Who Pays for Plastic? Inside the Law Quietly Shifting the Bill to Producers

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It all starts with a receipt, a grocery
run,

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a case of water bottles, a six-pack of
yogurt cups.

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Every one of those containers has a bill
attached to it that never shows

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up on the receipt itself. And that bill
gets paid somewhere,

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right? For decades it landed on cities,

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on garbage trucks, on recycling plants,

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running at a loss. And tax bills that
funded those trucks and plants,

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whether the packaging gets recycled or
not,

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whether we were lied to or not.

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Now, who actually pays to deal with the
plastic once it leaves the shelf?

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For a long time, the honest answer was
taxpayers.

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but that is starting to change.

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and the fight over that change is now
sitting in front of judges

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in multiple states and quietly playing out
at home here in Canada as well,

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in my home. This week started off with an
interview on plastic policy

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and microfibers.

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Tuesday through Thursday, we went deep on
technology,

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industry pushback, and state-by-state
campaigns.

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Today, we close the loop by following the
money in the US and right here where

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I live in Canada. Now, this is what we're
going to do on the How

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to Protect the Ocean podcast. If you like
this kind of stuff and learning more about

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how you can protect the ocean and maybe
some science involved in that

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as well in ocean science.

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Please follow on your favorite podcast
app,

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share with a friend, share with the family
member who would like this type

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of material because this isn't what I do.

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I love doing this kind of stuff.

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I've been doing it for 11 years and
counting,

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and I just I enjoy the heck out of it.

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So let's talk more about what's going on
and who's paying for plastic.

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The United States actually recycles
roughly 48% of its packaging waste.

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I bet you didn't think that. You thought I
thought it was more.

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I thought it was more. Belgium,

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which already runs a producer funded
system,

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recycles about 78% of its

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packaging.

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That's pretty good. The gap between those
two numbers has a price tag.

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The country loses an estimated $7 billion
a year in potential value

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by sending plastic that could have been
recycled straight to a landfill instead.

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So cities absorb the rest of the cost
directly.

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Recycling, collection, and processing gets
folded into municipal budgets,

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competing for the same dollars As roads
and police.

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One municipal sustainability expert put it
plainly:

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nobody wants to pay for recycling,

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so it usually loses that competition.

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This is a system as it has worked for
decades,

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right? Plastic producers design and sell
packaging.

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Cities and taxpayers cover what happens
after.

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I bet you you didn't even think that when
you had a Starbucks or you

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had for in Canada, you had a Tim Horton
stuff cup,

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or my kids have Starbucks. And you're
probably thinking.

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I'll just, you know, put that in a
recycling banner.

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I'll it up, but it doesn't get recycled,

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right? Because it can't. Just the way it's
built,

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it just doesn't get recycled. Right.

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And and all of a sudden, who pays for
that?

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You don't think you pay for it because
you're just paying for the cup,

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but you eventually pay for it,

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whether it's through taxes or whether it's
through your dollar at the counter.

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And so now we're starting to like look at
this and how this is going to change,

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So there's a different idea that's
starting to spread,

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So extended producer responsibility in the
legal framework that requires

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the companies making and selling packaging
to fund what happens to

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it after a customer buys the product.

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So seven US states have now passed
extended producer responsibility laws
covering

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packaging. So Oregon has been charging
produce producer fees since July 2025,

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and Colorado started charging fees in
January 2026.

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California, Maine, Minnesota,

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Maryland and Washington are all in the
pipeline,

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phasing in fees and requirements between
now and 2030.

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New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts are
pursuing their own versions.

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New York's bill has failed twice,

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but most recently in June 2026.

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So they're trying to get this stuff going,

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The cost of packaging waste starts moving
from the tax bill into the price tag.

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And we're going to start seeing it as
consumers.

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We're paying for it anyway, but it's going
to start to move because

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the companies have to start paying for it.

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Now, California Senate Bill 54 is the
largest and most closely watched

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of these laws. So it becomes the case
study for how the system actually works

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underneath the headline. And you think
California,

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yes, this would be a perfect place for
this to start.

