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    We never got good at recycling plastic. Some states are trying a new approach

    New York is the latest, and largest, state to consider charging product-makers to dispose of their packaging. But lawmakers are clashing over how much to involve industry in creating a new system.
    by Matthew Schuerman May 27, 2022 4 minutes
    A worker carries used drink bottles and cans for recycling at a collection point in Brooklyn, New York. Three decades of recycling have so far failed to reduce what we throw away, especially plastics.

    After recycling's failure to appreciably reduce the amount of plastic the U.S. throws away, some states are taking a new approach, transferring the onus of recycling from consumers to product manufacturers.

    In the past 12 months, legislatures in Maine, Oregon and Colorado have passed "extended producer responsibility" laws on packaging. The legislation essentially forces producers of consumer goods — such as beverage-makers, shampoo companies and food corporations — to pay for the disposal of the packages and containers their products come in. The process is intended to nudge manufacturers to use more easily recyclable materials, compostable packaging or less packaging.

    Now, the New York legislature is deliberating two extended producer responsibility bills as its session nears its June 2 close. Lobbying by business and environmental

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