---
kind: "section"
citation: "42 U.S.C. § 6914b"
title: "42"
title_heading: "The Public Health and Welfare"
number: "6914b"
heading: "Degradable plastic ring carriers; definitions"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/42/6914b"
units:
  - "Chapter 82 — Solid Waste Disposal"
  - "Subchapter II — Office of Solid Waste; Authorities of the Administrator"
---

# §6914b. Degradable plastic ring carriers; definitions


As used in this title—

- (1) the term “regulated item” means any plastic ring carrier device that contains at least one hole greater than 1¾ inches in diameter which is made, used, or designed for the purpose of packaging, transporting, or carrying multipackaged cans or bottles, and which is of a size, shape, design, or type capable, when discarded, of becoming entangled with fish or wildlife; and
- (2) the term “naturally degradable material” means a material which, when discarded, will be reduced to environmentally benign subunits under the action of normal environmental forces, such as, among others, biological decomposition, photodegradation, or hydrolysis.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 100–556, title I, § 102, Oct. 28, 1988, 102 Stat. 2779.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### References in Text

This title, referred to in text, is title I of Pub. L. 100–556, Oct. 28, 1988, 102 Stat. 2779, which enacted sections 6914b and 6914b–1 of this title, and provisions set out as a note under section 6914b of this title. For complete classification of this title to the Code, see Tables.

### Codification

Section was not enacted as part of the Solid Waste Disposal Act which comprises this chapter.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Congressional Findings

Pub. L. 100–556, title I, § 101, Oct. 28, 1988, 102 Stat. 2779, provided that: “The Congress finds that— plastic ring carrier devices have been found in large quantities in the marine environment; fish and wildlife have been known to have become entangled in plastic ring carriers; nondegradable plastic ring carrier devices can remain intact in the marine environment for decades, posing a threat to fish and wildlife; and 16 States have enacted laws requiring that plastic ring carrier devices be made from degradable material in order to reduce litter and to protect fish and wildlife.”