The Bottle Bill Works
WORKING FOR A COMMONSENSE BILL — WashPIRG is calling on Gov. Jay Inslee and the legislature to implement a 5-cent deposit on beverage containers to reduce litter and increase recycling.
To Increase Recycling
Washingtonians are recycling more than ever, but we’re still throwing away more than two-thirds of our plastic bottles! That’s why we’re working to pass a 5-cent redeemable deposit on beverage containers to increase recycling and put Washington on the path towards zero waste.
To Reduce Waste
The Bottle Bill is proven to be one of the nation’s most successful recycling programs. The 10 states with Bottle Bills have an average container recycling rate of 60 percent. And with budget cuts threatening our litter control programs, we need to take action to make sure our neighborhoods, parks and waterways don’t get trashed.
For Washington
Big beverage companies and waste haulers will fight to maintain the status quo. But by demonstrating the public’s overwhelming support—and by putting our experts and advocates in the hearing rooms and offices where key decisions are being made—we can pass this commonsense bill.
Issue updates
In response to the worsening plastic waste crisis, federal lawmakers and advocates are championing legislation to cut our nation's plastic footprint down a size.
This blog is the first in a series examining policy solutions to the plastic pollution crisis that are proven and replicable. This section covers single-use plastic product bans.
"We are misrepresenting and inflating the amount of material recycled."
WASHINGTON -- As plastic pollution becomes an increasingly dire problem, elected officials in both chambers of Congress introduced legislation Thursday to address the issue. On Capitol Hill today, Sen. Jeff Merkley (OR) and Rep. Alan Lowenthal (CA) unveiled the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2021, a bill to improve the health of our people and our planet.
How to avoid textile “wish-cycling” and why clothing companies need to bear responsibility for the waste crisis their products create.
Solid Waste
Toxic waste cleanups are lagging. We need polluters to pay to clean up their messes.
The United States has a toxic waste problem. But as the financial burden for cleaning up that waste has shifted primarily to taxpayers, cleanups are lagging behind.
Solid Waste
Nation's strongest plastic waste bill returns to Congress
The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act would install a national bottle bill, ban some of the worst single-use plastics, and shift more financial responsibility for collecting and processing plastic waste onto plastics producers.
Solid Waste
To boost the country's recycling rates, we need an accurate measurement
The Environmental Protection Agency set a goal of boosting the United States' recycling rate from 32 to 50 percent by 2030. We commend this target — but there are a few things we first need to fix about how the agency counts "recycling."
Solid Waste
Congress must reinstate Polluter Pays Tax to speed up toxic waste cleanups
The United States has a toxic waste problem. But a lack of funding has lead to a dropoff in cleanup completion rates, found "Superfund Underfunded," a report compiled by our research partners at U.S. PIRG Education Fund.
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