Some state lawmakers push national EPR conversation

With four U.S. states passing extended producer responsibility laws for packaging and plastics in the last year, some lawmakers and advocates hope those actions will build support for a national approach.

On a recent webinar organized by the Product Stewardship Institute, several state legislators closely involved in EPR policy looked at laws that have passed in Maine, Oregon, Colorado and California, and pointed to what could be next.

In Washington state, where packaging EPR legislation was introduced but did not pass, Sen. Mona Das, D-Kent, sees the states that are going first as setting standards for others and edging the U.S. toward a national conversation.

"It all ties together, so every state that passes a plastic bag bill or a bottle bill or a [foam] bill or an EPR bill, eventually all states, their national people are going to want something uniform nationally," she said. "That's the goal."

Boston-based PSI, which advocates for product stewardship legislation in industries including paint, electronics and mattresses, said in a summary of the webinar that it has seen EPR policies be harmonized nationally in some industries but not in others.

"Through PSI's experience with EPR in other product areas, we have seen firsthand how national harmonization can streamline and simplify programs," the group said. "A great example of this is paint where all 11 laws are based on a similar model; a counterexample is electronics, where fragmentation has led to ineffective programs, although we are working to update many of them."

PSI said it does not yet see national harmonization around packaging and plastics EPR, in part because different industries cannot agree on a common approach and because states have very different recycling systems and needs.

In Maine and California, for example, municipalities and community-run programs wanted more of a reimbursement model for their existing programs in the EPR law, PSI said.

But in Colorado, with fewer locally run programs, a different "full EPR approach" was needed, PSI said.

Colorado State Rep. Lisa Cutter, D-Jefferson, said she hopes that lawmakers in different states can coordinate to have some consistency across the country.

"We're hoping to stay in connection with all of you pursuing policies in other states so that we can do whatever we can, at the state level, to be consistent for others to follow along," Cutter said, in response to Das' comments about driving national laws.

One EPR bill for packaging has been introduced in Congress, as part of the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, in 2020. But that legislation has not advanced in Washington.

PSI said it has tried to build support for a more national approach by working with the Flexible Packaging Association in 2020 to develop model EPR legislation, one of the first times in the packaging sector that an industry group formally backed EPR.

Cutter said she considers it important that Colorado's law, which passed in May, includes a circular economy development center.

"I think that's really important, that goes hand in hand with our extended producer responsibility bill," Cutter said. "We saw an opportunity through that zero-waste committee to go from terrible, terrible recycling systems to really becoming a leader, a regional leader in that area."

In Maine, which became the first state in the U.S. to pass a packaging EPR law last year, one lawmaker said it's also important for a more national conversation about what is recyclable and compostable.

"I do think it would be very appropriate to have an overarching set of standards that we could work from," said state Sen. Nicole Grohoski, D-Ellsworth.

She told the webinar that Maine legislation had support from some industries and that proved important to passing it.

"We were lucky there was a lot of producers in the state who supported us," Grohoski said. "Breweries in particular, they have experience with our bottle bill; they understood what it would mean to be responsible for the rest of their type of packaging."

In Maryland, where legislation is being considered, state Del. Sara Love, D-Montgomery, said it's important to build industry backing.

"Industry support was really important and will continue to be important as we move on," Love said.