Minnesota is among a small but growing number of places where bills have been introduced to achieve what advocates call Enhanced Producer Responsibility policies. California, Oregon, Maine and Colorado have passed legislation. None have been implemented yet. “Individual action to decide to recycle something and put it into a recycle bin rather than a trash can really matters,” Eureka Recycling co-president Katie Drews said. “But we really need that policy to actually move the needle forward.”
Deciding where to point that needle is the challenge. At the Capitol, lawmakers are considering what kind of packaging to include, how to incentivize new approaches and, most controversial of all, who should pay to reclaim materials that might otherwise wind up in landfills. Drews said there is “a really well built-up recycling infrastructure” in Minnesota and packaging should be “created so that it can effectively flow through our facilities.”
Backers voice concerns about waste, climate change and the level of microplastics detected in the blood and lungs of humans. “There are estimates that Americans consume, on average, one credit card worth of plastic every week,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Sydney Jordan, DFL-Minneapolis. Under the proposed legislation, an advisory board would come up with ideas for reducing non-recyclable packaging materials. Packaging companies would have to register with a new organization and pay fees.