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A producer under this law is a company
with more than $1 million in gross sales

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of covered products.

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Packaging or plastic food serviceware.

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So producers register with the state's
recycling agency and either join

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a nonprofit called the Circular Action
Alliance or apply to run their

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own compliance plan independently.

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Producers pay eco-modulated fees,

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meaning the fee scales with how toxic or
how hard the to recycle the packaging is.

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So now we're starting to we're going to
start to see companies be like,

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I don't want to pay too much of this.

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I'm gonna start to use better packaging.

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Patching packaging designed to be reused
or easily recycled costs less.

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Packaging that is neither costs more.

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that is the built-in incentive to redesign
packaging in the first place.

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So it's not the fact that, hey,

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this is an excuse for companies to put up
their prices if they have

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to have packaging. This is an excuse for
companies to pay less

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and use better packaging so that they can
pay less so that you don't have

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to feel it in your wallets.

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Now you'll probably see an increase.

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There's no doubt we're going to see an
increase.

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but this is how this is how it's gonna
work until we can start getting

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to better packaging and more recyclable
packaging,

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A 10% cut in a single-use plastic
packaging in 2027.

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There's gonna be a 20% in 2030,

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a 25% in 2032, and at least 10% of all the
final cut coming specifically from reuse

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and refill systems rather than just
lighter packaging.

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By 2032.

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65% of covered packaging has to be
recyclable or compostable.

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One material already got caught by this
bar.

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Expanded polystyrene food serviceware,

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the foam clamshells and cups needed to hit
a 25% recycling rate to stay legal

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for sale in California. That rate has not
been met.

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So as of now, expanded polystyrene food
serviceware is prohibited from sale

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in the state. Starting in 2027,

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this system is expected to generate
roughly $500 million a year for

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a decade flowing into a plastic pollution
mitigation fund.

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60% of this fund is earmarked for
communities most directly affected

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by plastic pollution, with three quarters
of that share targeted

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at low income residents specifically.

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The rest goes to ecosystem restoration
network.

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So now sit on that number for a second.

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$500 million a year paid by the companies
that make the packaging into

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a fund for the communities living closest
to the pollution it creates.

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Just think about that, Think about what
this does now.

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It's making the companies responsible.

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We are seeing unprecedented studies where
we're getting information where

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we have plastic pollution in our lungs,

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we have microplastics in our lungs,

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in our blood.

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In in our air, in our water, in our oceans
from the very,

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very depths. If you listen to Ocean
Decoded Live,

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I talked about a recent deep sea
expedition off of Trinidad and Tobago.

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And what they found there was they still
found in the deepest part of that area,

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they still found plastic pollution or even
just marine debris.

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We are touching every part of this planet,

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including our own bodies.

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And this is the time where companies are
now gonna have to respond.

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and I think this is kind of interesting
because this is something that wasn't
really

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expected, right? Because, you know,

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almost as soon as California finalized its
rules,

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the law got sued from two completely
opposite directions at once.

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So on the one side, environmental groups
filed suit filed suit,

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arguing the regulations were too weak.

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And their case says that the the

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The rules improperly open the door to
chemical recycling technologies that lead
that

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let producers claim credit without
actually turning plastic back into

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a usable material. In other words,

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they would just heat it up and burn it.

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And that the definitions used to judge
whether a recycling market is real

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and viable are too loose to hold up.

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Now, on the other side, a coalition of 17
state attorneys general,

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~

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For states, including Texas, Florida,

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and Alabama, join with a national trade
group representing wholesalers

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and distributors to sue, arguing the law
goes too far.

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Their case is built on the United States
Constitution,

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that the law discriminates against
interstate commerce,

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that requiring companies to itemize the
fee as a separate line

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on a customer's receipt violates their
free speech rights,

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and that the state handed too much
authority to the Circular Action Alliance.

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So the circular action alliance without ev
without enough legislation guardrails

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on how the authority gets used.

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Now, as of now, none of these lawsuits
have stopped law.

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So no court in California or Colorado has
issued an injunction.

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Every deadline and every fee stays in
effect while these cases work through

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the system. Oregon's version of the fight
has already produced a partial result.

