Reduce, Reuse, Recycle:

Recycling is an ingrained habit for most people. There are recycling bins in our homes, workplaces, and many public settings.

A lot of folks can relate to someone like Kathy. Kathy considers herself environmentally conscious. Her recycling bin fills up faster than her trash!

And, while it sometimes feels like recycling opportunities are ubiquitous, the United States doesn't rank very high in terms of percent of waste recycled. We recycle 34% of our waste (The World Bank, 2021).

Of course, the reality is much more complicated. Put in context with overall waste generation, Kathy realizes that the exponential growth has truly been in the amount of waste we produce, not the waste we recycle. Americans, on average, produce about 5 lbs. of waste per person per day (EPA, n.d.)

Additionally, a huge portion of our waste stream is packaging. With the rise of e-commerce, the volume of packaging waste has increased (EPA, n.d.)

One way to address the amount of packaging in the waste stream is through an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) bill for packaging. This would require packaging manufacturers to contribute monetarily to the disposal and recycling of their materials (Sustainable Packaging Coalition, n.d.)