Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • CFO of the Year
    • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Bioplastics Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • PFAS Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
    • Europe - Virgin
    • Europe - Recycled
    • Europe - Feedstock
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Blog
January 02, 2020 01:08 PM

As politicians parse plastics bans, it's time for industry to get proactive

Steve Toloken
Assistant Managing Editor
Plastics News Staff
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Corbis
    Federal, state and local officials alike are weighing in on possible bans of plastic products.

    2020 is shaping up to be an even more eventful year for debates around plastic waste and plastic pollution than 2019 was. And that's saying a lot, considering that 2019 opened with plastic bag bans in two states, California and Hawaii, but will close out with six more.

    The pace of plastics packaging legislation continued, even as 2019 wound down. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, for example, proposed on Dec. 17 that his state add a polystyrene foam food packaging ban — New York already has a bag ban.

    In January, California's legislature is expected to take up huge packaging bills that nearly passed last year, and other states will also keep debating plastics and packaging laws. More than 200 bills related to plastics pollution were introduced in 34 states in 2019, according to the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators.

    On the federal level, Congress, with several legislative proposals of its own and the formation Dec. 10 of the Congressional Plastics Solutions Task Force, will keep elevating the issue.

    How to pay?

    Underlying all of it, I think, will be the question of how to pay for the recycling infrastructure that industry, environmental groups and governments all say is needed.

    I can see 2020 putting the plastics industry under more pressure to agree to some viable, long-term revenue sources to fund infrastructure upgrades.

    For example, a California plan floated by the American Chemistry Council's plastics division would raise $100 million from a three-tenths of a cent fee on takeout food packaging of all material types, not just plastic. ACC suggested it is open to that fee in other states and federally.

    California voters may also decide on a plastics packaging referendum in November that would put a fee of up to a penny on plastic and some paper packaging, raising an estimated $1 billion a year.

    Right now the plastics industry's answer in Washington is the RECOVER Act, a bill that would commit $500 million of federal tax money over five years to matching grants to help local governments and organizations build out recycling infrastructure.

    But with estimates of the real need in the billions of dollars, that doesn't look like enough.

    I think the industry as a whole, including other plastics trade groups, should consider getting behind national versions of what the ACC is proposing in California — a material-neutral plan that puts small fees on single-use packaging, possibly at the wholesale level, to provide a steady stream of money to support upgrades in waste collection and recycling.

    Bringing it home

    In my neighborhood, I see the impacts of packaging pollution daily.

    There's an urban stream, Four Mile Run, very near where I live outside Washington, D.C., and I see packaging waste of all types in that stream system every day.

    A preliminary study of microplastics in Four Mile Run, done by a local conservation group, found levels much higher than in the Chesapeake Bay and comparable to urban streams in Los Angeles.

    Getting behind fees and other material-neutral measures that have teeth, like container deposits, would result in less litter and waste and help clean up microplastics in urban waterways like Four Mile Run.

    Putting a fee on single-use disposable packaging of all material types would be a financially sustainable step forward that the plastics industry should support.

    EPA figures show that the recycling rate for plastic packaging and containers is 13 percent, well below the 50.1 percent average for all material types.

    Container deposit legislation would do the same, providing a clear path to raise the U.S. PET bottle recycling rate from under 30 percent now to the European level of 60 percent.

    At a time of rising federal budget deficits, and with state and local governments complaining that China's ban on scrap imports is making it harder for local recycling programs, efforts like those would result in real money being available to support recycling upgrades that everyone agrees are needed.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Avient, Eaton, Vitamix, Mum land in top workplaces list for Cleveland area
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Geon takes ‘key step forward' with PolymaxTPE acquisition
    2
    Orion expects to open fourth compounding line in 2024
    3
    People in plastics: Week of Nov. 27, 2023
    4
    Sussex IM sells Mr. Lid brand, will continue molding
    5
    Former ACC economist explains business cycles in new book
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Find more newsletters at plasticsnews.com/newsletters.

    You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • CFO of the Year
        • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
      • Podcasts
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Bioplastics Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • PFAS Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
      • Europe - Virgin
      • Europe - Recycled
      • Europe - Feedstock
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified