Achieving a more circular economy for packaging and paper products (PPP) is a critical part of the state of Washington’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect the economy and environment from the effects of climate change.
Despite increasing investments in recycling services, less than half of all packaging and paper waste
generated by residents in the state is recycled, and the state’s recycling rate has been on a declining
trend since 2011.
Moreover, changes in packaging designs, shifts in consumer habits, and local recycling market
disruptions have made recycling services more expensive and challenging to deliver, and many local
governments and service providers in Washington have been forced to increase residents’ utility
rates, cut recycling services, or both.
Numerous groups and studies have identified that Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is the
preferred policy approach for improving Washington’s recycling system for packaging and paper products (PPP).
EPR for PPP transfers the cost of recycling from households onto the companies that are responsible for
placing the products and packaging on the market. This policy approach is used widely throughout Europe and Canada and across much of the developed world, and its use is growing in the U.S.
To better understand the potential costs and benefits of implementing an EPR policy for packaging and
paper products in Washington, the Northwest Product Stewardship Council commissioned Eunomia Research & Consulting to provide an overview of the costs and benefits of a future system with EPR compared to the current system of recycling services provided in the state.
