Legislation is key to driving positive change with regard to improving recycling collections and infrastructure on the journey to net zero. Whilst revisiting US Legislation to keep abreast of change, I find myself questioning how much progress is the US actually making?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last recorded packaging waste for the US at 92.2 million tons generated and this was in 2018.
Since then, the population has grown by 0.5% or 1,256,003 and with the growth that I am sure brands have been striving for, that tonnage must have increased
Gaynor Denton-Bray
The Federal framework which has driven legislation and commitment is the ‘Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act’ which was a response to the ban on plastic imports to China to reassess the domestic packaging waste handling processes. This Bill reached the US Senate for review on 25th March 2021. Obviously Federal laws require a lot of steps to pass into legislature, but almost 2 years later there has been no movement. As a result, some states have taken matters into their own hands to drive change.
The US is governed by Federal Law as well as individual State Laws, which results in vast differences between legislation in one state versus another, with the additional complication of the time that Bills sit with senate to be passed. Furthermore, packaging recycling collections, sorting and processing is also inconsistent across the country with over 85,000 local Governments, however despite growth in recycling rates, the majority of waste still ends up in landfill.
Some states are leading the way with Bottle Bills and EPR committing to targets to drive change. California is an example of one of the more forwards-thinking states and have set a range of targets, shown in the table below:
Conversely, Vermont’s proposed EPR Bill did not pass senate prior to Christmas for which there is no reason published at this time.
Major retailers and leading brands are going further than legislation to make a real difference, with their own approved/banned materials lists, PCR content requirements and engaging in re-fill/re-use options where appropriate. Walmart is a great example, with Project Gigaton through which it aims to reduce or avoid one billion metric tons of greenhouse gases from the global value chain by 2030. It is doing this by improving its own supply chains and operations as well as engaging with its suppliers to deliver further improvements. This highlights the awareness that there is a need for change and a drive to provide solutions to support change.
However, with legislation being at State Level I believe that the US have a significant challenge which impacts retailers and brands alike. The key challenges being that if they develop products in packaging which meets the needs of major retailers and certain states, they may find themselves producing the same products in an alternative pack format for acceptance US-wide.
A common example of this issue is the different PCR requirements by state combined with a lack of recycled content availability. This results in split sourcing to meet the requirements of the most stringent states then having to use a different spec for the remaining states, adding logistical and data management challenges. I cannot help but think this is counter-productive, as it can result in increased material usage and potentially an increase of CO2 impact from operational functions.
Whilst I appreciate that the US is vast and diverse, a drive to deliver US-wide unity and alignment from a waste collection and recycling perspective would be a sensible approach. It would help to further improve recycling rates, easing complexity for producers and manufacturers alike whilst allowing for consistent end of life labelling to drive consumer understanding and engagement. This is not dissimilar to the EPR situation in the EU at present where EU members are all operating differently however, there is the commitment in the EU to drive harmonisation and alignment to improve the situation, will the US commit to state alignment to improve the situation?
I will keep monitoring the situation and proposed Legislation, hoping that 2023 brings further commitment and alignment.