When China stopped importing waste products like plastic, textiles, and paper at the beginning of 2018, recycling habits changed in the United States. Recycling is a feel-good exercise for many consumers. Unfortunately, there is still an absurd tonnage of recyclable waste going into landfills each year from an operational perspective.


Where do single-use plastics go once we've used them? In just one example from around the world, the Australian World Wildlife Fund states that "Shockingly, only 12% of plastics used in Australia ends up recycled. For years, we've been sending our plastic waste overseas to be processed, but now countries like China have refused to accept 99% of our rubbish. These days, our recyclable waste often ends up stockpiled in landfill, littered by the sides of roads, in our parks, nature and oceans. "Articles reviewed from all over the world (United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Thailand) had the same conclusion. Though consumers recycle a lot of plastic waste, most of it ends up in the garbage dump.


There is a bit of good news out there. Maine (United States) governor, Janet Mills, signed a piece of legislation earlier this month to help reform recycling. The burden of responsibility for recycling shifts from consumers to the manufacturer. How does it work? Businesses that use packaging materials pay a fee calculated, in part, by the total weight or tonnage of packaging they put on the market. A non-profit contracted and audited by the state, a stewardship organization, collects those fees. The stewardship organization distributes the money to municipal governments throughout the state to help offset recycling costs.


Over 26.2 million tons of plastic and 18 million tons of paper winds up in U.S. landfills every year. Packaging accounts for an estimated 40 percent of Maine's total garbage each year. The law is a disincentive for businesses and industries to use excessive packaging and packaging that is difficult to recycle.


Producers will also be required to cover 100 percent of recycling costs, and they will provide them with incentives to reduce the amount of recycling material through design fixes. They will also be charged more for packaging that is difficult to recycle or contains toxic materials.


Nearly all European Union member states, Japan, South Korea, and five Canadian provinces have laws like these. They have seen their recycling rates soar, and their collection programs remain resilient. For instance, Ireland's recycling rate for plastics and paper products rose from 19 percent in 2000 to 65 percent in 2017. According to an analysis by the Product Stewardship Institute, nearly every E.U. country with such programs has a recycling rate between 60 and 80 percent. In 2018, the most recent year for which data is available, America's recycling rate was 32 percent, declining a few years earlier.


Of local interest to this writer, Oregon governor Kate Brown also signed a similar bill on August 6, 2021, with producers putting up over a quarter of recycling costs. Locally we can keep the plastic and paper product producer’s feet to the fire in making it happen. Local watchdog groups and citizen committees can form groups that monitor and promote recycling in their cities and towns.