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
    • 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
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
      • 2023 winners
    • 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
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Bioplastics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics 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
  • 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. News
August 26, 2019 11:34 AM

Berry Plastics critical of state preemption laws

Steve Toloken
Assistant Managing Editor
Plastics News Staff
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    Large plastic packaging maker Berry Global Group Inc. is coming out against campaigns by its plastics industry peers for state laws that take away the power of local governments to ban or tax packaging.

    Passing those laws has been an important political priority for plastic bag makers in particular, along with retail stores and restaurants. But it's come with blowback: Coke and Pepsi, for example, recently left the Plastics Industry Association after Greenpeace pressured them over the issue.

    Now Berry, one of the founding members of the industry's $1 billion Alliance to End Plastic Waste and active in sustainability programs, is suggesting that the industry should stop supporting preemption laws.

    In a nuanced Aug. 21 statement, the company said it opposed bans on plastic products but also said it did not want to support laws it sees as taking away a city's ability to make its own decisions.

    "We believe bans are a broad-brush approach that does not address the root cause," Berry said. "That being said, we also believe in protecting the rights of communities to govern themselves. Neither bans nor preemption offer a thoughtful and productive solution."

    Whatever side you're on, preemption around packaging is a hot political topic.

    Three states — North Dakota, Oklahoma and Tennessee — passed preemption laws this year, bringing the number of states with laws stopping cities from banning or taxing plastic or other packaging to at least 14.

    It's been controversial in the courts, too: An appellate court in Florida last week upheld that state's preemption law, overturning a ban on expanded polystyrene containers in Coral Gables.

    Berry's statement is the first by a large plastics processing company questioning preemption and another sign of debate within industry over how to respond to plastics-related legislation in cities and states.

    The trade association for the plastic bag industry, the American Progressive Bag Alliance, sharply defends preemption, which it calls uniformity. It says statewide decisions are better than hundreds of different city regulations.

    "We believe statewide uniformity is important for the same reason as those who are working hard to ban products: A patchwork of ordinances is not good for anyone," Matt Seaholm, executive director of the APBA, said.

    But the Washington-based Plastics Industry Association, the parent organization for APBA, declined to endorse preemption.

    "Plastics [as the group calls itself] does not lobby to enact preemption laws and has no official position on preemption," said Patty Long, interim president and CEO. "Our primary focus is to work together with our members, NGOs and municipalities across the country to ensure that our waste management infrastructure can keep pace with today's plastics economy."

    APBA is part of Long's group, but it is entirely self-funded by the plastic bag industry.

     

    Preemption supporters

    Supporters of preemption policies say they are only responding with the same tools that supporters of statewide legislation, like bag bans, are using from the other side.

    APBA said that every statewide product ban this year has included its own preemption language limiting local bag regulations.

    "Regulatory debates on individual products or materials should be at the state level and we are happy to discuss with anyone ways to promote the sustainable use, reuse and recycling of our products," Seaholm said.

    One official close to the bag industry effort said that "bag ban proponents love preemption when they … lock in their statewide ban but are up in arms when it is put in place without a statewide ban."

    Retailers also argue that preemption laws are important for their businesses.

    The Florida Retail Federation said the court decision in the Coral Gables EPS ban would also override city-level regulations on plastic bags and other packaging.

    "This decision helps ensure Florida remains a business-friendly state by avoiding a patchwork of regulations by the more than 400 local governments," said FRF President and CEO Scott Shalley.

    Some cities, though, argue that uncollected plastic waste costs taxpayers money.

    In Tennessee, where legislators passed a preemption law this year, Memphis City Councilor Berlin Boyd pushed back in local news reports, saying that cleaning up plastic bags costs the city $3 million a year and the state should send more money if it won't allow bans.

    A Berry executive seemed to be addressing that point in LinkedIn posts in recent months. Vice President of Sustainability Robert Flores called plastic bag preemption policies "ethically questionable" in a post earlier this year.

    "I work in the plastics industry. I believe strongly in the benefits of plastics," he wrote in early 2019, when he was Berry's director of sustainability. "I like straws. But if a community believes it is in their best interest to ban plastic whatever, I also believe that is their right."

    "As a plastics industry, it is our responsibility to make sure people don't want to ban our products," he wrote. "And when people do, we should hear them out and work with them to address their issues."

    A few other companies in the industry also question industry support of preemption laws.

    Recycler EFS Plastics Inc. said that with current market conditions, legislative requirements are a very important driver for recycled content in plastic film and bags.

    "In this current climate, attempts at preempting bans on plastic are like putting a finger in an overflowing dam," said Eadaoin Quinn, director of business development and procurement at the Listowel, Ontario-based company. EFS also has a plant in Pennsylvania.

    "The public has expressed their concerns about mismanagement of plastic, and the plastic industry simply cannot continue with status quo," she said.

    EFS is part of the Recycle More Bags coalition that advocates for government-mandated recycled content in plastic bags.

    Another prominent member of the Plastics Industry Association, consumer products maker SC Johnson, has also questioned plastics industry policies around bans.

    The company, which faced pressure from environment groups, said in a January letter that bans can raise public awareness and that "certain kinds of regulation will play a critical role in the ultimate solution to the plastic waste problem."

    Other industry associations support preemption. A senior executive in the plastics division of the American Chemistry Council said in a June interview that his group supported the bag industry and retailers in pushing uniformity laws.

    "We've supported the value chain on that position," said Keith Christman, managing director of plastic markets at Washington-based ACC. "Retailers and restaurants tend to want uniformity throughout a state, to make business processes more uniform."

    "We've worked with them in support," he said. "We don't lead that legislation. APBA and the retailers tend to have more of a leadership [role]."

    Whatever the differences around ban policies, the companies and associations in the industry policy debate said they want to find common ground on environmental initiatives. Berry, for example, said in its statement that it is working within the plastics association to support increased recovery of plastics in the Pacific Northwest.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Clean Vision to spend $50M on West Virginia pyrolysis plant
    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
    PP resin prices saw a big drop in May
    2
    Orion steps up production at South Carolina compounding plant
    3
    EPA standing pat on pyrolysis regulations for now
    4
    Germany's Stratec buys medical molder Natech to boost US presence
    5
    Sustainable materials a focus of Primex expansion
    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.

    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
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
          • 2023 winners
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
    • 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
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • Bioplastics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics 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
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • 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
    • 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