This also encourages big corporations to design better packaging that has less waste and can actually be recycled. They do this by requiring big corporations and manufacturers to help pay for the cost of recycling their wasteful packaging, much of it plastic. The laws also save taxpayer money and provide support to cash-strapped towns. It increases recycling rates worldwide (over 40 jurisdictions like Germany, Brazil, Spain, Iceland, and more!) However, there are solutions in place that can help us reduce waste and ensure our items have a higher chance of getting recycled.ĮPR for packaging is a proven solution working around the world for reducing packaging waste. Recycling has always been a flawed system. While 9% wasn’t a high rate to begin with, it’s clear through this drop we’re not getting better at recycling. Plastic recycling rates have dropped from 9% to 5% in recent years. Since then, Western nations have been puzzling over what to do when the ban went into effect. In 2017, China stopped accepting our recycling.

Our recycling systems are being overwhelmed by wasteful packaging and plastic pollution that can’t be recycled.

Why does extended producer responsibility matter? This will provide incentives for producers to choose more readily recyclable packaging and also use less packaging. The net amount of packaging sold into the state.This places a fee on producers based on their packaging choices. While this law does not limit a producer’s packaging options, it does shift the cost of managing packaging waste from municipalities and citizens onto the producers. These funds will be used to reimburse municipalities for eligible recycling and waste management costs, make investments in recycling infrastructure, and help Maine citizens understand how to recycle.Manufacturers of products will pay into a fund based on the amount and the recyclability of packaging associated with their products.how can I help enact epr laws in my state?Įxtended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is an environmental policy approach in which a producer’s responsibility for a product is extended to the post-consumer stage of a product’s life cycle.why does extended producer responsibility matter?.

What does matter mean