Adrian Veidt:
It doesn't take a genius to see that the world has problems.
Edward Blake:
No, but it takes a room full of morons to think they're small enough for you to handle.
"It doesn't take a genius to see the world has problems."
"It takes a roomful of morons to think they're small enough for you to handle."
So let's discuss EPR, or "Extended Producer Responsibility". It's the most talked about recycling topic, other than "Plastic", at almost every recycling conference.
This blog is deliberately agnostic about EPR. Here is my critique.
1. Define the problem to be solved. Then don't neglect it.
The first ever bottle bill, in Vermont in the late 1950s, was passed at a time when "disposable" beverages was new. Most soda and beer at the time was sold in refillable bottles. Vermonters collecting litter saw that the new one-use containers constituted most of the litter, and the problem was "non-deposit container litter".
In the 1980s, when bottle deposit laws were proposed in several other states (including Massachusetts, which my division administered at DEP), there was a huge shift to single-use containers, and both rewarding refillables and recycling single use were part of the plan. The advocates conceded on putting the deposit only on carbonated beverages because bottled water wasn't common and the Cranberry Juice lobby in Massachusetts argued that (highly sugared) fruit juice was healthy.
