Federal group to track recycled plastic in products nationwide
S. 5182 — Tracking Plastic Act of 2026 · Filed by Adam Schiff (D-CA) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 30, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
The bill sets up a working group. It is led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, EPA, and Department of Commerce. The group will make rules for tracking recycled plastic in products. It will work with states, cities, nonprofits, recycling centers, and colleges. The group will create a standard way to report recycled plastic use. The group will give reports to Congress every year for ten years.
Who it affects
Companies that make or sell products with plastic will be affected. Recycling centers and material recovery facilities may benefit from clearer rules. People who buy products may see clearer labels about recycled plastic content.
One thing to notice
The bill does not require companies to follow the group's rules. Companies can choose to follow them or not.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 3 Democrats.
- Jul 30, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 30, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- National Institute of Standards and Technology — A federal agency that creates measurement and quality standards.
- material recovery facilities — Places where plastic and other materials are sorted for recycling.
- recycled plastic content — Plastic in a product made from old plastic that was reused.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,921 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
“Federal group to track recycled plastic in products nationwide” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s5182/simple Report an error