Producer Pays Study in New Hampshire
The New Hampshire Chapter is working with our Northeast Regional Manager to support a bill that would mandate a study to look at imposing a tax on manufacturers for the cost of disposal of the single-use products they produce.
FEBRUARY 8, 2022
Sadly, the House Ways and Means Committee voted 21-0 that HB1338 was Inexpedient to Legislate, meaning that it is recommending to the full House that this bill to simply study the idea of establishing an extended producer responsibility for packaging law for single-use items should not pass.
HB1338 will now go to the House floor with this recommendation. If the House concurs, the bill will die.
However, another bill, HB1111, was brought to establish a committee to study extended producer responsibility (EPR); that bill was voted 17-0 on 2/16/22 by the House Environment and Agriculture Committee to an interim House study, which opens the window for robust dialogue on leveraging EPR for improving recycling, mitigating single-use plastic, and inspiring reusable and more sustainable packaging in the Granite State.
FMI: nh@surfrider.org
JANUARY 2o, 2022 UPDATE
HB1338 came to public hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday, January 20, 2022.
Our Northeast Regional Manager, Melissa Gates, and volunteer Rise Above Plastics Campaign Coordinator and chapter secretary, Christina Dubin, collaborated to create powerful testimony to submit in writing to the Committee.
Stay tuned for updates, including how the Committee votes HB1338 out, if it will move forward to the Senate, and how YOU can help with this and other campaigns in the Granite State! Email FMI: nh@surfrider.org
THE CAMPAIGN
HB1338 was introduced to the New Hampshire General Court for the legislative session commencing in January of 2022, proposing to establish a committee to study imposing a tax on manufacturers based on the cost to dispose of single-use products and product packaging materials.
This “producer pays” model is a form of product stewardship akin to extended producer responsibility.
If passed, HB1338 would provide the legislature an opportunity to learn more about solid waste issues, including:
- wasteful single-use product packaging and plastics
- unfair cost burden for disposal of unrecycled products on taxpayers
- landfills reaching capacity
- unmet statutory mandates for waste reduction
- problems with current recycling systems
- proven solutions, like product stewardship, to solve the problem