Extended producer responsibility is a big issue for the plastics industry, with government, environmental groups and even some in the industry looking at programs that would add a fee to materials to provide funding for recycling.
An article on the website Politico notes, however, that it's not a simple issue, even if EPR programs are passed.
"The industry-run group Carpet America Recovery Effort kicked two members off of its board earlier this spring for supporting New York and Illinois bills that would create recycling programs similar to California's [EPR program], which it helps run," Politico's Catherine Boudreau and Debra Kahn write.
California's program levies a 35-cent-per-yard fee to finance the recycling program. The state also has a 28 percent recycling rate for carpets, well over the national average of 9 percent, Politico reports. Carpet manufacturers, however, say the fee makes their products less competitive.
"This is not just about carpet. When industries control recycling programs, and there aren't enough guardrails, things can go very wrong," Heidi Sanborn, executive director of the National Stewardship Action Council, told Politico.
It is, as you would expect, a complex issue. Read the full story here. And EPR will be part of the conversation for the Plastics in Politics Livestream starting at 2 p.m. Eastern today, free for Plastics News subscribers, with PN's Steve Toloken and Don Loepp.