Three EPR Packaging Bills Proposed In New York
to achieve post-consumer recovery and recycling rates. Senate Bill 4246 would require companies with a net income of more than $1 million that sell or distribute cer- tain materials and products to reduce packaging, improve recycling and recycling infrastructure, financially support municipal recycling programs, and reduce toxins in pack- aging. Chase Kammerer, Technical Services Manager of the Fibre Box Association, reported recently that corrugated packaging is not included in most of the bills passed re- cently in other states (Washington, California, Colorado, Oregon, and Maine) with the OCC recycling rate being near 90 percent for the past decade. The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) has stressed that EPR programs need to be implemented with care and has urged lawmakers to understand that these programs work for products that are difficult to collect or process or have low recycling rates — none of which ap- plies to paper or paper-based packaging. “Our industry creates sustainable paper products used every day by millions of people making paper one of the most widely recycled materials in the world,” the AF&PA has said. “EPR programs should not be a singular, comprehen- sive answer, but part of a broad-based solution. A solution where the responsibilities of all the stakeholders are prop- erly attributed and fulfilled, and all material types bear a fair share.”
Several states have adopted legislation in support of ex- tended producer responsibility (EPR) in recent years and New York is now positioning to become the sixth state to do so in the US. EPR is an environmental policy that places responsibility on producers to manage products, includ- ing packaging and paper, in the post-consumer stage of a product’s life cycle. As reported in resource-recycling.com , New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has introduced EPR as part of the state bud- get under the Waste Reduction and Recycling Infrastruc- ture Act and two senate bills have been introduced that are under consideration with the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee. In her 2023 State of the State, Gov. Kathy Hochul says, “When producers are required to move away from dis- posal and instead consider the total life cycle of a prod- uct, they are incentivized to innovate products to reduce waste, reuse products and materials, and design products to be recycled instead of thrown away.” Senate Bill 1064 includes several requirements placed on packaging material producers to implement a produc- er responsibility program including a list of the types and brands of packaging products; a funding mechanism for implementation; and the methods the producer would use
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8 April 3, 2023
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