AF&PA Resists Colorado House Bill for EPR Program

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) has raised opposition to Colorado’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme. It must be noted that the Colorado General Assembly had recently passed House Bill HB22-1355, which proposes to create an EPR program in the state.

The statement issued in response to this by Terry Webber, Vice President of Industry Affairs at AF&PA noted that the association is disappointed with the Colorado State House’s passage of a command-and-control EPR program that includes paper. He added that paper recycling has proved to be a model that works fine.

According to AF&PA, EPR is not the right policy approach for sustainable paper products. This is quite evident from consistently high recycling rates for paper, continuous industry investments and ongoing efforts to promote voluntary recycling. Instead, Colorado should focus on addressing barriers to recycling access. Furthermore, it encouraged the Colorado State Senate to vote to oppose the misguided EPR legislation.

HB22-1355 poses to create producer responsibility program for statewide recycling. Accordingly, a nonprofit organization would be designated to implement and manage a statewide recycling program on or before June 1, 2023, which will be funded by responsibility dues paid by producers.

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