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A judge a preliminary injunction there.

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But it only applies to members of the
wholesaler distributor trade group that's

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sued, not to the law as a whole.

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So that's the picture right now.

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one side says the law lets producers off
too easy.

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The other side says that the law shouldn't
exist in its current form at all.

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Both are suing the same regulation for
opposite reasons.

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And that tension is exactly what makes
this fight worth watching,

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to be honest.

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Now, what these laws change is that
extended producer responsibility does

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not make the cost of dealing with plastic
packaging disappear.

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It changes who pays first. So under the
old system,

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a city collects trash, a recycling plant
loses money processing it.

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Taxes cover the gap months or years later,

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quietly without a receipt. And under the
new system,

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the producer pays the fee up front based
on how much packaging they

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put into the world and how hard it is to
deal with.

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So that fee gets built into whatever the
product costs before it even ever reaches

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the shelf. Now, here there is an open
question here of what happens next,

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right? Does the upfront cost push
companies to generally redesign packaging

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and cut plastic the way the built-in fee
structure is designed to reward?

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Or is it just becoming another line item
passed straight to the customer,

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changing nothing about how much plastic
gets made?

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I alluded that to earlier in this in this
episode.

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And I think this is where it really comes
down to how people are going

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to respond to the companies. We're kind of
beholden to products that we buy anyway.

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And cut and government should make custom
make these companies pay this upfront

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in the incentive. So you're not actually
passing the buck to the customer.

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Cause that won't be fair. Cause we will
pay the the up the increased fee,

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but we can't afford it. That not like the
things are already inflated as they are,

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And so I think it'll be interesting to see
what happens here and

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how it moves forward in the US and of
course in in Canada as well.

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Because that question is not gonna get
answered by the law itself.

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It gets answered by what the companies do
once the fees start landing

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and how these lawsuits get resolved over
the next few years.

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Now, the same fight that we have is
playing back here in Canada.

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It's the exact same, but it has a like
it's a version of its

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own version running here, right?

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On two tracks at once. The federal track
centers on Canada's single

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use plastics ban, covering things like
checkout bags,

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stir sticks, six pack rings, certain
utensils,

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and of course straws. A federal court
struck down the government's underlying
order

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in December 2023, ruling that the plastics
items didn't qualify

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as a regulatable substance and that Ottawa
has overstepped his authority.

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That ruling was ~ stayed pending appeal.

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So the ban stayed in effect the entire
time.

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In January 2026, the Federal Court of
Appeal reversed that decision,

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ruling that plastic items can qualify as a
substance and that government

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can act as a precautionary principle
instead of waiting for proven harm.

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The ban survives through a superior court
appeal that is still possible,

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So so here's the thing. The ban stayed in
in play the whole time.

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The government

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basically came out and said, all plastic
is toxic.

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The plastic makers were like, you can't do
that.

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And it banned like six specific single use
plastics.

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The press plastic producers, the chemical
companies,

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the fossil fuel companies and all that
came out and said,

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hey, you can't do that. You can't just say
that they're all toxic.

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Like we understand that some are toxic,

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but not all of them. Because we know
what's going to happen.

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Even though the law, like the six ~ six
single use plastics didn't really affect

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them.

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They didn't want anything coming down
because they knew something's coming down

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in the future, where we're going to start
to see the responsibility that's going

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to be put down to the makers of this type
of plastic,

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right? And so I think it's kind of cool.

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So alongside the band, Canada runs a
federal plastics registry.

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This was one of the things that came out,

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requiring companies to report how much
plastic packaging,

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electronics, and single-use plastics they
put on the Canadian market.

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The first phase is already active,

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which is great. Later phases that would
have added more detailed reporting.

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Just got delayed after industry pushback
about the pace and the data burden,

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which is kind of BS in my opinion,

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with new requirements expected later in
2026.

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Now the bigger shift is the provincial
governments,

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and is the direct Canadian equivalent of
what California is fighting over right
now.

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So British Columbia has run a
producer-funded packaging program since
2014.

