415 ILCS 180/10

(415 ILCS 180/10)

Sec. 10. Definitions. In this Act:

"Advisory Council" means the Statewide Recycling Needs Assessment Advisory Council established under Section 20.

"Agency" means the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Compost" has the meaning given to that term in Section 3.150 of the Environmental Protection Act.

"Compostable material" means a material that is designed to contact, contain, or carry a product that can be collected for composting and that is capable of undergoing aerobic biological decomposition in a controlled composting system as demonstrated by meeting ASTM D6400, ASTM D6868, or any successor standards.

"Composting rate" means the percentage of discarded materials that are managed through composting. A composting rate is calculated by dividing the total weight of all packaging and paper products that are collected for composting by the total weight of all packaging and paper products sold, distributed, or served to consumers in the State during the study period.

"Covered entity" means a person or entity responsible for:

(1) a single or multifamily residence, either individually or jointly through a unit of local government;

(2) a public or private school for grades kindergarten through 12th grade;

(3) a State or local government facility; or

(4) a public space, including, but not limited to, public spaces, such as parks, trails, transit stations, and pedestrian areas for which the State or a unit of local government is responsible.

"Curbside recycling" means the collection of recyclable materials from covered entities at the site where the recyclable materials are generated.

"Director" means the Director of the Agency.

"Drop-off recycling" means the collection of recyclable material from covered entities at one or more centralized sites.

"Environmental justice community" means environmental justice community as defined by the Illinois Solar for All Program, as that definition is updated from time to time by the Illinois Power Agency and the Administrator of the Illinois Solar for All Program.

"Hauler" means a person who collects recyclable or compostable materials and transports them to an MRF or compost facility, or to an intermediate facility from which materials are then transported to an MRF or compost facility.

"Material recovery facility" or "MRF" means a facility where recyclable materials collected via curbside recycling or drop-off recycling are consolidated and sorted for return to the economic mainstream in the form of raw materials.

"Nondisclosure agreement" means an agreement that requires the parties to the agreement to treat the data or information provided to complete the statewide needs assessment as confidential, commercial, or financial information that may not be disclosed to any party, person, or entity, except as provided by this Act.

"Packaging" means a discrete material or category of material, regardless of recyclability. "Packaging" includes, but is not limited to, a material type, such as paper, plastic, glass, metal, or multi-material, that is:

(1) used to protect, contain, transport, or serve a product;

(2) sold or supplied to consumers expressly for the purpose of protecting, containing, transporting, or serving products;

(3) attached to a product or its container for the purpose of marketing or communicating information about the product;

(4) supplied at the point of sale to facilitate the delivery of the product; or

(5) supplied to or purchased by consumers expressly for the purpose of facilitating food or beverage consumption and ordinarily disposed of after a single use or short-term use, whether or not it could be reused.

"Packaging" does not include:

(1) a medical device or packaging that is included with products regulated:

(A) as a drug, medical device, or dietary supplement by the United States Food and Drug Administration under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act;

(B) as a combination product as defined under 21 CFR 3.2(e); or

(C) under the federal Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994;

(2) animal biologics, including, but not limited to, vaccines, bacterins, antisera, diagnostic kits, other products of biological origin, and other packaging and paper products regulated by the United States Department of Agriculture under the federal Virus, Serum, Toxin Act;

(3) packaging regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act or another applicable federal law, rule, or regulation; and

(4) beverage containers subject to a returnable container deposit, if applicable.

"Paper product" means:

(1) paper that can or has been printed on to create flyers, brochures, booklets, catalogs, greeting cards, telephone directories, newspapers, magazines; and

(2) paper used for copying, writing, or any other general use.

"Paper product" does not include:

(1) paper that, by virtue of its anticipated use, could become unsafe or unsanitary to recycle; or

(2) any form of bound book, including, but not limited to, bound books for literary, textual, or reference purposes.

"Person" means any individual, partnership, copartnership, firm, company, limited liability company, corporation, association, joint-stock company, trust, estate, political subdivision, State agency, any other legal entity, or their legal representative, agent, or assign.

"Postconsumer material" means packaging or paper products that have served their intended end use as consumer items. "Postconsumer material" does not include a by-product or waste material generated during or after the completion of a manufacturing or converting process.

"Postconsumer recycled content" means the portion of an item of packaging or paper product made from postconsumer material that has been recycled.

"Recycling" has the meaning given to "recycling, reclamation or reuse" in Section 3.380 of the Environmental Protection Act. "Recycling" does not include landfill disposal of packaging or paper products or the residue resulting from the processing of packaging or paper products at an MRF, use as alternative daily cover or any other beneficial use at a landfill, incineration, energy recovery, or energy generation by means of combustion, or final conversion of packaging and paper products or their components and by-products to a fuel.

"Recycling rate" means the percentage of packaging and paper products returned to the economic mainstream in the form of raw materials or products rather than being disposed of or discarded. The recycling rate is calculated by dividing the total weight of packaging and paper products that are collected for recycling by the total weight of packaging and paper products sold, distributed, or served to consumers in the State during the study period, not including the residue that is landfilled after processing by an MRF.

"Reusable" means:

(1) designed to be refilled or used repeatedly for its original intended purpose and is returnable;

(2) safe for washing and sanitizing according to applicable State food safety laws; and

(3) with the exception of ceramic products, capable of being recycled at the end of use.

"Reuse" means the return of packaging to the economic stream for use in the same kind of application intended for the original packaging without effectuating a change in the original composition of the package, the identity of the product, or the components thereof.

"Rigid plastic" means packaging made of plastic that has a relatively inflexible finite shape or form and is capable of maintaining its shape while empty or while holding other products.

"Service provider" means a hauler, an MRF, or a composting facility.

"Single-use packaging or product" means a packaging or product that is supplied to or purchased by consumers expressly for the purpose of facilitating food or beverage consumption and that is ordinarily disposed of after a single use or short-term use, whether or not it could be reused.

"Study period" means the period represented by the data compiled and analyzed in the completion of the Statewide Recycling Needs Assessment. The study period shall be a minimum of a one-year calendar period not earlier than 2022 and shall be clearly defined in the scope of work. If more than one year of data is used, data shall be presented on an annual basis.

(Source: P.A. 103-383, eff. 7-28-23; 103-636, eff. 7-1-24.)