Tell your governor: Hold plastic producers responsible for their waste

Dear Governor,

Producer responsibility laws shift the burden of waste management from the public to the producers of the waste. If a company makes products and packaging that become waste, it should take financial responsibility for cleaning up its mess.

Producer responsibility laws can require producers to physically collect their products at the end of their use or can require producers to pay fees based on their products’ negative impact that would fund the proper collection and disposal of their products.

Producers would be incentivized to use more sustainable materials and reduce their use of plastic. It would also increase how many materials are recycled into new products by using fees to fund recycling programs.

These kinds of programs can help reduce plastic at the source, meaning less of it ends up in our lives, communities and the environment.

I urge you to support producer responsibility legislation for packaging and help our state reduce its plastic waste.