With negative mainstream media coverage eroding public trust in recycling, now is the time to make changes, and an important piece of those improvements is accurate, standardized data collection.
With negative mainstream media coverage eroding public trust in recycling, now is the time to make changes, and an important piece of those improvements is accurate, standardized data collection.
Several states have late summer ends to their legislative sessions, including New Hampshire, Massachusetts and California, and in the final days several recycling related bills passed.
Many recycling industry players and brands are now familiar with the base concept of extended producer responsibility for packaging, but now advisory boards, producer responsibility organizations and state regulators are working on another complex, interrelated concept: fee eco-modulation.
After months of collaboration and negotiation, stakeholders in Minnesota walked away with an extended producer responsibility bill for packaging that had elements both familiar and unique, and an overarching question: Is this the first state in a new wave of EPR or a continuation of early adopters?
Across the United States, there is growing consideration among advocates and legislators regarding the role of policy in advancing recycling services to ensure equitable access and opportunity to residents while maximizing environmental and economic outcomes. This is exemplified through recent progress in extended producer responsibility policy for packaging. In 2024, nine states – from New York to Tennessee – have introduced legislation for packaging EPR, with the Minnesota governor recently signing an EPR bill, while the four states that have already passed EPR are rapidly moving through implementation phases.
New York legislators are once again pushing to become the fifth state in the U.S. to implement extended producer responsibility for packaging.
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.
Extended producer responsibility for paper and packaging is once again a hot topic in statehouses across the country.
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 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.