Advanced Recycling Research and Development Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2777 To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish and support advanced recycling research and development programs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 22, 2021 Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio (for himself, Ms. STEVENS, and Mr. LUCAS) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology A BILL To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish and support advanced recycling research and development programs, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Advanced Recycling Research and Development Act of 5 2021’’. 6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 7 this Act is as follows: 8 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Definitions. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H2777.IH H2777 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2777 IH Sec. 3. Optimized plastics recycling research and development program. Sec. 4. Lithium-based battery recycling research and development program. SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 3 means the Department of Energy. 4 (2) NATIONAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘Na- 5 tional Laboratory’’ has the meaning given that term 6 in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 7 U.S.C. 15801). 8 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 9 the Secretary of Energy. 10 (4) RECYCLABLE PLASTIC.—The term ‘‘recycla- 11 ble plastic’’ means plastic that is designed to be 12 readily, economically, and efficiently recyclable or 13 otherwise recoverable for beneficial use. 14 (5) CRITICAL MATERIAL.—The term ‘‘critical 15 material’’ has the meaning given such term in sec- 16 tion 7002 of Division Z of the Consolidated Appro- 17 priations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116–260). 18 (6) COMPOSITE.—The term ‘‘composite’’ means 19 plastic reinforced with fiber or particulate secondary 20 material like bio-derived fibers, carbon fibers, glass 21 or any other solid material. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2777.IH H2777 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2777 IH SEC. 3. OPTIMIZED PLASTICS RECYCLING RESEARCH AND 1 DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 3 research, development, and demonstration program to ac- 4 celerate innovation in energy-efficient recyclable plastics, 5 next-generation plastics, and composites recycling and 6 upcycling strategies and technologies, in order to increase 7 the economic value of plastics supply streams and to re- 8 duce the environmental impact of global plastics consump- 9 tion. 10 (b) EXECUTION.—In carrying out the program under 11 this section, the Secretary shall— 12 (1) develop novel collection and sorting tech- 13 nologies to prevent plastics and composites, includ- 14 ing waterborne plastics, from entering landfills and 15 the marine environment; 16 (2) develop biological, chemical, and hybrid bio- 17 chemical technologies and methods for 18 deconstructing plastic and composite waste into use- 19 ful chemical and material streams; 20 (3) develop technologies to upcycle waste, in- 21 cluding chemical, material, and gaseous streams, 22 into higher-value products; 23 (4) develop new economically recyclable-by-de- 24 sign plastics and composites that can be scaled for 25 domestic manufacturability and recovery; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2777.IH H2777 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2777 IH (5) develop new energy-efficient advanced man- 1 ufacturing techniques for reclaimed plastics and 2 composites; and 3 (6) develop new data collection methods and 4 practices in collaboration with relevant Federal 5 agencies and the National Laboratories. 6 (c) LEVERAGING.—In carrying out the program 7 under this section, the Secretary shall leverage resources 8 and expertise from— 9 (1) the Basic Energy Sciences Program and the 10 Biological and Environmental Research Program of 11 the Office of Science; and 12 (2) the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renew- 13 able Energy. 14 (d) STANDARD OF REVIEW.—The Secretary shall pe- 15 riodically review activities carried out under the program 16 under this section to determine the achievement of tech- 17 nical milestones as determined by the Secretary. 18 (e) FUNDING.—From within funds authorized to be 19 appropriated— 20 (1) to the Department’s Office of Science, there 21 shall be made available to the Secretary to carry out 22 the program under this section $15,000,000 for each 23 of fiscal years 2022 through 2026; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2777.IH H2777 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2777 IH (2) to the Department’s Office of Energy Effi- 1 ciency and Renewable Energy, there shall be made 2 available to the Secretary to carry out the program 3 under this section $25,000,000 for each of fiscal 4 years 2022 through 2026. 5 SEC. 4. LITHIUM-BASED BATTERY RECYCLING RESEARCH 6 AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 8 research, development, and demonstration program to 9 support the development of— 10 (1) advanced materials for batteries with con- 11 siderations given to resource availability and envi- 12 ronmentally benign disposal and recycling; and 13 (2) innovative technologies to reclaim and recy- 14 cle critical materials from advanced and lithium- 15 based battery technologies used in consumer elec- 16 tronics, defense, stationary storage, and transpor- 17 tation applications. 18 (b) EXECUTION.—In carrying out the program under 19 this section, the Secretary shall— 20 (1) promote the discovery of new domestically 21 sourced raw materials for batteries that can degrade 22 without causing damage to the environment; 23 (2) develop innovative and cost-effective tech- 24 nologies and processes for the collection, storage, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2777.IH H2777 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2777 IH and transportation of discarded lithium-based bat- 1 teries that prioritize the use of domestic mining re- 2 sources; and 3 (3) research and develop cost-effective recycling 4 processes to recover critical materials from discarded 5 lithium-based batteries and enable their reintroduc- 6 tion in new lithium-based cell technologies and in- 7 crease availability of domestically sourced raw mate- 8 rials for batteries and for use in other relevant in- 9 dustries. 10 (c) LEVERAGING.—In carrying out the program 11 under this section, the Secretary shall leverage resources 12 and expertise from— 13 (1) the Basic Energy Sciences Program of the 14 Office of Science; 15 (2) the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renew- 16 able Energy, including current lithium-based battery 17 recycling activities supported by the Vehicle Tech- 18 nologies Office within the Office of Energy Effi- 19 ciency and Renewable Energy; 20 (3) the Office of Fossil Energy; and 21 (4) the Office of Technology Transitions. 22 (d) STANDARD OF REVIEW.—The Secretary shall pe- 23 riodically review activities carried out under the program 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2777.IH H2777 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2777 IH under this section to determine the achievement of tech- 1 nical milestones as determined by the Secretary. 2 (e) FUNDING.—From within funds authorized to be 3 appropriated— 4 (1) to the Department’s Office of Science, there 5 shall be made available to the Secretary to carry out 6 the activities under this section $10,000,000 for 7 each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026; 8 (2) to the Department’s Office of Energy Effi- 9 ciency and Renewable Energy, there shall be made 10 available to the Secretary to carry out the activities 11 under this section $10,000,000 for each of fiscal 12 years 2022 through 2026; and 13 (3) to the Department’s Office of Fossil En- 14 ergy, there shall be made available to the Secretary 15 to carry out the activities under this section 16 $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 17 2026. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2777.IH H2777 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS