Maryland committee hears debate on SB901 to create extended producer responsibility program for packaging and paper

Sen. Malcolm Augustine, sponsor of Senate Bill 901, told the House Environment and Transportation Committee on March 27 that SB901 would establish an extended producer responsibility program for covered packaging and paper products and asked the committee for a favorable report. "This is a consensus bill," Augustine said, describing the legislation as built from the committee's 2023 needs assessment and the advisory council's recommendations.

The bill would require the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to maintain a decennial needs assessment and to approve producer responsibility plans developed by a producer responsibility organization (PRO). Augustine explained that plans would be updated every five years and would set performance targets, reimbursement processes and producer fee structures. "Those things will go into this producer responsibility plan that will... draw heavily on the needs assessment," he said.

Under the draft read at the hearing, the program phases in reimbursement to service providers over five years, starting with reimbursement at roughly 50% of eligible costs and "lever[ing] up to 90% cost recovery by February," Augustine said. Reimbursable items described at the hearing included capital improvements, collection and transportation, processing and contamination removal,…