“Reducing packaging and plastic waste before it reaches consumers is critical to protecting rivers and oceans and reducing greenhouse gas emissions — and it can also save small businesses thousands of dollars. It’s a win-win for people and the planet.”
—Sydney Harris, Policy and Programs Manager, Product Stewardship Institute
In the United States, managing household waste has become an urgent environmental impact that requires immediate attention and collective efforts. A whopping 40% of this waste consists of packaging and paper products (PPP), such as many types of plastic containers, cans, bottles, newspapers, and cardboard.
These everyday recyclable material items are a big part of our lives, yet the recycling rates for PPP materials have remained frustratingly stagnant at approximately 50% for almost two decades. This lack of progress not only hinders our environmental improvement efforts but also represents a missed opportunity to recycle valuable resources that are worth billions of dollars and could be repurposed to create new products.
If we look at plastic products waste in particular, it’s even worse. Only 9% of plastics get recycled. This is especially bad when we think about things like plastic bags, cups, straws, and cutlery that we use once and throw away. Packaging waste recycling is difficult, so these items end up causing problems in our environment, like filling up landfills and making places look dirty.
With this growing problem, we need to start taking better care of the things we use, especially when it comes to food packaging and plastics. We can do this by finding smart ways to use materials again and by making laws that hold companies responsible for what they make. Achieving this involves creative strategies to reuse and reduce materials and implementing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws to enforce responsible packaging waste management..
By doing these things, we can help the environment. We can also make sure more things get recycled and are thrown away the right way. This will lead to a better, greener future for all of us.
As we work together to handle our trash through packaging waste reduction and protect the environment, remember that every little thing we do can make a difference. When we make choices as shoppers, support companies that care about the environment, and back good rules, we can deal with the trash problem and make a cleaner, better world for our kids and their kids.
In 2023, The Missouri Product Stewardship Council began working with the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) and earthday365 to reduce the St. Louis restaurant industry’s reliance on single-use items. With funding from a U.S. EPA Sustainable Materials Management grant, this project will bring together stakeholders to develop customized source reduction plans for participating businesses and expand a reusable food container program in the city.
The project, which ran through September 2023 and accomplished the following:
- Create a guide for municipalities interested in supporting restaurants in reducing waste.
- Update PSI’s restaurant waste reduction tool kit.
- Launch earthday365’s reusable takeout container program in St. Louis.
- Expand earthday365’s Green Dining Alliance program.
- Work with up to 10 St. Louis restaurants.
- Establish a statewide sustainable packaging recycling work group through the MO PSC.
- Build capacity for packaging stewardship in Missouri.
