Who Should Pay for Recycling? How Recycling Laws Are Changing Across America
New laws are shifting what recycling looks like for companies and communities
Who should pay for recycling: consumers, communities or the companies that make the packaging?
In this episode of Do Beautiful Things, Jenny Lawson, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful, sits down with sustainability and recycling expert Michael Washburn to unpack extended producer responsibility, or EPR, and what a growing wave of state laws could mean for the future of recycling.
They explore how EPR shifts more responsibility for collecting and recycling packaging to producers, along with what early implementation in states such as California and Oregon could mean for recycling access, infrastructure and packaging design. The conversation also looks at California’s efforts to reduce plastic packaging and Oregon’s expansion of recycling collection, including in rural communities.
The discussion goes beyond packaging, too, examining emerging waste challenges from data centers, batteries and other products, and asking a bigger question: How can we keep valuable materials in use instead of throwing them away?
And while recycling policy may be changing, consumers still have an important role to play. Michael Washburn shares one of the simplest ways to help: know what is accepted locally and keep nonrecyclable items out of the recycling bin.
Listen to the episode to learn how recycling is changing, what EPR could mean for communities and why the future of recycling depends on all of us.
About Keep America Beautiful®:
For nearly 75 years, Keep America Beautiful has inspired people across the U.S. to care for the communities and shared spaces they love. Through our nationwide network of local affiliates and our partnerships with businesses, governments, and community leaders, we support the efforts of millions of volunteers to reduce litter, improve recycling, and make America’s neighborhoods, parks, and public spaces cleaner, greener, and more beautiful. Learn more at kab.org.
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