The Challenge

Over the last decade, the management of recycling programs for the packaging associated with consumer products has fallen squarely on state and local governments’ shoulders. As consumer demand for recycling programs increases along with consumption in general, state and local budgets have reached a crossroads.

Traditionally, the U.S. has relied on exporting recyclable packaging materials to foreign markets for sorting and processing, but those markets have largely stopped importing materials over the last several years. Without an end market for the materials, state and local governments are quickly approaching a financial breaking point without the development of the necessary recycling infrastructure.

To date, state legislative efforts have been piecemeal, resulting in a multiplicity of systems that do not integrate across state lines, with resulting programs costing more and recycling less.

The Solution

Several state policy makers have initiated legislative solutions designed to shift the cost burden for recycling programs from the taxpayer to the packaging producers themselves. This legislation is known as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for Packaging. The basic premise of these regulations is the state sets a fee on specified packaging materials and the producers of these materials are obligated to track and remit the fee to a Product Responsibility Organization (PRO). The fee is designed to oblige packaging producers to design their product packaging to be recyclable and/or incorporate recycled content. The PRO is then responsible for funding the appropriate investments in recycling infrastructure.

Ideally, states will work together to develop a common framework for EPR Packaging programs, as states have done in many other areas, such as taxation, water allocation, and driver licensing.