Marissa Heffernan worked at Resource Recycling from January 2022 through June 2025, first as staff reporter and then as associate editor. Marissa Heffernan started working for Resource Recycling in January 2022 after spending several years as a reporter at a daily newspaper in Southwest Washington. After developing a special focus on recycling policy, they were also the editor of the monthly newsletter Policy Now.
The first packaging data reporting deadlines for extended producer responsibility programs will hit in 2025, but gathering the needed data will take time and help from up and down the value chain. | A9-STUDIO/Shutterstock
In about a year, companies will be required to start reporting various data under four different extended producer responsibility laws as well as some recycled content and labeling laws. Many are still not ready, industry stakeholders cautioned.
In the latest edition of the annual survey, 58% of respondents were from the public sector, 12% were glass manufacturers, and 10% were MRFs. | Michael Warwick/Shutterstock
The vast majority of residents expect to be able to recycle glass, and concern about glass recycling programs has fallen sharply, the Glass Recycling Coalition’s 2023 Glass Recycling Survey found. Continue Reading
SB 1013 brought more container types into the California Redemption Value system but also removed an option for retailers to choose to pay a $100 daily fee instead of accepting returned containers. | Andrii Koval/Shutterstock
Formal rulemaking for changes to California’s deposit system is about to begin, and draft rules shed more light on new requirements for beverage dealers and retailers. Continue Reading
On March 12, the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment recommended a medium-level recycling scenario to the Joint Budget Committee. | RozenskiP/Shutterstock
Colorado state regulators suggested choosing a mid-level recycling scenario for its extended producer responsibility program for packaging, but a final decision is yet to come. Continue Reading
Nine states are looking to enact extended producer responsibility packaging, and Hawai’i chose to put a “pre-EPR” bill into play. | Paul-Brady-Photography/Shutterstock
Extended producer responsibility for paper and packaging is once again a hot topic in statehouses across the country.
The level of activity follows expert predictions that 2024 would see an influx of right-to-repair consumer electronics bills. | skimin0k/Shutterstock
There are over 25 bills establishing the right to repair consumer items in play across the U.S., and more than a dozen of those cover consumer electronics.
The California Department of Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery facilitated several meetings centered on SB 54 in early February. | ksanawo/Shutterstock
The first few days of February saw several big moments for California’s extended producer responsibility law for packaging, with a first advisory board meeting and a well-attended public question-and-answer session.
Illinois stakeholders have been workshopping a beverage container deposit return system under Senate Bill 85. | luckyraccoon/Shutterstock
Illinois may or may not be the next state to pass a bill setting up a beverage container deposit return system under Senate Bill 85, and industry players recently debated the benefits and concerns around the bill.
One year after California’s SB 1383 went into effect mandating organics recycling, 75% of jurisdictions report they have residential organic collection. | Jesse David Falls/Shutterstock
It’s been a year since a California law mandating organics recycling went into effect, and initial results show both high landfill diversion rates and strong market growth.
Researchers at the Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences found that recycling rates were higher in countries with EPR systems in place. | Roman-Zaiets/Shutterstock
A team of researchers at Iowa State University reviewed extended producer responsibility laws in several countries and concluded that the programs overall strengthened recycling.