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The Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce (“Subcommittee”) held a March 4th hearing titled:
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Reform: Addressing America’s Plastic Waste Crisis (“Hearing”)
The Hearing focused on issues relating to recycling and waste management in the United States.
A Subcommittee Memorandum (“Memorandum”) prepared prior to the Hearing addressed:
- United States Environmental Protection Agency regulation of household, industrial, and manufacturing wastes under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
- Climate Impacts of Plastics and Recycling
- Recycling and Waste Management in the United States
- Global Challenges
- United States Challenges
The Memorandum describes its view on possible policy solutions or mechanisms as including:
- Extended producer responsibility (EPR), which shifts the cost of managing postconsumer waste away from municipalities and onto producers;
- Container deposit programs, in which a small fee for packaging is levied at the point of purchase and refunded to the consumer upon return of the original material;
- Post-consumer recycled (PCR) content requirements, which require a minimum amount of recycled material in specified products;
- Fees or taxes on single-use items or certain materials;
- Bans or restrictions on single-use items or certain materials;
- Infrastructure investments to improve waste sorting and processing; and
- Improved labeling and education to clarify recycling rules.
Witnesses testifying at the Hearing included:
Jenna Jambeck, Ph.D.
Professor, College of Engineering
University of Georgia
Enrique C. Zaldivar, P.E.
General Manager, Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment Bureau
City of Los Angeles
Lynn Hoffman
Co-President
Eureka Recycling
Denise Patel
U.S. Program Director
Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives
Keith Christman
Managing Director, Plastic Markets
American Chemistry Council
William H. Johnson
Chief Lobbyist
Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc.
A copy of the Memorandum and a link to the witnesses’ written statements can be found here.
