Your recent editorial (“Calif. recycling bill lacking in fairness,” July 9, Page 6) regarding California state Senator Wesley Chesbro's legislation that proposes a tax on a variety of plastic containers if arbitrary recycling rates are not met, captured the bill's unfair, anti-plastics-industry bias accurately and succinctly. Passage of this legislation would have led many consumer product companies to deselect plastics in favor of a packaging material not subject to these onerous requirements and could have actually increased California's solid waste concerns.
Fortunately, thanks to an aggressive, coordinated industry grassroots effort, the support from plastics processors played a significant role in highlighting to legislators the detrimental impact this proposal would have. Continued processor involvement in the legislative process is critical if future anti-plastics industry proposals are to be defeated. The American Plastics Council agrees that the recycling of plastics is a laudable goal, and it's one reason why we are leading a statewide public education campaign to do just that. Yet as Plastics News correctly pointed out, legislating arbitrary recycling rates and imposing fines on product companies that use energy efficient plastic packaging will do little, if anything to improve the state's environment.
On behalf of the industry and the processors who continue to be actively engaged in this and future California issues, APC wishes to thank the editorial staff of Plastics News for their prominent stand on this important issue.
Tim Shestek
American Plastics Council
Sacramento, Calif.
