II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1092
To require certain products to be labeled with ‘Do Not Flush’ labeling,
and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH24, 2025
Mr. M
ERKLEY(for himself, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. KING, Mr.
M
ARKEY, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. WYDEN, and Mrs. SHAHEEN)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
A BILL
To require certain products to be labeled with ‘Do Not Flush’
labeling, 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. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wastewater Infrastruc-4
ture Pollution Prevention and Environmental Safety Act’’ 5
or the ‘‘WIPPES Act’’. 6
SEC. 2. ‘‘DO NOT FLUSH’’ LABELING. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—A covered entity shall label a cov-8
ered product clearly and conspicuously with the label no-9
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tice and symbol, in accordance with subsections (b) and 1
(c). 2
(b) R
EQUIREMENTS.— 3
(1) C
YLINDRICAL PACKAGING.—In the case of a 4
covered product sold in cylindrical or near-cylindrical 5
packaging, and intended to dispense individual 6
wipes— 7
(A) the symbol and label notice shall be 8
displayed on the principal display panel in a 9
clear and conspicuous location reasonably visi-10
ble to the user each time a wipe is dispensed; 11
or 12
(B) the symbol shall be displayed on the 13
principal display panel and the label notice, or 14
a combination of the label notice and symbol, 15
shall be displayed on a flip lid in a manner that 16
covers at least 8 percent of the surface area of 17
the flip lid. 18
(2) F
LEXIBLE FILM PACKAGING .—In the case 19
of a covered product sold in flexible film packaging, 20
and intended to dispense individual wipes— 21
(A) the symbol shall be displayed on the 22
principal display panel and, if the principal dis-23
play panel is not on the dispensing side of the 24
packaging, on the dispensing side panel; and 25
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(B) the label notice shall be displayed on 1
either the principal display panel or the dis-2
pensing side panel, in a clear and conspicuous 3
location reasonably visible to the user each time 4
a wipe is dispensed. 5
(3) R
IGID PACKAGING.—In the case of a cov-6
ered product sold in a refillable tub or other rigid 7
packaging that may be reused by a customer, and 8
that is intended to dispense individual wipes, the 9
symbol and label notice shall be displayed on the 10
principal display panel in a clear and conspicuous lo-11
cation reasonably visible to the user each time a 12
wipe is dispensed. 13
(4) P
ACKAGING NOT INTENDED TO DISPENSE 14
INDIVIDUAL WIPES.—In the case of a covered prod-15
uct sold in packaging that is not intended to dis-16
pense individual wipes, the symbol and label notice 17
shall be displayed on the principal display panel in 18
a clear and conspicuous location reasonably visible to 19
the user of the covered product. 20
(5) B
ULK PACKAGING.— 21
(A) I
N GENERAL.—In the case of a covered 22
product sold in bulk at retail, the symbol and 23
label notice shall be displayed on both the outer 24
packaging visible at retail and the individual 25
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packaging contained within the outer pack-1
aging. 2
(B) E
XEMPTION.—The following shall be 3
exempt from the requirements of subparagraph 4
(A): 5
(i) Individually packaged covered 6
products that are contained within outer 7
packaging, are not intended to dispense in-8
dividual wipes, and have no retail labeling. 9
(ii) Outer packaging that does not ob-10
scure the symbol and label notice on indi-11
vidually packaged covered products con-12
tained within. 13
(6) P
ACKAGING OF COMBINED PRODUCTS .— 14
(A) O
UTER PACKAGING.—The outer pack-15
aging of combined products shall be exempt 16
from the symbol and label notice requirements 17
of subsection (a). 18
(B) P
ACKAGES LESS THAN 3 BY 3 19
INCHES.—In the case of a covered product in 20
packaging smaller than 3 inches by 3 inches 21
(such as an individually packaged wipe in tear- 22
top packaging) and sold as part of a combined 23
product, if a symbol and label notice are placed 24
in a prominent location reasonably visible to the 25
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user of the covered product, such covered prod-1
uct shall be considered to be labeled clearly and 2
conspicuously. 3
(c) R
EASONABLEVISIBILITY OFSYMBOL ANDLABEL 4
N
OTICE.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—A covered entity shall ensure 6
that— 7
(A) packaging seams or folds or other 8
packaging design elements do not obscure the 9
symbol or label notice; 10
(B) the symbol and label notice are each 11
equal in size to at least 2 percent of the surface 12
area of the principal display panel; and 13
(C) the symbol and label notice have high 14
contrast with the immediate background of the 15
packaging so that such symbol and label notice 16
may be seen and read by an ordinary individual 17
under customary conditions of purchase and 18
use. 19
(2) P
ROXIMITY OF SYMBOL AND LABEL NO -20
TICE.—A covered entity may display a symbol and 21
label notice either adjacent to or on separate areas 22
of the principal display panel. 23
(3) E
XCEPTION.—Paragraph (1)(C) does not 24
apply to an embossed symbol or label notice on the 25
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flip lid of a covered product sold in cylindrical or 1
near-cylindrical packaging. 2
(d) R
EPRESENTATIONS OF FLUSHABILITY.—With re-3
spect to a covered product, a covered entity may not make 4
any express or implied representation that such covered 5
product can or should be flushed. 6
(e) E
NFORCEMENT BY FEDERALTRADECOMMIS-7
SION.— 8
(1) U
NFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC -9
TICES.—A violation of this section or any regulation 10
promulgated under this section shall be treated as a 11
violation of a regulation under section 18(a)(1)(B) 12
of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 13
