Tennessee committee hears industry pitch for Extended Producer Responsibility to curb landfill growth

At a meeting of the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee, industry and recycling advocates outlined what they called a statewide solid-waste problem and urged lawmakers to consider Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR, and changes to permitting to expand recycling infrastructure.

The presentation was led by Gary Cohen, volunteer outreach director for the Tennessee Waste to Jobs Coalition, who said packaging accounts for a large share of the state's solid waste and that producers can fund collection through an EPR model rather than relying on taxpayers. "EPR or Extended Producer Responsibility Policy is a non taxpayer sustainable funding source," Cohen said. The committee also heard from Cody Marshall of The Recycling Partnership, Donna Capecchi of Kaiser Aluminum and Don Haines of Florham USA, and a separate presentation from Katie Rafferty Evans of the National Waste and Recycling Association.

Why it matters: Presenters said Tennessee manufacturers want recycled feedstock that now often goes to landfills or is imported, and that the state lacks collection, sortation and permitting capacity to meet demand. Cohen and others gave figures the committee tied to the problem: Tennessee's recycling rate was cited as about 12%, resident participation about 47%, and roughly 900,000 tons of potentially recyclable materials go to landfill annually.…