| Environment We all know the waste diversion mantra—reduce, reuse,
recycle. Much has changed over the last 40 plus years as the characteristics of
the solid waste we all produce as well as disposal and diversion methods have
changed. While managing solid waste is a smaller percentage of the
contributions to climate change impacts, there are so many actions that
citizens can take individually. But it’s not just about individual
responsibility, but also getting companies to take responsibility for the waste
their products create. Incentivizing plastic waste reduction and better
recycling outcomes will lead to creating a circular economy to divert waste
from disposal. Issue Team Chair: Ann Murphy, Waste Diversion Issue Chair, amurphy@lwvwa.org |
|
|
Legislation |
|
The 2026 Legislative Session The LWVWA belongs to the Environmental Priorities Coalition that sets a core of legislative priorities by consensus for its 28 members to ensure the environment-focused organizations focus their effort with sufficient coherence to accomplish legislative progress. The 2026 priorities include the Bottles and Cans Recycling Refund Act. The LWVWA supports this priority based on positions documented in Program in Action and Impact on Issues. The Lobby Team will also support other issues when that legislation conforms to our positions and as our resources permit. Overview 2025 Legislative Session Legislation in recent years have focused on implementing policies to divert waste from disposal through reuse/repair, reduction, and recycling/composting, and then to safely and sustainably manage the remainder. In the 2025 Session, legislators will continue to consider bills that will reduce and manage the waste that we all produce, including (but not limited to….) the recycling of electric vehicle batteries, management of packaging through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), environmental impacts of the fashion industry, refrigerant recycling, right to repair, and more. These efforts are to reduce the amount of waste that is actually disposed of by landfilling or incineration. LWVWA supports legislation based on these position statements:
|
2026 Waste Diversion Legislation
Bills in green are supported. Bills in red are opposed by the League. Bills in black the League is watching.
SB 5965/HB 2233 Plastic Bag Bill.
Washington’s plastic bag law, passed in 2020, has not been effective in reducing the amount of plastic used in bags at check out. The law should be upgraded to completely ban film plastic bags at checkout and increase the charge for paper bags to 20 cents. The Bag Law amendment bill (SB 5965/HB 2233), championed by Rep. Parshley and Sen. Bateman, would also make sure that 3rd party delivery services (such as Door Dash and Grub Hub) comply with the intents of the law. Plastic bags cannot be recycled in our current recycling system and are also a large component of litter and plastic pollution in the environment.
HB 2212 Washing machine filter bill.
Microfibers from washing machines are one of the largest sources of microplastics in aquatic environments. A single load of laundry can release up to 700,000 microplastic fibers into wastewater, many of which pass through treatment plants and end up in rivers, lakes, and oceans. Washing machine filters can significantly help reduce the load of microfibers. This bill), led by Rep. Pollet, would require installation of filters on commercial or industrial washing machines after July 1, 2028.
HB 1420 EPR for textiles (Establishing producer responsibility for textiles).
Over 80% of clothing and textiles are made of plastic. Championed by Rep. Reeves(and companion bill expected from Sen. Lovelett), this bill would set up an extended producer responsibility program for apparel and textiles and restricts toxic PFAS chemicals in textile products. Textiles and fashion, especially fast fashion, harms the environment, waterways, increases carbon emissions, and generates a very large load of waste when people are ready to dispose of items. This bill is modeled after the bill that passed recently in California and emphasizes repair and reuse
HB 2284 Reducing litter.
Led by Rep. Dye, this bill is meant to be the alternative to the bag bill. Although this bill sounds good, the intention is to keep plastic bags available at checkout, the opposite of the SB 5965/HB 2233 Plastic Bag Bill. The bill would establish a littering solutions task force to provide policy recommendations to the legislature to reduce littering and litter in Washington.
HB 2271 Concerning postconsumer recycled content requirements for plastic products).
This bill is championed by Rep. Liz Berry. It would add additional product categories (rigid plastic items) and packaging categories (film) to the state’s existing postconsumer recycled content law. The intent of the bill is great! Adding value to recycled resin by requiring its use provides more “demand” in the recycling system. Also, the use of recycled content helps offset the use of virgin oil and gas. However, this bill does not have a strong guardrail against fake recycling. Producers could use funny math to claim credits for recycled content (here are two recent good articles on this subject: The Misleading Accounting Behind Your ‘Recycled’ Plastic and Selling A Mirage if you want to read more about this) but the item would not have credible recycled content in actuality. This is happening in the EU already.
HB 1607/SB 5502 Beverage deposit aka Bottle Bill (Concerning recycling and waste reduction).
Championed by Rep. Stonier and Sen. Robinson, this bill would establish a system that facilitates the return of beverage containers, with a 10 cent refund.
- DIG DEEPER: If you are interested in a particular bill, use the links to access the bill’s webpage. These pages include staff summaries and reports including who testified PRO and CON on the bill. Bill pages include access to videos of hearings that have been held.
- GET CONNECTED: Read and take action through the LWVWA Legislative Action Newsletter, distributed each Sunday during the legislative session.
- COMMENT DIRECTLY: You can comment on bills in two different ways:
- The links below each bill description in this newsletter are direct links to “Send a comment on this bill to your legislators.” on the bill’s web page, Let your legislator know that you would like the bill to come to a floor vote and that you would like them to vote for it Follow prompts to create your own message.
- Call the Legislative Hotline 1-800-562-6000 to leave a message for your legislator. Get more info on the Hotline.
- KEEP CONNECTED: Please communicate with your Senators and Representatives to:
- thank them for moving legislation along (if they did do that), or
- encourage them to bring other bills to a floor vote.
- CONTACT LWVWA ISSUE CHAIRS: LWVWA issue chairs want to hear what you think, as we take your perspectives under consideration as we determine our support for legislation and prepare testimony. Please direct questions or comments to Ann Murphy, Waste Diversion Issue Chair.