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Ontario just completed its own transition
on January 1st,

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2026. Full extended producer ~

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responsibility for packaging and paper.

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Producers now fund the entire blue box
system directly.

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Municipalities and taxpayers no longer pay
for it.

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The province says that this saves Ontario
municipalities more than $200 million.

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And it also standardized what gets
accepted for recycling across

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the whole province for the first time.

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In Quebec, they're moving to full extended
producer responsibility

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on a similar timeline. And it goes even
further by covering industrial,

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commercial

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And institutional waste generators,

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not just households. So it's kind of
interesting,

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right? California just built a producer
pay system and got sued for the

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two up from two opposite directions.

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Ontario finished the same kind of
transition on January 1st with

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no comparable lawsuit making headlines.

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And municipalities are also already
banking on the savings,

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which is great, right? So this is not just
hypothetical talk,

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right? This is not just a policy debate
happening somewhere else.

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It already happened here in Ontario where
I live.

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And the question that that is really worth
the ask is is it working

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the way that it's supposed to?

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Right. And is that $200 million in savings
actually reaching taxpayers

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or disappearing into other budget lines?

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That's really where it comes, or I
couldn't find out what was happening,

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but because it would kind of be,

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it'd be kind of cool to take that $200
million and put it more towards
environmental

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aspects for ~ green spaces in
municipalities,

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to clean up waste in municipalities,

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for handling plastic pollution in general
that comes through river systems

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and so forth.

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But look, this has been an interesting
week in talking about microfibers,

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plastic pollution, how things are being
dealt with.

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In Monday's interview, we opened up the
door with what was happening with plastic

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policy right now and what needs to happen
on the not safe for wash type

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of campaign that Ocean Conservancy was
going to do with when we had Dr.

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Anya Brandon on the podcast. Tuesday
looked at whether technology

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can actually eat plastic waste.

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Wednesday followed a single load of
laundry through the water system.

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Thursday, we talked about the campaign
trying to force the appliance industry

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to do more. And today closes the loop of
it asking the most basic question

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underneath every one of those.

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Who pays? Who pays for this plastic?

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And for most of modern history,

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the answer was the public, quietly,

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through taxpayers, and never really
mentioned the plastics by name.

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And we kept buying plastic and plastic and
plastic containers.

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You know, that's changing now.

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We see it's changing in Canada,

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we see it's changing in the US.

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And I think that's really great.

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So I think it's it's kind of cool.

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Whichever way these US courts fights lands
or or what happens in Canada,

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it will likely become a template for other
states to copy it.

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And for Canadian listeners, the system is
no longer theoretical.

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We're actually seeing this put in place.

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and is the building that produces directly
right now in your own municipality.

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I think that's kind of a cool thing to do
when you when we look at this plastic,

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we shouldn't have to pay for it.

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Producers should pay for it. We used to
have better ways of doing plastic.

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It used to be about the less packaging was
the better.

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And we're going back to that hopefully.

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And hopefully, we're just not just being
charged a lot more for that.

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I'll try and look into that a little bit
more of how we are being charged

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if producers are putting it onto the
customer.

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And if so, that's not cool. That's not
cool one bit.

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~ anyway, that's it for the episode for
today.

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I want to thank you so much for joining us
this week,

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00:16:43,419 --> 00:16:45,120
joining us each and every episode.

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Don't forget to follow.

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00:16:46,711 --> 00:16:47,963
and if you want to contact me,

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00:16:47,963 --> 00:16:49,504
you can do so. If you're on Spotify,

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00:16:49,504 --> 00:16:52,387
leave me a comment. I'll get back to you
as soon as I can.

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00:16:52,387 --> 00:16:54,669
And if you if you're on social media,

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00:16:54,669 --> 00:16:58,068
just DM me. my social links are in the
show notes.

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00:16:58,068 --> 00:17:00,700
~ thank you so much for joining me on
today's episode of the How

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00:17:00,700 --> 00:17:02,322
to Protect the Ocean podcast. I'm your
host,

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00:17:02,322 --> 00:17:03,573
Andrew Lewin. Have a great day.

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We'll talk to you next time and happy
conservation.