Committee hears S.139: packaging needs assessment and proposed ban on plastic feedstock for chemical conversion technologies

The Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee heard a detailed presentation of S.139, a two-part bill that would require ANR to complete a needs assessment on packaging management in Vermont and would prohibit the use of plastic as feedstock in specified chemical conversion technologies.

Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, testified in support of studying packaging reduction and EPR options and described health and environmental concerns linked to plastic and microplastics. Burns said, "This is an area that we may have disagreements on other things. I think there's an opportunity for broad reading... almost everybody I talk with thinks that they are exposed to too much, particularly, single use plastic waste."…