Starting in October, shoppers in America’s largest city will be charged a nickel for each paper or plastic bag they are given at checkout.
Starting in October, shoppers in America’s largest city will be charged a nickel for each paper or plastic bag they are given at checkout.
A statewide ban on local bag bans is close to becoming law in Michigan. Senate Bill 853 prohibits local governments from banning plastic shopping bags or mandating fees for them. The bill is awaiting the governor’s signature.
Bob Gedert, National Recycling Coalition
In President Trump’s proposed fiscal year 2018 budget, EPA funding is cut by one-third. This would result in the elimination of over 50 programs, including the Sustainable Materials Management program and the Waste Reduction Model.
Ontario lawmakers last week passed a bill mandating producers to pay the full costs of recycling printed paper and packaging. However, many specifics of the recovery system, which will target a wide range of plastic products, have yet to be determined.
Brand owners will have to cut bigger checks over the next year to support curbside recycling in Canada’s most populous province.
In its first full year of operation, British Columbia’s printed paper and packaging recycling program notched a 77 percent recovery rate, beating the target set by the government.
Recycling organizations will try to sell Congress on the economic and environmental benefits of the U.S. EPA’s Waste Minimization and Recycling program, which is cut in President Trump’s proposed budget.
Funding for a North Carolina recycling support program has been restored in the state House of Representatives’ budget proposal, a sharp departure from the Senate’s desire to slash the office entirely.
California regulators are signaling they may want a mandatory program covering end-of-life management for packaging, and a workshop next week will explore what the details could look like.
Two bills introduced by Rhode Island lawmakers suggest the possibility of the state putting end-of-life product management duties onto the shoulders of packaging producers.