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Plastic now considered toxic under Canadian environmental protection act

Under rules proposed in October 2020, "Canada will ban six single-use plastic items, like straws and six-pack rings, create incentives for companies to use recycled plastic, and force plastic producers to pay for recycling." On May 12, 2021, the Canadian government added "plastic manufactured items to Schedule 1" of the environmental protection act, which will allow th

Carpet industry to pay $1 million for recycling failures

The stewardship organization representing carpet manufacturers - Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) - will pay the state of California by June 15, 2021, "$1,175,000 in penalties for its repeated failure from 2013 through 2016 to meet recycling and landfill diversion goals under California’s Carpet Product Stewardship Law," according to a March 30, 2021 CalRecycle news release.

EPR for Packaging: then and now

In a March 2021 post, UPSTREAM reflects on recent ups and downs in extended producer responsibility legislation: "EPR for packaging is a foundational policy for a circular economy, and we need to get it firmly established in the United States. The US has been the holdover from the rest of the Global North and increasingly the Global South.

Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act - March 2021

Introduced in 2020, sponsors Rep. Lowenthal and Sen. Merkley

PaintCare Washington - new paint EPR program began April 1, 2021

PaintCare logoThe long awaited statewide paint producer responsibility program operated by PaintCare, enacted in 2019, and overseen

Washington legislation update - February 2021

Washington's  session runs Jan. 11 to April 26, 2021:Washington needs producer responsibility (YouTube screen shot)

Oregon legislation update - February 2021

Oregon's session runs Jan. 19 to June 28, 2021:

EPR for PPP in other states

As of February 2021, packaging extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation has been introduced in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington this year. Legislators in these nine states have joined together to fo

21 producer responsibility programs in British Columbia

A two-part, February 2021 series in Waste 360 examines British Columbia's 21 producer responsibility programs as well as Ontario's plans to update their packaging EPR program. 

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