Late Monday night, the Recycling Reform Act (SB 5284) successfully passed through Washington’s House of Representatives. It took Representatives 4 hours to debate the Recycling Reform Act and various amendments, but they finally came to a vote of 51 to 45.
The bill has been voted through both Washington’s Senate and House chambers, so after a concurrence vote it will head to Governor Ferguson’s desk to be signed into law.
This is a huge victory for Washingtonians, as they will soon join the 5+ other states that have similar legislation in place to tackle plastic pollution.
What is the Recycling Reform Act?
Championed by Representative Liz Berry and Senator Liz Lovelett, SB 5284 aims to increase Washington’s recycling rates and reduce the amount of wasteful packaging that ends up polluting our environment.
We are seeing more and more plastic overwhelm our everyday lives, and Washington’s recycling systems haven’t been able to keep up. In Washington, more than 50% of consumer packaging and paper products are landfilled or incinerated, wasting an extraordinary amount of material that could have been recycled.
The Recycling Reform Act will improve our state’s recycling rates by creating a producer responsibility program that holds companies financially responsible for the waste their packaging creates, which will take the financial burden off of taxpayers.
Right now, 11 counties in Washington don’t have access to curbside recycling, and in recent years, residents across the state have seen their recycling utility bills increase over 30%.
Once signed by the Governor, the Recycling Reform Act will expand recycling across the state, giving free curbside recycling to an estimated 500,000 more homes in Washington. With the cost of recycling shifting to producers, residents will see a reduction in their utility bills.
It will also reduce recycling confusion by creating one list of what can and can’t be recycled across the state and ensure that the materials we put in our blue recycling bins will actually be recycled.
This achievement wouldn’t be possible without the members, students, and grassroots activists who have made their voices heard and advocated for solutions to our plastic problem.
