Lawmakers expressed broad interest during a hearing Wednesday in addressing a range of problems facing recycling, from e-waste to labeling confusion.
But even though they planned to introduce new legislation on the matter, the bill’s wouldn’t grant the plastic industry’s wishes for national recycling standards.
During an Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment hearing, Ross Eisenberg, president of America’s Plastic Makers, a subsidiary of the trade lobby group the American Chemistry Council, said this was a rare moment of “policy convergence” in which both advocacy and industry groups are pushing for the federal government to take a more central role in boosting recycling rates.
Subcommittee Chair Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) wasn’t convinced. “I think what we ought to be talking about here is not some of the politics that we get into here but really coming up with a solution that makes sense, that is not always run by the government,” Palmer said.
