producer responsibility organization or organization. – A not-for-profit entity 11
formed by one or more responsible producers to act as an agent on behalf of 12
each producer to develop and implement a stewardship plan. 13
(7) Readily-recyclable. – Recyclable material, as defined in G.S. 130A-290, that 14
the Department determines can be sorted by business entities in this State and 15
has a consistent market for purchase. 16
(8) Recycling rate. – The percentage of discarded packaging material that is 17
managed through recycling or reuse, which is calculated by dividing the 18
amount of discarded packaging material collected and recycled or reused by 19
the total amount of discarded packaging material collected over a program 20
year. 21
(9) Responsible producer or producer. – Any of the following: 22
a. A person that manufactures a product contained, protected, delivered, 23
presented, or distributed in or using packaging material and sells, 24
offers for sale, uses in a commercial enterprise, or distributes the 25
product in or into the State under the brand of the manufacturer. 26
b. If sub-subdivision a. of this subdivision does not apply, a person who 27
is not the manufacturer of the product but is the owner or licensee of a 28
trademark under which the product contained, protected, delivered, 29
presented, or distributed in or using packaging material is sold, offered 30
for sale, used in a commercial enterprise, or distributed in or into the 31
State, regardless of whether the trademark is registered. 32
c. If sub-subdivisions a. and b. of this subdivision do not apply, a person 33
that sells a product contained, protected, delivered, presented, or 34
distributed in or using packaging material and is intended to be filled 35
in the State at the point of sale. 36
d. If sub-subdivisions a., b., and c. of this s