Push is on to curb packaging debris

BOXED IN? Packaging & More owners Tony, left, and Vincent Fonseca say potential changes to debris regulations could impact their business. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
BOXED IN? Packaging & More owners Tony, left, and Vincent Fonseca say potential changes to debris regulations could impact their business. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

Businesses that package their own brands are facing increased pressure in Rhode Island to take more responsibility, including more of the financial burden, for reducing, recycling and disposing of packaging materials.
The pressure is coming on two fronts – land and water.
On the water side, Rep. Donna Walsh, D-Charlestown, introduced legislation Jan. 29 intended to reduce marine debris and increase recycling in the state. However, the bill is not actually all about debris in the water.
“Eighty percent of marine debris comes from the land,” said Jamie Rhodes, Rhode Island director of Clean Water Action.
The legislation proposes establishment of an organization managed and financed by the packaging producers, called a producer-responsibility organization, to oversee recycling and disposal.
The simplest way to define a producer is basically, if your name is on it, it’s yours.
So, for example, Coca Cola would be responsible for bottles in Rhode Island, not the convenience store that sells it, Rhodes said. But, if a tea imported from China is distributed by a U.S. company, which is often named on the label, the American company would have responsibility for disposing of the packaging.
The legislation proposes to take the responsibility and cost of collection and recycling of packaging off cash-strapped cities and towns, Rhodes said.
Manufacturers facing an assessment based on sales of their branded products would have a vested interest in efficient and cost-saving recycling measures, Rhodes said.
The second source of pressure is the Senate Commission to Study Producer Responsibility Models for Paper and Packing, which began work in November, has been holding hearings, and is expected to release its findings in March.
That group is studying a wide range of options to cut down on packaging and emphasize producer responsibility, said Rhodes, who is a member of the commission. Having manufacturers share costs and responsibility with municipalities is among options being studied, as well as more focused use of the existing litter and beverage tax, he said.

Both the proposed legislation in the House and the Senate study commission follow similar goals, if not details, to shift the responsibility of recycling to the producers of the packaging, Rhodes said.
While environmental groups emphasize anticipated cost savings to municipal taxpayers if businesses take over recycling, some companies are not enthusiastic about the proposed mandated changes.
“Hasbro supports industry solutions to waste, rather than government-mandated waste fees or take-back programs,” Hasbro Inc. spokesman Wayne Charness said in an email to Providence Business News.
Businesses have pointed to their voluntary sustainability practices as a means of addressing debris and landfill issues. Pawtucket-based Hasbro is among them.
“Sustainability is a corporate priority at Hasbro, and we have made and continue to make significant progress in reducing waste and developing sustainable product and packaging,” Charness said. “We use recycled or sustainably sourced paper in our packaging and have eliminated PVC in new packaging being produced this year. 
“Additionally, we support Rhode Island’s single-stream recycling program and operate a zero-waste manufacturing facility in Massachusetts,” Charness said.
Toy Industry Association spokesman Andy Hackman, who made a Dec. 6 presentation to the Senate commission studying packaging told PBN, “We support a more market-driven approach to getting products back and diverting them from the landfill.”
Hackman said Hasbro is a member of the association, as is 85 percent of the toy industry.
“We would oppose a government mandate to take every one of our products and packages back,” Hackman said. “To have a government-run program, specifically a Rhode Island mandate, would make it very difficult for multinational corporations in our industry. We try to make our products as environmentally sustainable as possible across the world.
“In terms of our products, there is no mandate similar to this across the toy industry,” Hackman said. “Our companies are not experts in collecting waste.”
Dunkin’ Donuts highlighted its voluntary sustainability measures in an email to PBN from spokeswoman Christine Riley.
“In the past few years we have reduced the weight of both our foam and plastic cups, eliminating 4.6 million pounds of material from the waste stream annually,” Riley said. “We have also switched to a 100 percent post-consumer fiber napkin and switched to usage-controlling dispensers, which together achieved a 25 percent reduction in napkin waste. We know that many people are concerned about the environmental impact of Dunkin’ Donuts Styrofoam cups, and we are working diligently to find an alternative.”

Michael Brown, owner of Packaging 2.0 with offices in Jamestown and Providence, designs, markets and sells packaging – all of it from 100 percent recycled materials. One of his clients is Whole Foods.
Brown said there are not enough available recycled materials to meet the needs of his business.
“Recycling rates in this country have been stagnant for 20 years,” Brown said. “We need something to drive recycling upward.”
Brown said he went on a sailing expedition last May to what’s called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a vast collection of marine debris.
“I’m for extended producer responsibility,” Brown said, referring to the concept being considered in Rhode Island and other places. “The last place I want to see my products end up is in the ocean.”
While shifting the responsibility for recycling to manufacturers has supporters and opponents, Tony Fonseca, owner of Packaging & More in Central Falls, would like to see more details.
Fonseca has been a distributor of packaging for 20 years. He buys food-service items, including cups and paper towels, and distributes them to retailers.
“The thing I like about the commission is that they’re talking to a lot of people in the industry and seeing where the information leads them,” Fonseca said. “And this might work if everything was neat and tied up and packaging was manufactured, sold and recycled in Rhode Island, if the whole production chain was in the state. But very little is manufactured here.”
From his perspective, the potential changes seem a bit distant from his business, but they are still a concern.
“I’m not a manufacturer. I’m not an end user. But I’m concerned because I don’t know where this is headed and I assume it will eventually impact my business. My industry seems to be the target,” Fonseca said.
Identifying manufacturers and packaging with specific brands coming from all over the country, or the world, assessing fees, and how it would all play out seems a complicated option, at least at this point in the process, he said
“For every question that gets answered,” said Fonseca, “another question comes up.”

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