On May 17, 2021, Governor Inslee signed into law SB 5022 to reduce plastic pollution and improve recycling (final text of the bill as passed).

The law bans expanded polystyrene (EPS) peanuts, coolers and foodware; requires businesses to provide single-use utensils, cups, lids and other foodware only upon customer request; and ensures that plastic beverage bottles, household cleaning and personal care bottles, plus trash bags, contain minimum levels of post-consumer recycled content. These elements will be phased in from 2022 to 2024.

While Washington is the sixth state in the nation to adopt a statewide ban on expanded polystyrene products, it is also the most far-reaching. The law is also the first in the nation to comprehensively require people to "opt-in" for single-use foodware (utensils, cup lids, and condiments), and the first law to require recycled content in household cleaning and personal care containers.

Read the press release from state Senate Democrats, and the press release from supporting organizations Zero Waste Washington, Environment Washington, Latino Community Fund of Washington, Oceana, Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, the Seattle Aquarium, and the Surfrider Foundation. NBC, The Stranger, KING5, Skagit Valley Herald, and the Surfrider Foundation covered the news.

Bill History

SB 5022's companion, HB 1118, did not receive a hearing in 2021, but retains its producer responsibility system requirements, and remains in the House to possibly be considered again in the second year of the biennium, 2022.

Watch video of SB 5022's one-hour Jan. 26, 2021 hearing in the Senate Environment, Energy, and Technology committee.

HB 1118 would create a circular economy for packaging and paper products (PPP) in Washington, increase the amount of materials that are collected and recycled responsibly, create new markets by requiring producers to use the materials in new products and packaging, enhance the domestic processing infrastructure, reduce greenhouse gases, and create new jobs in Washington. The bill is a paradigm shift from current recycling programs where it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine the fate of recyclable materials that are collected from residents.

HB 1118 builds on the plastic packaging report and recommendations submitted to the legislature in October 2020, which was the result of the study bill passed in 2019. Watch video of the Senate Environment, Energy, and Technology committee's Dec. 1, 2020, 15-min work session reviewing the plastic packaging report and recommendations.

In October 2020, Zero Waste Washington, the Washington Beverage Association, and WSRA hosted an online tour of Recycle BC's residential recycling EPR program, with Washington State legislators and Recycle BC program staff - watch a video recording of the tour.

In the news

Das bill would require recycling and reuse standards in new products and packaging: Auburn Examiner, Jan. 11, 2021
With recycling’s dirty truths exposed, Washington works toward a cleaner, more sustainable system: Seattle Times, April 2020