The Washington Senate passed legislation requiring increased recycled content in plastic beverage containers, trash bags and bottles for household products – ban expanded polystyrene food ware, recreational coolers and packing peanuts and requires that utensils, straws, cup lids and condiments only be provided to customers on request.
SB 5022, sponsored by Sen. Mona Das (D-Kent), builds on a bill Das championed in 2020 that banned thin plastic carry-out bags and required that thicker plastic bags consist of 40 percent post-consumer recycled content.
“Plastic and expanded polystyrene have become huge problems,” said Das, “not only for the damage that plastic and foam waste does to Washington’s landscape and wildlife, but also because they are a growing part of our state’s solid waste management challenge.
Addressing plastic and, especially, expanded polystyrene is popular with the public. A recent Public Policy Polling survey of bipartisan participants in Colorado, Florida, Maine and Washington state found that upwards of 76 percent would like to see more legislation to reduce plastic and water pollution. A majority (57 percent) of people support a statewide ban on foam takeout containers.
SB 5022 would require beverage manufacturers to meet progressive levels of post-consumer recycled content in their plastic containers, averaged across all sales and distribution. This would apply to most beverages in containers sized between two ounces and a gallon and would exempt infant formula or medical foods. It would also exempt some containers like refillable containers, wine bladders and medical products.
By 2023, at least 15 percent of a product’s weight would need to be recycled content, increasing to 25 percent by 2026 and 50 percent by 2031. Dairy milk containers would be extended an additional five years. Similar standards would be established for recycled content in bottles and jugs for household cleaning and personal care products. Recycled content standards for plastic trash bags start at 10 percent in 2023, 15 percent in 2025, and 20 percent in and after 2027. Biomedical and dangerous waste bags would be exempted.
The sale or distribution of the following products would be prohibited beginning June 2023: most portable coolers, most food service ware and containers, and expanded polystyrene packing peanuts.
The bill would also require that food service businesses provide plastic accessories only upon request, beginning in 2022, with some exceptions made for hot beverage lids, drive-throughs and delivery services.
The bill now moves on to consideration in the House.
Published in the April 2021 Edition
