skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, July 26, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Arson attacks paralyze French high-speed rail network hours before start of Olympics, the Obamas endorse Harris for President; A NY county creates facial recognition, privacy protections; Art breathes new life into pollution-ravaged MI community; 34 Years of the ADA.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Harris meets with Israeli PM Netanyahu and calls for a ceasefire. MI Rep. Rashida Tlaib faces backlash for a protest during Netanyahu's speech. And VA Sen. Mark Warner advocates for student debt relief.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

There's a gap between how rural and urban folks feel about the economy, Colorado's 'Rural is Rad' aims to connect outdoor businesses, more than a dozen of Maine's infrastructure sites face repeated flooding, and chocolate chip cookies rock August.

WA Bill Introduced to 'WRAP' Up Wasteful Packaging

play audio
Play

Thursday, January 5, 2023   

A bill in Olympia aims to reduce packaging and improve recycling in Washington state.

The Washington Recycling and Packaging or WRAP Act is designed to cut down on unnecessary packaging, which often in plastic, used only once and hard to recycle. One part of the legislation will create a producer responsibility system, which requires companies to be responsible for packaging at the end of its life.

Mazzi Nowicki, a University of Washington student and beyond plastics coordinator for WASHPIRG Students, said the measure would hold producers responsible.

"Recycling in general is really expensive and ends up as a burden on consumers, local governments, taxpayers," Nowicki pointed out. "Whereas that cost should be put on producers instead."

Residents in 11 Washington state counties do not have access to recycling. More than half of Washington's consumer paper and packaging ends up in landfills and incinerators, according to an analyst with Seattle Public Utilities.

Plastics producers and recyclers say the policy will not be useful if it creates too many onerous regulations on their industries.

The legislation was unveiled at an event at the Seattle Aquarium on Wednesday and will be championed by Sen. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, and Rep. Liz Berry, D-Seattle.

Nora Nickum, senior ocean policy manager at the Seattle Aquarium, said under the WRAP Act, packaging producers would pay into a program, which would go toward recycling infrastructure.

"But they would pay less into the system if what they are making is more sustainable," Nickum explained. "So that would be a built-in incentive to redesign things in a way that's more environmentally friendly."

In 2017, Washington state residents and businesses produced about 410,000 tons of plastic packaging waste, and only about 17% of the waste was collected for recycling.

Nickum noted plastic is harmful for the environment and wildlife, especially as it breaks down into microplastics.

"Dealing with the problem of waste in the environment is much easier to address at the source before it gets into the environment in the first place," Nickum stressed. "Because it is so hard to clean up once it's there."

Similar producer-responsibility legislation has been passed in other states, including California and Oregon. The WRAP Act also will establish a bottle-deposit program. The legislative session begins on Monday.

Disclosure: The Seattle Aquarium contributes to our fund for reporting on Animal Welfare, Education, Endangered Species and Wildlife, and Oceans. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
According to the Tax Policy Center, for higher-income earners, sales taxes consume a lower share of their income than for other households. (Vitalii Vodolazskyi/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

As Nebraska state lawmakers convene for a special session on property tax reform called by Gov. Jim Pillen, groups are weighing in on the details …


play sound

Traveling around rural Minnesota can be difficult but in more than half the state, nonprofit transit systems are helping people get where they need …

Social Issues

play sound

Student loan forgiveness took center stage on Thursday at the American Federation of Teachers conference. The Biden administration has canceled more …


Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has introduced legislation to codify the Chevron Deference into law. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Recent Supreme Court rulings on air pollution are affecting Virginia and the nation. Climate advocates said the court overstepped its bounds in …

Health and Wellness

play sound

World Hepatitis Day is this Sunday, and for the Oregon Health Authority, it's an opportunity to promote its plan to eliminate hepatitis across the …

The Gender Shades project revealed facial recognition performed poorest for darker-skinned women, and performed best for lighter-skinned men. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Columbia County, New York, is implementing new facial recognition and privacy policies, following new upgrades to the county's surveillance cameras…

Health and Wellness

play sound

New York disability-rights advocates are celebrating the 34th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The 1990 …

Social Issues

play sound

As summer winds down and North Carolina students prepare to return to school, the focus shifts to the urgent need for better public education funding…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021