By Brad Lovaas / For The Herald
Washingtonians are committed stewards of our environment. Protecting our clean air, water, electricity and green spaces are just part of what it means to cherish the Pacific Northwest.
As an advocate for a responsible solid waste, organics and recycling system in our state, I try to focus on how we best partner with consumers so that recycling and diverting organic material from landfills is easy and affordable for everyone. Together, Washingtonians and businesses handling regulated solid waste, organics and recycling have successfully partnered to annually recover 49 percent of materials that otherwise would have ended up in a landfill, significantly higher than the national average of 32 percent. Today, our state is in the midst of a multi-year process to implement a significant overhaul of policies and regulations that will change the fundamentals of our recycling and organics system. We must focus on implementing these new laws while warding off higher costs to consumers and other disruptions to our system.
Since 2022, our state Legislature has adopted four sweeping laws that together will dramatically change how recycling and organics diversion is handled in our state. The outcomes of this work over the next four years will affect hundreds of thousands of businesses, millions of residents and likely require more than $1 billion in investments. In order to achieve the stated goal of these laws to divert 75 percent of organic waste from landfills by 2030, we are asking our state leaders to allow for the responsible implementation of what’s already been adopted before creating another round of new goals.
2025 also saw the Legislature adopt Senate Bill 5284, which requires Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging materials that have historically been handled in our state by recycling companies. This law will require packaging companies to take a strong role in funding and establishing new standards for recycling, a role traditionally managed by local governments.
While this law also requires commendable rules such as a standardized statewide collection list for recyclable materials and a needs assessment to evaluate the best local investments to facilitate recycling, consumers will no longer pay a transparent cost for recycling through a monthly bill. Instead, the cost of recycling will be unlisted but embedded into the cost of essential everyday products and groceries purchased by consumers at the grocery store and elsewhere.
Similar programs in other states and countries have increased the cost of groceries by 5 percent to 10 percent. As we work to implement our own program here in Washington, we must be cautious to guard against higher costs and maintain affordability for consumers. As with the implementation of the new organics laws, key milestones are approaching for the implementation of SB 5284. The new system will come online by 2030 and if we are to be successful in meeting that deadline, we must remain focused on key implementation milestones each year instead of changing course direction any further.
Unfortunately, despite the current affordability crisis, there are still attempts to mandate a new tax on every bottle purchased by consumers that could only be avoided if you collect all your bottles and cans, walk past your curbside recycling bin and drive them to a bottle deposit center. There are only 10 states with taxes like these on bottles, but a recent national analysis found that more than $1 billion in unrefunded taxes were retained by program operators in 2024. That’s just one of many reasons why most states have expanded curbside recycling instead of adopting costly, inconvenient bottle deposit programs. The only state to adopt this archaic policy since 1986 was Hawaii in 2002. Oregon has also recently been grappling with significant public safety and neighborhood complaints caused by deposit centers where bad actors congregate to game the system.
As companies proudly serving Washingtonians across our state, we know we have our work cut out for us in order to expand our decades-long partnership with consumers to reduce waste and increase recycling. We are up for the challenge because Washington’s transparent, system allows for accountability in that work so that consumer interests are protected.
Brad Lovaas serves as the executive director of the Washington Refuse & Recycling Association, which represents regulated solid waste, organics and recycling companies advocating for an environmentally and economically sustainable solid waste system in our state.
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