Plastics groups step up Washington campaign against resin tax

More than 20 plastics associations and allies sent a letter to Congress Sept. 27 stepping up their opposition to a tax on virgin resin and urging lawmakers to strike it from any of the major spending and tax plans on Capitol Hill.

The Plastics Industry Association, the American Chemistry Council, the Flexible Packaging Association and others said a 20-cent-per-pound tax on virgin plastic in single-use products would reduce their competitiveness, spur inflation and increase costs to consumers.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., proposed the tax last month, saying he wanted to create incentives to use more recycled plastic, and Senate leadership acknowledged the idea is being considered as part of the $3.5 trillion Democratic social spending and tax plans in Congress.

The industry groups said they strongly support using more recycled plastic and "understand the motivation behind efforts to encourage its use" but argued to lawmakers that a tax like Whitehouse's proposal would not achieve environmental goals.

"Taxing the production of virgin plastic would do little to increase access to recycling, improve the collection and sortation process, educate consumers or take other equally meaningful steps to limit plastic waste in the environment" the groups said in the letter addressed to the four top legislative leaders in the House and Senate.

"Our respective industry commitments to sustainability include goals of using less material and working to reduce our overall environmental footprints," they said. "We stand ready to continue conversations with Congress to advance these goals, but don't believe a tax of this sort moving through the process in this manner is the right approach."

The plastics groups said Whitehouse's resin tax has not been properly vetted.

"No witnesses have been called to provide expert analysis by either side in the public setting of a committee hearing," they said. "There has been no opportunity to study the economic impacts of a tax of this size nor how such a measure would viably be applied."

The groups pointed to an analysis that said it could place up to 92,000 jobs at risk and increase the cost of plastic by up to 26 percent.

"We respectfully encourage you to set it aside from further discussions related to the budget reconciliation package," they said.

Whitehouse pushed back on the industry campaign against his bill, pointing to low levels of recycled content and recycling rates for plastics.

In a Sept. 24 post on Twitter, he said his legislation is trying to change that and referenced an advertisement from industry groups that called his plan a higher tax on groceries.

"[The] plastics industry is cool with using less than 2% recycled plastic in single-use disposables, and cool with less than 10% of plastics 'recycling' actually being recycled, but when you try to fix it, they run a full page ad to make things up about the bill," he wrote. "Did they even read it?"

In another tweet the same day, he said it was a "sad but simple truth" that without economic changes like that sought by his bill, it would be hard to control ocean plastic waste.

"If you don't change an industry's economics, it won't change its behavior. And if it doesn't change, there will be more waste plastic than living fish in the ocean by 2050," Whitehouse said.

Similar legislation was introduced in the House Sept. 28 by Rep. Thomas Suozzi, D-N.J., who said he wants it to be part of the House version of his party's $3.5 trillion social spending and climate plan.

The head of the Solid Waste Association of North America, in a Sept. 28 tweet, urged the industry to fund recycling programs instead, and he noted a plastics industry advertisement in the Sept. 27 Washington Post.

"Looks like the #plastic industry is a little nervous about a #tax on plastic," wrote David Biderman, SWANA executive director and CEO. "This ad was on the back of the @washingtonpost. Maybe they should help fund #recycling programs instead."

The industry letter was signed by more than 20 associations, including the Manufacturers Association for Plastics Processors, the National Association for PET Container Resources, the Vinyl Institute and the Foodservice Packaging Institute.

Outside the plastics industry, it was also signed by the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute.

The resin tax has generated fierce opposition from industry groups and letter writing and social media campaigns.

The Plastics Industry Association, for example, sent its members an email the same day the Congressional letter was sent, calling it an "all-hands-on-deck moment."

"The biggest and most direct legislative threat to our industry has the potential to become federal law in a matter of weeks or even days and we need your help," the association said. "Over the course of the last few weeks, this has gone from 'just an idea' to a full-fledged campaign by environmental activist organizations like Greenpeace and Oceana."