The state Senate approved legislation to require increased recycled content in plastic beverage containers, trash bags and bottles for household products. The measure also would ban expanded polystyrene food ware, recreational coolers and packing peanuts; and require that utensils, straws, cup lids and condiments only be provided to customers on request.
Senate Bill 5022, sponsored by Sen. Mona Das, D-Kent, builds on a bill Das championed in 2020 that banned thin plastic carry-out bags and required that thicker plastic bags consist of 40% post-consumer recycled content. “Plastic and expanded polystyrene have become huge problems, not only for the damage that plastic and foam waste does to our beautiful Washington landscape and wildlife, but also because they are a growing part of our state’s solid waste management challenge,” Das said in a Senate Democrats news release.
“That’s why the Washington Legislature has taken groundbreaking steps in recent years to address the problem of plastic and why continuing that progress is so important,” she said.
Addressing plastic and, especially, expanded polystyrene is popular with the public. A recent Public Policy Polling survey of bipartisan participants in Colorado, Florida, Maine and Washington state found that upwards of 76% would like to see more legislation to reduce plastic and water pollution. A majority (57%) of people surveyed say they support a statewide ban on foam takeout containers, while just 26% say they oppose it, according to the news release.