New Senate Bill Would Study Recycled Content Tracking, Not Regulate It

Sen. Adam Schiff introduced S. 5182, the Tracking Plastic Act of 2026, on July 30, 2026. It was read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation the same day, with Sens. Merkley, Wyden and Booker cosponsoring. The bill would create a federal interagency working group, with NIST leading on measurement, to recommend how recycled plastic content should be measured, traced and reported. What this means for you: nothing today, and that is worth stating plainly because the bill has been described elsewhere as a recycled content standard. It is not one. It sets no target, creates no mandate and changes no state obligation you already have. The reason to keep an eye on it is a single line in its findings: a federal tracking system could harmonize the state recycled-content rules you currently comply with one at a time. That is the same preemption question raised by the PACK Act and the Recycled Materials Attribution Act, and none of those three is a packaging EPR bill. Source: Packaging Dive (August 3, 2026).