57a(a)(1)(B)) regarding unfair or deceptive acts or 14
practices. 15
(2) P
OWERS OF COMMISSION .—The Commis-16
sion shall enforce this section and any regulations 17
promulgated under this section by the same means, 18
and with the same jurisdiction, powers, and duties, 19
as though all applicable terms and provisions of the 20
Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et 21
seq.) were incorporated into and made a part of this 22
section, and any person who violates this section or 23
any regulation promulgated under this section shall 24
be subject to the penalties and entitled to the privi-25
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leges and immunities provided in the Federal Trade 1
Commission Act. 2
(3) R
EGULATIONS.—The Commission may pro-3
mulgate regulations under section 553 of title 5, 4
United States Code, to implement this section. In 5
developing the regulations, the Commission may con-6
sult with the Administrator of the Environmental 7
Protection Agency, the Commissioner of Food and 8
Drugs, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, 9
or any other agency as appropriate. 10
(4) A
UTHORITY PRESERVED .—Nothing in this 11
section may be construed to limit the authority of 12
the Commission under any other provision of law. 13
(f) P
REEMPTION OFSTATELAWS.—No State or po-14
litical subdivision of a State may directly or indirectly es-15
tablish or continue in effect, under any authority, require-16
ments with respect to the ‘‘Do Not Flush’’ labeling of cov-17
ered products that are not identical to the requirements 18
of this section and the regulations promulgated under this 19
section. 20
(g) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 21
(1) C
OMBINED PRODUCT .—The term ‘‘com-22
bined product’’ means two or more products sold in 23
shared retail packaging, of which— 24
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(A) at least one of the products is a cov-1
ered product; and 2
(B) at least one of the products is another 3
consumer product intended to be used in com-4
bination with such covered product. 5
(2) C
OMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 6
means the Federal Trade Commission. 7
(3) C
OVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en-8
tity’’ means a manufacturer, wholesaler, supplier, in-9
dividual or group of individuals, or retailer that is 10
responsible for the labeling or retail packaging of a 11
covered product that is sold or offered for retail sale 12
in the United States. 13
(4) C
OVERED PRODUCT.— 14
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘covered 15
product’’ means a premoistened, nonwoven dis-16
posable wipe sold or offered for retail sale— 17
(i) that is marketed as a baby wipe or 18
diapering wipe; or 19
(ii) that is a household or personal 20
care wipe (including a wipe described in 21
subparagraph (B)) that— 22
(I) is composed entirely, or in 23
part, of petrochemical-derived fibers; 24
and 25
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(II) has significant potential to 1
be flushed. 2
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—The wipes described in 3
this subparagraph are— 4
(i) antibacterial wipes and disinfecting 5
wipes; 6
(ii) wipes intended for general purpose 7
cleaning or bathroom cleaning, including 8
toilet cleaning and hard surface cleaning; 9
and 10
(iii) wipes intended for personal care 11
use on the body, including hand sanitizing, 12
makeup removal, feminine hygiene, adult 13
hygiene (including incontinence hygiene), 14
and body cleansing. 15
(5) H
IGH CONTRAST.—The term ‘‘high con-16
trast’’ means, with respect to the symbol or label no-17
tice, that such symbol or label notice— 18
(A) is either light on a solid dark back-19
ground or dark on a solid light background; and 20
(B) has a contrast percentage of at least 21
70 percent between such symbol or label notice 22
and the background, using the formula (B1– 23
B2)/B1 * 100 = contrast percentage, where B1 24
is the light reflectance value of the lighter area 25
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and B2 is the light reflectance value of the 1
darker area. 2
(6) L
ABEL NOTICE.—The term ‘‘label notice’’ 3
means the written phrase ‘‘Do Not Flush’’. 4
(7) P
RINCIPAL DISPLAY PANEL .—The term 5
‘‘principal display panel’’ means the side of a prod-6
uct package that is most likely to be displayed, pre-7
sented, or shown under customary conditions of dis-8
play for retail sale, and— 9
(A) in the case of a cylindrical or near-cy-10
lindrical package, the surface area of which 11
constitutes at least 40 percent of the product 12
package, as measured by multiplying the height 13
by the circumference of the package; or 14
(B) in the case of a flexible film package 15
in which a rectangular prism or near-rectan-16
gular prism stack of wipes is housed within the 17
film, the surface area of which is measured by 18
multiplying the length by the width of the side 19
of the package when the flexible packaging film 20
is pressed flat against the stack of wipes on all 21
sides of the stack. 22
(8) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each 23
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 24
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and each commonwealth, territory, or possession of 1
the United States. 2
(9) S
YMBOL.—The term ‘‘symbol’’ means the 3
‘‘Do Not Flush’’ symbol, as depicted in the most re-4
cent edition of the Guidelines for Assessing the 5
Flushability of Disposable Nonwoven Products pub-6
lished by the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics 7
Industry (INDA) and the European Disposables 8
And Nonwovens Association (EDANA), or an other-9
wise equivalent symbol adopted by the Commission 10
through rulemaking under this section. 11
(h) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—This section shall apply to 12
a covered entity beginning on the date that is 1 year after 13
the date of the enactment of this Act. 14
Æ
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