The National Waste & Recycling Association, a Virginia-based trade group, has said it can support such programs when they focus on “incentives to create new markets for recycling materials,” because buyers are needed for all these recyclables. Oregon’s proposed law is slightly different in that it would require producers and manufacturers of packaging to create a nonprofit group tasked with developing a recycling plan for packaging materials.Īdvocates of these strategies sometimes call them “extended producer responsibility.” They are widely used in Europe as well as in some Canadian provinces. The fees will go to a private organization that will reimburse municipalities for recycling and waste management costs and invest in education geared at reducing packaging and improving recycling. Maine’s bill is designed to cut down on plastic, cardboard, paper and other packaging waste by requiring what the state called “producer payments.” The companies can lower the payments by implementing their own, independent recycling programs or simply reducing packaging.
“It’s important for the producers of these materials to really take ownership of them.” “This culture of throwing things away after one use is part of the problem,” she added. More laws like Maine’s would incentivize industry to stop creating excessive packaging in the first place, Bode-George said. Environmentalists in those states and others believe shifting packaging disposal costs away from taxpayers and toward producers is long overdue. The states with active bills - most of them Democratic-leaning - include large, influential economies like New York and California.
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