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The Washington State House of Representatives has approved a bill designed to modernize the state’s recycling system by shifting responsibility to producers to ensure a more efficient and sustainable approach to solid waste management. But not everyone is on board.
Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5284, known as the Recycling Reform Act, passed the House Monday on a 51-45 vote. It aims to improve solid waste management by establishing a statewide recycling program and implementing extended producer responsibility for consumer packaging and paper products. This means manufacturers and brands would be responsible for funding and managing the recycling of their packaging, shifting costs from consumers to producers.
Other provisions of the bill include increased access to recycling across Washington, where currently 58% of jurisdictions provide access to curbside recycling; 11 counties have no curbside recycling at all.
The bill was amended in the House. That means it now goes back to the Senate for a concurrence vote before it can be signed into law by the governor.
“The passage of this bill represents a historic step forward for our state to a cleaner, more accessible, and more sustainable recycling system,” Sen. Liz Lovelett, D-Anacortes, the bill’s prime sponsor, said in a news release. “Today we are all celebrating progress to reduce pollution, improve recycling rates, and divert materials away from landfills.”
Not everyone is celebrating what would be a major overhaul of the state's recycling system bankrolled by companies that make single-use packaging.
That includes Brad Lovaas, executive director of the Washington Refuse & Recycling Association, a statewide trade association representing the solid waste and recycling industry in Washington.
“As the solid waste and recycling companies proudly partnering with Washingtonians to achieve a recycling rate of 49%-50% above the national average, we are disappointed that the Legislature is moving forward to toss aside our state’s affordable, effective and local recycling system in favor of an expensive, unproven approach run by multinational packaging companies,” Lovaas said in a statement emailed to The Center Square.”
He went on to say, “We continue to believe that our state should conduct a Needs Assessment before prescribing a massive investment while short on data and results in the United States. As proposed in this legislation, the cost of common grocery items will go up at a time of already record inflation as the packaging companies pass on their higher costs to consumers.”
If the bill becomes law, Washington will become the seventh state to adopt laws establishing extended producer responsibility, or EPR, for the packaging, joining Maine, Oregon, California, Colorado, Maryland and Minnesota.
EPR programs are designed to ensure producers take responsibility for reducing the environmental impact of packaging. Under the legislation, EPR would be fully implemented in the state by 2030.