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10 PalletCentral • May-June 2022 palletcentral.com POLICY PLAY AT T he next phase in the push to reduce consumer waste has been taking shape in state legislatures over the past couple of years. e policy is called extended producer responsibility, EPR for short. EPR legislation seeks to make companies that make products bear the costs of disposing or recycling them once consumers throw them away. Individual states are experimenting with unique versions of EPR legislation throughout the country, working to tailor it to fit their needs and capabilities. States have been called laboratories of democracy, and EPR legislation is the latest example of this truth. Extended producer responsibility legislation focuses on packaging products: think yogurt containers, cereal boxes, Amazon envelopes, and all the cardboard that most online purchases come in. e rapid increase in online purchases and the ease of impulse buying in today's culture have increased EPR supporters' urgency. e legislation would require companies that sell or ship these products to fund the formation of producer responsibility organizations. With input and oversight from local governments and the state, those organizations will determine fees for the covered materials that contain and transport products to consumers. Organizations would then pay municipalities for the collection and recycling of the products or would come up with a way to do so themselves. e legislation's goal is to create a strong incentive for companies to use less packaging and materials and design products that are easier to recycle. Additionally, the fees will shift the cost of recycling and collection from local governments struggling to incentivize waste reduction. Some EPR bills phase out Styrofoam and set targets for how much recycled material a product must contain or if the product must be compostable. Some bills prohibit deceptive or misleading claims about product recyclability. Currently, EPR legislation has momentum at the state level. Legislation has been introduced on a bipartisan basis in multiple states. What's interesting about this movement is that the bills are not identical, and as a result, each has both industry stakeholders and activists that either support or oppose it. ere is no uniform opposition from producers nor consistent support from activists. Specific provisions attract universal concern from producers. For instance, if a municipality does not provide curbside recycling, the industry organization must contract with a private trash hauling company to collect all covered products. is provision can potentially change who runs waste and recycling within a state fundamentally. It would also result in higher costs for consumers. On the other hand, it is good that the producer responsibility organization has flexibility in setting fees on materials and could ensure that recycling is more uniform throughout a state, making it easier for consumers to know what is and isn't recyclable. However, not everyone is pleased with industry endorsements of some of these EPR bills. e endorsements fuel skepticism among environmental advocates who worry that the industry is shaping these bills to ultimately not be strong enough to result in accountability. is dynamic makes the likelihood of passage for each bill challenging to determine. It also means that once a bill successfully becomes law, it will likely serve as a model for other states to follow to thread the needle and gain enough support to be signed into law. By and large, the pallet industry remains excluded from the list of sectors targeted by EPR legislation. As a product with a 95% recycling rate, the pallet industry should not have to pay into a fund to subsidize other industries with much lower recycling rates. However, some versions of proposed EPR legislation have broad definitions that could reasonably be interpreted to include wooden pallets. Unfortunately, most legislators do not know the circularity of the pallet industry, which is why the ongoing education efforts by NWPCA and its members, the Pallet Foundation, and Nature's Packaging is critical. EPR legislation is gaining ground across the country, not just on the coasts, and as more of these bills become law, the momentum will only continue to grow. e pallet industry's leadership in this arena will only be recognized if we all work together to raise awareness. is task becomes more important as policymakers and corporations find common ground in pushing for increased sustainability and responsible product creation. The Future of Recycling Legislation in the United States Extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation seeks to make companies that make products bear the costs of disposing or recycling them once consumers throw them away. By Jason Ortega Jason Ortega is vice president, public affairs, at NWPCA. He also manages the NWPCA Political Action Committee for the Association. He may be reached at jortega@palletcentral.com or by calling 703.519.6104.

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