PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 16, 2025
The packaging industry strategy has been simple: convince individuals it is their responsibility for litter, not the manufacturers. In addition to the annual $11.5 billion spent on litter collection, the costs for collecting, transporting, sorting and recycling materials, including plastics, is about $400 per ton. Who is responsible for these costs? 50 state governments, 38,736 local governments and 127,483 million households, enabling producers to externalize the costs of collecting and recycling their single-use products. There is a simple, effective approach to reduce plastic pollution and increase recycling: shift financial responsibility for packaging waste to producers through extended producer responsibility (EPR). EPR is the most cost-effective approach to improve packaging, reduce costs, increase recycling and minimize plastic pollution. ~ Megan Mansfield-Pryor, councilor-at-large for the city of Bath; Travis Wagner, Ph.D., professor emeritus of environmental science and policy at the University of Southern Maine