Assembly Commerce, Economic Development and Agriculture Committee Statement to Assembly, No. 5394 (2026)

Summary

An Assembly Commerce, Economic Development and Agriculture Committee statement to Assembly, No. 5394, State of New Jersey, dated January 5, 2026, reporting the bill favorably with committee amendments. The bill would require plastic construction materials used in State-funded construction projects by the State, a county, a municipality or a public utility to contain at least 10 percent postconsumer recycled content if purchased within two years of the effective date, and at least 15 percent after that. It applies to materials containing greater than 50 percent plastic by cost. Exemptions apply if compliant material would raise overall project cost by 20 percent, is unavailable within 60 days of the start of construction, or would cause structural integrity issues certified by the architect or engineer.

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ASSEMBLY COMMERCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND AGRICULTURE
COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY,
No. 5394

with
committee amendments

STATE
OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JANUARY
5, 2026

The Assembly Commerce, Economic Development and
Agriculture Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly
Bill No. 5394 .

As amended, this bill would require that any plastic construction materials used by a
State-funded construction project carried out by the State, a county, a
municipality, or a public utility contain at least 10 percent postconsumer
recycled content if purchased within two years of the bill's effective date,
and at least 15 percent for plastic construction materials purchased thereafter.

The
bill would apply to construction materials that contain greater than 50 percent
plastic, calculated by cost. The bill defines "construction
material" as an article, material, or supply that is brought to the site
of a construction project for incorporation into the building or work, which
meets applicable standards related to performance and is of a satisfactory
quality.

The
bill would provide exemptions to the bill's postconsumer recycled content
requirements if: (1) the use of plastic construction
material that contains the necessary recycled content would increase the
overall cost of the State-funded project by 20 percent , (2) construction
materials, other than plastic materials that meet the postconsumer recycled
content in the bill’s provisions, do not exist for the intended application, are
not available in sufficient quantities, or are not available within 60 days of the start of the construction of the
State-funded construction project ; or (3) the licensed architect or engineer of record has
certified in writing that the use of construction materials that meet the
bill’s provisions would cause structural integrity issues and that the
structurally integrity issues cannot be reasonably mitigated without the use of
construction materials that do not meet the bill’s provisions.

As
amended and reported by the committee, Assembly Bill No. 5394 is identical to
Senate Bill No. 3802 (2R), which was also amended and reported by the committee
on this date.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS :

The committee amended the bill to:

(1) revise the definition of “construction material”
to exclude road surface materials and hazard, caution, or traffic signs,
signage, markings, or symbols; and

(2) include publicly owned utilities in the
definition of “governmental entity”;

(3) stipulate that the exemption to the bill’s
postconsumer recycled content requirements applies if the use of plastic construction material that
contains the necessary recycled content would increase the overall cost of the State-funded
project by 20 percent, rather than 25
percent;

(4) permit the use
of construction materials that are not plastic that contains the necessary
postconsumer recycled content if there are no comparable plastic construction
materials that exist for the intended application or if the comparable plastic
construction materials are not available in sufficient quantities;

(5) provide an exemption from the bill’s provisions when
the use of plastic construction materials with the requisite amounts of
postconsumer recycled content would cause structural integrity issues in the
construction project;

(6) provide that if a
State-funded construction project cannot procure materials that meet the
requirements of the bill within 60 days of the start of construction, the
construction project would be exempt from the recycled content requirements in order
to prevent significant delays; and

(7) make clarifying revisions.

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