- EPR stands for Extended Producer Responsibility. It seeks to make the manufacturers of disposables responsible for lessening the safety, environmental, and economic repercussions of their products as they reach the end of their use.
- These bills, up for a vote in the legislatures of nine states, would require producers of packaging (cups, bottles, boxes, etc.) to be both financially and legally responsible for the environmental impact of their products.
- EPR programs already exist for the disposal of products like paint and mattresses, but pressure has mounted from Democratic politicians and environmental activists for reform in the plastics field in response to the trash crisis in the United States.
- Canada, Japan, South Korea, and the European Union currently have EPR programs operating at full capacity.
- Individuals would receive a break off of their state and local taxes which would be transferred to the producers and distributers of this waste. These programs would take budgetary strain off of beleaguered state and local governments as well as individuals recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic
- Rethinking needs to be done as to how to continue service delivery to areas that rely on a subscription based system of trash removal.
- The ultimate goal of EPR Programs is to reach a world where waste is eliminated. A mandate of this type is being coined by ecologists and economists as a “circular economy” or the “circularity”, where resources are continually put to use, from raw materials, to production, consumption, waste management, and back into raw materials.
—Jacob Rosen