After fascist[1] Republicans on the Supreme Court handed a massive win to elites and corporations who profit from polluting, the states are the last line of defense. No doubt there will be disunity. Red states will keep polluting and offloading the human, social and environmental damage to the public, while gushing profits up to the top elites. Blue states will try to do something as long as the pro-pollution Republican Supreme Court doesn't step in and stop the effort. The court can assert the Supremacy Clause, the Interstate Commerce Clause and/or some crackpot fascist legal theory to shut down blue state efforts to deal with pollution and climate change.
In one of the most ambitious statewide attempts to reduce dependence on plastics, California instituted a new requirement that makers of packaging pay for recycling and reduce or eliminate single-use plastic packaging.
The law, signed by California’s governor on Thursday, is the fourth of its kind to be passed by a state, though experts say it is the most significant because it goes further in requiring producers to both make less plastic and to ensure that all single-use products are recyclable or compostable. Last summer, Maine and Oregon passed the country’s first such requirements, known as producer-responsibility laws.
A key tenet of the laws: The costs of recycling infrastructure, recycling plants and collection and sorting facilities, will be shifted to packaging manufacturers and away from taxpayers, who currently foot the bill.
The California law requires that all forms of single-use packaging, including paper and metals, be recyclable or compostable by 2032. However, this is most significant when it comes to plastic products, which are more technologically challenging to recycle. In addition, it is tougher for people to figure out which plastics are recyclable and which aren’t.
Unlike in other states, California will require a 25 percent reduction across all plastic packaging sold in the state, covering a wide range of items, whether shampoo bottles, plastics utensils, bubble wrap or takeaway cups.
Under the state’s law, manufacturers would pay for recycling programs and will be charged fees based on the weight of packaging, the ease of recycling and whether products contain toxic substances, such as PFAS, a type of virtually indestructible chemicals that have been linked to increased risk of some cancers.
Federal law like that should have been in place decades ago. But such efforts have been blocked by corrupt politicians that pro-pollution interests have bought with their human and corporate right to "free speech," also known as "campaign contributions."
For context, it has been known for decades that recycling of plastic was nothing more than a mirage (previously discussed here and here). That faux reality was created by a gigantic pro-pollution industry public relations (propaganda) campaign to fool the public into the false belief that plastic was recyclable and being recycled. That was never true, and it will never be true. About 9% of plastic is recycled.
Now the open question is if and when the fascist Republican Supreme Court decides shut down state efforts to deal with climate change. They have the power to do that right now. They also have the mindset to do that right now. One can imagine that companies that profit from their pollution in California have already ordered their lawyers to file lawsuits to block this new law. They expect and just might get the service from the Supreme Court they have bought and paid for.
Footnote:
1. Labels like neo-fascist, American fascism and the like are no longer warranted. With due respect for those who suffered and died under 20th century fascism, fascism is now a warranted and correct label. The modern Republican Party, its political, social and commercial agendas, its corrupt, anti-democratic tactics and its elites are all full-blown fascist. That terrible reality is on us right now.
What about the rank and file who support and enable Republican Party fascism? Are they fascists? Just deceived innocents with no responsibility for what they have voted for and empowered? Something else?
Symbols of deceit: ~90% of plastic isn't recycled --
the recycling symbols are a lie
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