Tennessee lawmakers across the political spectrum repeated the same idea Wednesday’s committee meeting: Tennessee has a garbage problem and we have to do something.
What that “something” should be is a topic of discussion.
But a coalition of lawmakers, manufacturers and recycling groups is pushing Tennessee to be the first Republican-led nation to adopt a system that transfers financial responsibility to recycle to producers on behalf of local government.
The “Extended Producer Responsibility” (EPR) model is already in use Multiple European countries Canada and six provinces have approved the EPR Package Act. Companies that produce packaging products pay a fee to producer-responsible organizations that use funds to collect, sort and process recyclable packaging products.
EPR can bring many variations, but the general idea has gained support from conservatives American Legislative Exchange Council And it attracted attention US Chamber of Commerce. Sustainable Food Policy Alliances, including Nestlé, Mars, Unilever and Danone, also support the bill. EPR Program Generally.
Central Tennessee is hurting towards a garbage crisis while the battle is looming above the landfill
It will take at least another year for the model to reach the Tennessee Legislature for consideration. Sen. Heidi Campbell, a Democrat in Nashville, said,Tennessee Waste to Work Law“The bill must be postponed until January 2026 to gain more stakeholder engagement.
Campbell said the request stemmed from a “productive” conversation with the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce.
“We are in a serious landfill crisis in Tennessee,” Campbell said at a meeting of the Senate Government Operations Committee on Wednesday. “Tennessees don’t want more landfills and need to act quickly to address this challenge, while businesses are actively seeking access to the materials currently buried in those landfills. They are asking us to pass this law so that these materials can be used.”
Campbell said the bill would maintain nearly 1 million tonnes of recyclable products from Tennessee’s landfills each year. As is currently written, Montgomery, Williamson, Rutherford, Hamilton, Knox, Davidson and Shelby counties operate under producer-responsible organizations, but all counties with fewer than 200,000 people can choose to opt in or not.
The bill supports more than 12 companies in Tennessee (with a combined revenue of $200 billion) and the state’s aluminum industry, and it could use more recycled aluminum to reduce reliance on new metal imports, Campbell said.
However, the bill appears to be a way out of consensus. The committee’s skepticism focuses on producers passing costs to consumers and handing over decisions to the system’s private committee.
Sen. Paul Rose, a Western Tennessee Republican, was not on sale with the idea.
“I think we all do — we know that there is a problem… but I have a problem with the bill as it was written,” Rose said Wednesday. “We need to address this, hopefully we can come up with a solution where everyone can wrap their heads around.
Weight of manufacturers and waste associations
Tennessee will scrap the Employment Coalition It pitched the EPR structure as a way to strengthen the state’s manufacturing industry, decoupling available materials from landfills that were quickly approaching capacity and putting pressure on them from tormented local governments.
The group presented the idea with representatives from recycling partnerships and companies who said they could use much more recycled materials than the state currently produces.
Donna Kopecky, vice president of sustainability at Kaiser Aluminum, said she supports efforts to increase the recycling rate of aluminum.
The company employs 164 workers at its Jackson, Tennessee plant and approximately 80 paying employees at its Franklin headquarters.
The US can only produce about a third of the primary (“new”) aluminum supply needed to meet domestic demand, so companies must rely on Canada and other sources, she said. Recycled aluminum requires less energy to supply, allowing you to recycle metals infinitely.
The bipartisan Tennessee bill will bring recycling to every home paid by private businesses
Kaiser Aluminum records an average of 50% recycled content in packaged products in 2024, and if the supply and costs are correct, more recycled aluminum can be used. The demand for metals is growing, she said.
“We need to capture more aluminum to recycle statewide. This will help implement recycling policies at the state level to dramatically increase the recovery and recovery of other valuable packaging materials in the state,” Kopecky said.
Clarksville-based Florim USA is the largest single-site producer of porcelain tiles in the United States, said Don Haynes, sustainability manager. One of the company’s goals is green, and they are looking for recycled glass to use instead of sand. The tile industry can use all glass bottles in the state and still need to buy more, Haynes said in a video presented to lawmakers.
“I’m not an EPR expert. I’m not a recycling expert, but I’m an expert in glass usage,” Haynes said. “I want a glass.”
Katie Raverty-Evans, vice president of the National Waste and Recycling Association’s branch relations, was less enthusiastic about the EPR model.
The association accounts for about 70% of the private sector in the waste and recycling industry, with member companies employing around 25,000 Tennessee people on a payroll account of around $1.4 billion.
She said the discussion of the EPR structure is “admired,” but the association has concerns, namely the package fees they deem as “unfair penalties for producers, especially for small, medium-sized businesses.”
“Our perspective, let’s take a step back and look at it,” said Rathi Evans. “No one really implements the program (in the US). It’s all in the evaluation, everything is in the planning stage. And why push something so much without seeing how it unfolds within other states?”
Tennessee will be spending a year working on the details of the bill and observing the approaches of other states.
Sen. Ed Jackson, a Republican Jackson and chairman of the State Works Committee, said Tennessee needs to address the issue of solid waste.
“I hope before the next session we can work out something that really is productive and gets the job done,” he said.
Get the morning heading.
