Recycled Materials Attribution Act of 2026
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill regulates how businesses can claim recycled content in products. It defines mass balance accounting, pre-consumer material, post-consumer material, recycling, recycled content claims, competent and reliable scientific evidence, and third-party certification systems. It makes mass balance accounting an acceptable way to substantiate recycled-content claims when a third-party certification system verifies the chain of custody and allocation of recycled feedstocks. It also bars misleading recycled-content claims, excludes fuels sold as end products from recycled-content marketing, directs the Federal Trade Commission to update the Green Guides within 1 year, treats violations as FTC unfair-or-deceptive-practice violations, and preempts state or local prohibition and enforcement standards in this area.
Who Benefits and How
Manufacturers using certified mass-balance accounting benefit because the bill gives a federal path to substantiate recycled-content claims even when alternative feedstocks are mixed with conventional feedstocks. Third-party certification systems gain a defined role, and consumers benefit from FTC-backed standards against misleading recycled-content claims.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Product marketers must avoid misleading recycled-content claims and must have competent and reliable scientific evidence for mass-balance representations. The Federal Trade Commission must update the Green Guides, issue guidance, and enforce violations, while state regulators lose authority to maintain separate prohibition and enforcement rules covered by the Act.
Key Provisions
- Adds definitions for mass balance accounting, recycled content, recycling, pre-consumer material, post-consumer material, third-party certification systems, and competent scientific evidence.
- Authorizes mass balance accounting as acceptable support for recycled-content claims when certified by a qualifying third-party system.
- Prohibits misleading recycled-content claims and bars fuels sold as end products from being marketed as recycled content.
- Directs the Federal Trade Commission to update the Green Guides within 1 year and enforce violations as unfair or deceptive practices.
- Blocks state and local laws related to the bill's prohibition and enforcement provisions while preserving other federal law unless expressly displaced.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Creates a federal framework for recycled-content advertising claims by recognizing certified mass-balance accounting, directing FTC Green Guides updates, enforcing misleading-claim bans, and preempting conflicting state rules.
Key Policy Areas
Manufacturing, Environment, Consumers, Government
Primary Purpose
Creates a federal framework for recycled-content advertising claims by recognizing certified mass-balance accounting, directing FTC Green Guides updates, enforcing misleading-claim bans, and preempting conflicting state rules.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Manufacturers using certified mass balance accounting
- Third-party certification systems
- Consumers evaluating recycled-content claims
- Federal Trade Commission
Identified Costs
- Product marketers making recycled-content claims
- Federal Trade Commission
- State regulators
- Local regulators
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Introduced in House
Mr. Langworthy (for himself, Mr. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Mr. …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Manufacturers using certified mass balance accounting, Product marketers making recycled-content claims
Product marketers making recycled-content claims faces effects in multiple directions
Federal Trade Commission, Federal recycled-content standards
Federal Trade Commission faces effects in multiple directions
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "person"
- → A product marketer, manufacturer, seller, or other person making recycled-content claims
- "commission"
- → Federal Trade Commission
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A chain-of-custody methodology that lets alternative feedstocks be mixed or co-processed with conventional feedstocks and allocated to final products based on documented inputs and outputs.
An independently administered system governing mass-balance accounting and certifying recycled-content attribution, chain-of-custody accounting, and input allocation.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology