A6150

An Act concerning plastic pellets and supplementing Title 13 of the Revised Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. a. As used in this act:

“Department” means the Department of Environmental Protection.

“Plastic pellets” means small plastic particles that are used to manufacture other plastic products, and which are often referred to as “nurdles.”

b. No later than one year after the effective date of this act, each facility that is involved in the production, handling, packaging, or transport of plastic pellets in the State shall develop and maintain a spill prevention and response plan and submit the plan to the department for approval. The spill prevention and response plan shall include, at a minimum, information concerning how the facility:

(1) handles plastic pellets, including specific information on whether the facility is involved in the production, handling, packaging, or transport of plastic pellets;

(2) plans to prevent the spill of plastic pellets, including prevention measures to reduce the spill of plastic pellets into bodies of water and onto soil; and

(3) plans to respond to a plastic pellet spill incident.

c. No later than 90 days after receipt of a spill prevention and response plan, the department shall make a determination to approve the plan as submitted, approve the plan with conditions, or disapprove the plan and shall provide written notification to the facility that submitted a spill prevention and response plan of the determination. If the spill prevention and response plan is disapproved, the department shall inform the facility that submitted the spill prevention and response plan of the reasons for the disapproval. The facility shall have 30 days thereafter to submit a revised spill prevention and response plan to the department. After receiving approval from the department, the facility shall proceed with the implementation of the spill prevention and response plan.

d. No later than two years after the department’s approval of a spill prevention and response plan pursuant to subsection c. of this section, and biannually thereafter, the facility shall prepare and submit to the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature a report that, at a minimum, summarizes the effectiveness of implementing the spill prevention and response plan in reducing plastic pellet spills and strengthening the facility’s response to plastic pellet spill incidents.

e. In the event of a plastic pellet spill incident, the facility responsible for the incident shall report the incident to the department within 48 hours of the incident. The facility shall maintain a record of all plastic pellet spill incidents and shall make the records available to the department upon request.

f. The department shall adopt rules and regulations pursuant to the “Administrative Procedure Act,” P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.) to effectuate the provisions of this act, including, at a minimum, rules and regulations establishing:

(1) plastic pellet spill incident reporting and recordkeeping requirements;

(2) penalties for non-compliance with the provisions of this act; and

(3) any other rules and regulations determined to be necessary by the department to effectuate the provisions of this act.

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill would require, no later than one year after the bill’s effective date, each facility that is involved in the production, handling, packaging, or transport of plastic pellets in the State to develop and maintain a spill prevention and response plan and submit the plan to the Department of Environmental Protection (department) for approval. As defined in the bill, “plastic pellet” means small plastic particles that are used to manufacture other plastic products, and which are often referred to as “nurdles.”

The spill prevention and response plan would be required to include, at a minimum, information concerning how the facility: (1) handles plastic pellets, including specific information on whether the facility is involved in the production, handling, packaging, or transport of plastic pellets; (2) plans to prevent the spill of plastic pellets, including prevention measures to reduce the spill of plastic pellets into bodies of water and onto soil; and (3) plans to respond to a plastic pellet spill incident.

The bill would also require that, in the event of a plastic pellet spill incident, the facility responsible for the incident would be required to report the incident to the department within 48 hours of the incident. The facility would also be required to maintain a record of all plastic pellet spill incidents and make the records available to the department upon request.

Finally, the bill would require the department to adopt rules and regulations to effectuate the bill’s provisions, including, at a minimum, rules and regulations establishing (1) plastic pellet spill incident reporting and recordkeeping requirements; and (2) penalties for non-compliance with the bill’s provisions.