Drive to charge packagers for recycling, but industry fights

PORTLAND, Maine — States across the U.S. are looking to adopt new recycling regimes that require producers of packaging to pay for its inevitable disposal — but industry is digging in to try to halt the movement.

Maine became the first state to adopt such a program in July when Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed a bill that requires producers of products that involve packaging materials to pay into a new state fund. The fund will be used to reimburse municipalities for recycling and waste management costs.

Oregon has approved a similar bill that is awaiting signature from Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, and at least six other state legislatures have similar bills pending, said Yinka Bode-George, environmental health manager for the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators.

The states with active bills — most of them Democratic-leaning — include large, influential economies like New York and California. Environmentalists in those states and others believe shifting packaging disposal costs away from taxpayers and toward producers is long overdue.

“This culture of throwing things away after one use is part of the problem,” Bode-George said. “It’s important for the producers of these materials to really take ownership of them.”

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.

The legislation ignited heavy pushback from several sectors of American industry where fears are widespread that the new laws will drive up the cost of doing business.

The American Institute for Packaging and the Environment, or AMERIPEN, which represents the packaging industry, had asked Mills to veto Maine’s bill and now plans to play an active role in an upcoming rulemaking process about it, said Dan Felton, the group’s executive director.

AMERIPEN hoped to work with Maine on a different new recycling scheme, but the approved law leaves “producers and the people of Maine on the outside of the process and forced to foot the bill for a system where the Maine Department of Environmental Protection is the sole decision-maker,” Felton said.

Industry representatives who opposed the bill also know the changes are coming and are working with the state to craft rules they can live with and preparing for other states to follow Maine’s lead, said Christine Cummings, executive director of the Maine Grocers & Food Producers Association.

“I think this is just the very start of what this program will evolve into both in Maine and around the country,” Cummings said.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3yi3tix