Definitions

In this Act: (1) Commission The term Commission means the Federal Trade Commission. (2) Competent and reliable scientific evidence The term competent and reliable scientific evidence means any test, analysis, research, or study that— (A) has been conducted and evaluated in an objective manner by an expert in the relevant field; (B) is generally accepted in the profession to yield accurate and reliable results; and (C) is sufficient in quality and quantity based on standards generally accepted in the relevant scientific field to substantiate that a representation is true when considered in light of the entire body of relevant scientific evidence. (3) Mass balance accounting The term mass balance accounting means a valid chain-of-custody methodology that allows a manufacturing supply chain— (A) to mix or co-process alternative feedstocks, including pre-consumer material and post-consumer material, with conventional feedstocks; and (B) to allocate the mass of such alternative feedstocks to final products on the basis of documented inputs and outputs. (4) Post-consumer material The term post-consumer material — (A) means a subset of recovered material or product that has completed its life cycle, served its intended end-use, and been recovered or diverted from waste destined for disposal; and (B) includes any term used to describe post-consumer material content in products, including post-consumer waste and post-consumer recycled. (5) Pre-consumer material The term pre-consumer material — (A) means a waste material or scrap that has been diverted or recovered from solid waste during the manufacturing of a product, including any trimming, stamping, faulty part generated during the manufacturing process, obsolete inventory, and overrun; and (B) does not include reutilization of any material, such as rework, regrind, or scrap generated in a process and capable of being reclaimed within the same process that generated the material. (6) Recycled The term recycled means a material that has been processed through recycling. (7) Recycled content The term recycled content means the quantity of pre-consumer materials and post-consumer materials recovered or otherwise diverted from the waste stream through recycling for use in the production of a new, salable product. (8) Recycled content claim The term recycled content claim includes any claim or representation regarding the recycled nature of a product or material, including a claim or representation that a product or material is made of recycled content, recycled plastics, recycled materials, or similar terminology. (9) Recycling (A) In general The term recycling means a series of activities that includes— (i) the collection of used, reused, or unused items that would otherwise be considered waste; (ii) sorting and processing such items into raw materials; and (iii) remanufacturing the raw materials into a new, salable product. (B) Inclusion The term recycling includes the following: (i) Mechanical recycling, in which a material is collected, sorted, cleaned, and reprocessed (without significantly altering the chemical structure of the material) for use in manufacturing products. (ii) Non-mechanical recycling, in which a material is collected, sorted, cleaned, and transformed through technology that alters the chemical structure of the material and that produces an output used to manufacture products (excluding a waste-to-energy facility in which such a material is used primarily to generate process heat or electricity). (10) Third-party certification The term third-party certification means a written determination, verification, or attestation that a product, material, process, service, or entity meets specified standards, criteria, or requirements, issued by an independent organization that— (A) is not owned, controlled by, or under common control with the person or entity seeking certification; (B) does not design, manufacture, sell, distribute, or market the product or material being certified; (C) conducts its certification activities in accordance with objectivity, impartiality, and professional competence; and (D) does not have financial, commercial, or organizational interest that could compromise its independence or impartiality with respect to the certified product, material, process, service, or entity. (11) Third-party certification system The term third-party certification system means an independently administered system that— (A) establishes a set of rules governing the implementation of mass balance accounting approaches; and (B) provides independent certification confirming that— (i) any recycled content attributed to a product does not exceed the quantity by weight of recovered materials introduced into the manufacturing supply chain (accounting for process losses); (ii) an auditable chain-of-custody accounting methodology was applied that enables the attribution of the mass of inputs to 1 or more outputs in accordance with the rules of the system; and (iii) the total mass of alternative feedstocks, including pre-consumer material and post-consumer material, introduced into the manufacturing supply chain has been quantified and appropriately allocated to final products.