3. a. (1) Beginning two years after the effective date of this act, all rigid plastic containers sold, offered for sale, or used in association with the sale or offer for sale of a product in the State by a manufacturer shall contain, on average, at least 10 percent postconsumer recycled content.

(2) Beginning five years after the effective date of this act, and every three years thereafter, the percentage of postconsumer recycled content required for rigid plastic containers pursuant to this section shall increase by 10 percent, until reaching 50 percent.

b. A rigid plastic container shall be exempt from the postconsumer recycled content requirements of subsection a. of this section if it:

(1) is a plastic beverage container, to which the requirements of section 4 of this act shall apply;

(2) is associated with a product produced in or brought into the State that is destined for shipment to a destination outside the State, and that remains with the product upon shipment;

(3) contains drugs, dietary supplements, medical devices, or cosmetics as those terms are defined in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. § 301 et seq.;

(4) contains toxic or hazardous products regulated under the “Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act,” 7 U.S.C. § 136 et seq.;

(5) is manufactured for use in the shipment of hazardous materials and is: (a) prohibited from being manufactured with used material by federal packaging material specifications set forth in 49 C.F.R. 178.509 and 49 C.F.R. 178.522, (b) is subject to the testing standards set forth in 49 C.F.R. 178.600 through 49 C.F.R. 178.609, or (c) is subject to the recommendations of the United Nations on the transport of dangerous goods; or

(6) is a refillable container or a reusable container. For the purposes of this paragraph, “refillable container” means a rigid plastic container that is routinely returned to and refilled by the manufacturer with the same product packaged by the container; and “reusable container” means a rigid plastic container that is routinely reused by consumers to store the original product packaged by the container.

L.2021, c.391, s.3.