News

Washington State's manufacturer operated and Dept. of Health overseen Safe Medication Return EPR program, has a new website and locator as of 2023 - find a mail-back option or free and convenient location near you: MedTakeBackWashington.org 

Forbes, Feb.

In a Feb. 2023 article in Resource Recycling, Seattle Public Utilities voiced their support of the Washington Recycling and Packaging (WRAP) Act, arguing that although Seattle has developed a very successful recycling program over the years, it is impossible to keep up with the rapid changes in the packaging industry.

In a Feb. 2023 interview with Waste Dive, Jules Bailey, the CEO of the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative, discussed recent changes to Oregon’s bottle bill, upcoming and anticipated updates to the program, the success of the refillable glass bottle segment of the program, and how extended producer responsibility for packaging and bottle bills can coexist.

This Dec. 2022 fun and educational video, developed by the Natural Resources Council of Maine, provides a high-level overview of how EPR programs function and explains the multitude of benefits associated with EPR for packaging programs.

The new cigarette EPR program in Spain will obligate tobacco companies to pay for cleanup. Millions of toxic butts are littered each year in streets and on beaches. In 2021 the country banned smoking on 525 beaches with the hope of reducing public smoking.

Waste Dive, Jan. 2023: "Washington’s proposed WRAP Act would enact EPR for packaging and printed paper, but also establish recycling and reuse targets, enforce "truthful labeling" of recyclable products, and require scaled levels of postconsumer recycled content for certain packaging.