On May 13, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has signed Senate Bill 901 (S.B. 901) into law, which will establish a statewide extended producer responsibility (EPR) program for packaging. Maryland has now become the sixth state in the U.S. to enact such packaging EPR legislation. The law, which passed the Maryland General Assembly on April 7, would require packaging producers to fund and manage the recycling system. S.B. 901 incorporates best practices from the Boston-based Product Stewardship Institute’s (PSI’s) national packaging EPR model. Under the law, producers must join a producer responsibility organization (PRO) that will submit an implementation plan to a multistakeholder advisory council and the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) for approval. The PRO will assess “eco-modulated” fees that producers will pay based on the sustainability of packaging materials—incentivizing reduction, reuse, recycling and composting. More...
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