No U.S. state currently has an EPR law in place for packaging. | Yurii Prohonnyi/Shutterstock
Maine legislators are gearing up to introduce a bill that would mandate producers to fund the recycling of packaging they put on the market. The plan calls for different requirements based on whether a packaging type is “readily recyclable.”
Extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging is already in place in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Quebec. | One Photo / Shutterstock
New Brunswick will require that manufacturers pay for the end-of-life collection and processing of the packaging materials they produce.
Jenna Jambeck was the keynote at this year’s Resource Recycling Conference and Trade Show, held in late summer. | Resource Recycling Conference/Brian Adams Photography
The statistic has taken on almost household familiarity: 91% of plastic ever created has not been recycled, and a massive amount has become litter. Jenna Jambeck, a lead researcher behind that number, recently spoke about solutions to the pollution problem.
Investigators placed GPS tracking devices in bales of plastic. | PhilipR/Shutterstock
CBC News in Canada used tracking devices to follow where garbage and recycling companies took loads of recovered film. Much of the plastic was ultimately burned or buried.
Proposed legislation would include measures to reduce plastic pollution and remove certain single-use products from use. | LLoughran/Shutterstock
Lawmakers are bringing plastics recycling to the federal level with a legislative proposal that includes a national bottle bill and extended producer responsibility.
Experts say a deposit system for non-alcoholic beverage containers would complement a Canadian province’s curbside recycling system, by cutting costs and increasing the volume of material recycled each year.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government will ban a number of single-use plastic products and will support establishing extended producer responsibility for plastic items.
The Washington state capitol building in Olympia.
Washington will explore plastic packaging product stewardship, industry-led efforts and other plastic waste management strategies, under legislation signed by the state’s governor this week.
Regulators have given final approval to a carpet stewardship roadmap in California, marking a milestone in an ongoing, years-long dispute with the carpet industry.
The Washington state capitol building in Olympia.
Lawmakers in Indiana and Washington are evaluating proposals that would shift end-of-life packaging management responsibilities from municipalities to product producers.