New Hampshire HB 1789: relative to extended producer responsibility.

Bill Text

HB 1789-FN - AS INTRODUCED

2026 SESSION

 26-2562

 08/09

HOUSE BILL 1789-FN

AN ACT relative to extended producer responsibility.

SPONSORS: Rep. Parshall, Ches. 8; Rep. Bixby, Straf. 13; Rep. N. Germana, Ches. 15; Rep. Gruber, Ches. 16; Rep. Raymond, Hills. 5

COMMITTEE: Environment and Agriculture

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ANALYSIS

 This bill creates a program to enact extended producer responsibility for packaging. This bill also provides for oversight and management of the program through the collection of stewardship fees as managed by producers.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

 Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

 Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

 26-2562

 08/09

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty-Six

AN ACT relative to extended producer responsibility.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

 1 New Subdivision; Extended Producer Responsibility. Amend RSA 149-M by inserting after section 64 the following new subdivision: 

Extended Producer Responsibility 

 149-M:65 Definitions. 

 I. "Bio-plastic" means plastic produced from biological sources such as vegetable fats and oils, polysaccharides, sugar, proteins, or other materials that are certified or are able to be certified to be biodegradable. 

 II. "Brand" means any mark, word, name, symbol, design, device, or graphical element or a combination thereof, including a registered or unregistered trademark, that identifies and distinguishes a product from other products. 

 III. "Circular economy" means a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. In this way, the life cycle of products is extended. In practice, it implies reducing waste to a minimum. 

 IV. "Department" means the department of environmental services. 

 V. "Extended producer responsibility" or "EPR" means a mandatory type of product stewardship that includes, at a minimum, the requirement that the producer’s responsibility for their product extends to post-consumer management of that product and its packaging. There are 2 features of EPR policy: 

 (a) Shifting financial and management responsibility, with government oversight, upstream to the producer and away from the public sector; and 

 (b) Providing incentives to producers to incorporate environmental considerations into the design of their products and packaging. 

 VI. "Packaging" means a discrete material or category of material, regardless of recyclability, including but not limited to such material types as paper, plastic, glass, metal, or multi-material, that is used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery, transport, distribution, or presentation of another product that is sold, offered for sale, imported, or distributed in the state. Packaging does not include: 

 (a) Medical devices and packaging which are included with products regulated as a drug, medical device, or dietary supplement by the United States Food and Drug Administration under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. section 321 et seq., 21 C.F.R. section 3.2(e), or the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act; 

 (b) Animal biologics, including vaccines, bacterins, antisera, diagnostic kits, and other products or biological origin, and other covered materials regulated by the United States Department of Agriculture under the Virus, Serum, Toxin Act, 21 U.S.C. sections 151-159; 

 (c) Packaging regulated by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, 7 U.S.C. section 136 et seq. or other applicable federal law, rule, or regulation; and 

 (d) Beverage containers subject to a returnable container deposit, if such program should become broadly applicable. 

 VII. "Packaging reduction organization" or "PRO" means the non-profit entity or entities contracted by the department and authorized to collect producer fees, assist producers with compliance with the requirements of this subdivision, provide technical assistance to producers, and implement the packaging reduction and recycling program. 

 VIII. "Packaging reduction and recycling program" means the program implemented by the packaging reduction organization, and overseen by the department, to reduce packaging and to assess and collect information and payments from producers based on the amount of packaging used by the producer to contain, protect, deliver, present, or distribute their products, in order to pay for the development of packaging reduction programs including, but not limited to, reusable and refillable packaging syste