Maine’s EPR draft rules will go to the Board of Environmental Protection to begin the formal rulemaking process in December 2023. | Yurii Prohonnyi/Shutterstock
Maine’s governor signed an extended producer responsibility law for packaging in 2021, and the state is now seeking stakeholder feedback to guide the rulemaking process.
The Dec. 15 hearing by the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works brought four panelists together to answer questions from legislators. | Katherine Welles/Shutterstock
During a two-hour hearing, U.S. senators questioned industry experts about chemicals in plastics, marine plastic pollution and extended producer responsibility.
The meeting was the first to work on drafting the text of the Global Plastics Treaty, which is intended to be a legally binding document addressing plastic pollution across the value chain. | Courtesy of UNEP
Mixed reactions followed the first meeting on a Global Plastics Treaty, with some complaints about “industry interference.”
The new act is built on the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, which was introduced in the last two Congressional sessions but failed to move forward. | Rob Crandall/Shutterstock
A newly introduced bill in Congress is reviving parts of the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, with a focus on environmental justice.
The European Commission is expected to announce the revisions of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive the week of Nov. 28. | VanderWolf Images/Shutterstock
This story has been updated.
Online delivery packaging, takeaway cups and plastic drink bottles could see new targets for reuse and recycled content under proposals from the European Commission.
As part of its effort to harmonize legislation and industry practices, APR has urged the Federal Trade Commission to update its so-called “Green Guides.” | DCStockPhotography/Shutterstock
A federal bottle bill, more extended producer responsibility bills and pressure on single-use plastics are all in the future of plastics legislation, industry policy experts predicted.
The director of Bantam Materials argues we need stricter standards across the supply chain to reduce ocean-bound plastics. | Rich Carey/Shutterstock
California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have required thermoform-to-thermoform recycling. | Sheila Fitzgerald/Shutterstock
Following industry pushback, California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have mandated the use of some level of post-consumer resin in thermoform food and drink packaging.
California legislators sent a number of recycling-related bills to the governor at the end of this session. | Leonid Adnronov/Shutterstock
When California’s legislative session ended Aug. 31, a number of recycling-related bills passed just before the deadline. Here’s a roundup of bills currently waiting to be signed into law and that have already been signed.
Thermoforms like those shown here often contain post-consumer material from bottles, but a California bill would require post-consumer thermoforms to be used in production of new thermoforms. | Anakumka/Shutterstock
Current debate over a California bill requiring PET thermoforms to contain RPET derived from thermoforms boils down to one question: What will materials recovery facilities do?