[b noises] i am pleased to call todays hearing to order. I want to thank you all for joining senator capitol and me too explore one of our favorite. Specifically we are here to discuss the sustainability policy called extended producer responsibility and how these programs can improve recycling infrastructure and recycling practices. So what exactly is responsibility extended responsibility establishes system in which financial responsibility for products through the end of their life is shifted upstream to produce■qrs those. And how to extend policies well, states or countries adopt policies that may require producers to pay a fee that is associatedit their goods to a producer whose responsibility organization. And then these organizations can use the revenues fng infrastructure. And for consumer education. Consumer packaging materials like plastic, like cardboard or aluminum theory as we know greatly the respect recyclability. Some materialuch a paper have more viable products and viable markets rather than others. We are pretty good in this country of extended producer responsibility policies can consider these differences in materials and their f incentivize producers to make more packages sustainable. For example in colorado there where fees will be assigned to goods based on their environmental impact. Products that are more easily or recycled will have a lower associated fee for the producer to pay. Difficult to recycle repackaging like plastic films may have a higher associated fee in order to pay a lower fee in the system in colorado producers it can cae packaging as a lower environmental costs. Programs and several other states have also shown real tential california, oregon, ande have recently established extended producer package policies for packaging regardless of the material type. More states adopt these policies it is critical the federalerstao support responsibility efforts moving forward. We are hoping todays discussion sheds light on just s of the activity going on in our states and what the proper role of the federal government should be. Extended producer also help drie recycling rates up. Since producer responsibility generate to improve recycling infrastructure and expand access to■f recycling and communities including Rural Communities. Right now Consumer Packaging makes approximately one third4 f all plastics produce and ill say that again Consumer Packaging makes approximate a third of all plastics produced. And sadly as we know plastics are not commonly recycled in america. According to the epa, 2018 less than 9 of plastics were recycled in the u. S. Let me say that again. Less then 9 of plastics were recycled in t ago. You put that figure into perspective its even smaller than the National Recycling rate roughly 32 . As members of this it committee have heard me say it more than they want to rememr, like to say find out what works and do more of that. These policies actually can work. Forxample the extended Producer Responsibility Program in British Columbia was able to achieve an impressive residential recycling material rate of 86 . 86 . And 2022 up from 37 in 2004. Before it was implemented in that country. And as we will hear today, its also been a surgeon private Sector Support extended producer responsibility policy, why is that . We know americans want to make sustainable purchasing choices and that number is growing. According to a 2020 survey conducted by mckenzie mortgage more than 60 of responders said they would pay more for a product with Sustainable Packaging. Large Consumer Brands have noticed most companies have established ambitious sustainability goals sucs minimf content in their packaging extended producer responsibility policies can help producers meet those goals. However it is worth noting the extended producer responsibility policy on their own will not fix our Waste Managementthese policn tandem with other investments in infrastructure and education anu data collection. Fortunately congress has a track record of making such investments. As you may recall a part of the bipartisan info structure which was written in this committee and managed on the floor by this lady right here in yours truly and became law in 2021. Our committee worked to secure three to 50 million to strengthen recycling■de recycling education grants across the u. S. Of a. Bipartisan work to strengthen our nations÷ does not stop there. Last year adapted to other two r pieces of bipartisan recycling legislation at tsenator capitol. Senator boozman and myself. Smooth displays which help gather much needed data to improve access to recycling infrastructure and rural and disadvantaged communities. This congress et cetera capitol, et cetera boozman and i are committed to see both of these move across in closing we know recycling is a win win. If it is an environment it c also befit at the same time in the economy. That is the kind of win win situation we all look for it. Thats why our committee continues to consider further opportunity to support better recycling practices. We are looking fg from our witny before review and we welcome you. Thank you for joining us. You brought your the committee will turn to Ranking Member capitol and her leadership and we look forward to your marks. Thank you good morning to all of you. It is nice to be here this morning for this committees continued focus on sustainability and Waste Management and underscore the fact we have a ways to problem both here in this country and around the world. I get a complex issue its easy to sit here and lisette all the problems but its very, very difficult to start finding realistic solutions. Plastic production tomorrow and that doesnt make sense. Acknowledging our continued reliance on plastic and working to prevent is not mutually exclusive private sector sustainability goals International Development likett wi gbal footprints or staring down uncertain regulatory and Economic Future for it my primary focus in evaluating extended producer responsibility policies under consideration is making sure they are grounded in reality. Consider the downstream impacts to everyday consumers included regressive cost to be passed down. Especially in rural areas currents recycling programs are more limited the cost■5otp oncee expensive. Companies cannot operate do not have in mind. And disposal requirements to sell their products if every state has their own. Plastics rents and other areas show estates with the biggest population and the most stringent restrictions will become the regator. Could unfairly dictate to state like mine that have strucral access and resources defining that necessary infrastructure. Preventing this outcome standards and its market uncertainties as to why we need to bring these types of conversations nationwidemp poli. To a potential revenue driver and a competitive advantage in district Government EnvironmentalCommunity MustWork Together to achieve outcomes that protect the outcome and grow the economy. To become achievable we must be in my opinion and avoid mandates rent epr or circularity that may consequences. The federal standards are imposed it may show growth in the emerging sector and in the emging sector. We see this happening irs guidelines on Hydrogen Tax Credits with no basis in law or stifling the development thats in my state in my hydrant hub thats why he bring it up. The cannot be allowed to happen in the recycling and Waste Management. During todays hearing were likely hear statements such as the devil is in the details or if done correctly these arise in our discussions. They emphasized the need to discuss all the potential consequences both intended and unintended. Done correctly epr could significantly improve domestic recycling the reducepportunitie. Equally so a poorly crafted epr scheme late burdens on consumers, privilege Large Companies over Smaller Companies open the door for targeted bands for materials out of favor such i can understand the rationale i have yet to see a proposal that adequately is addressing all these concerns thats why we are here today to start in epr scheme the importance of chemical recycling. Well never improve meaningful rates of must carefully consider what stakeholders but stakeholders should have a role in decisionmaking such as it Waste Management industry this often left out temperate when you think about the appropriate role of government by the last thing us Companies Need areo navigate. I look forward to hearing the panel and look forward. Thank you, senator capitol. Now we will hear from each of our three witnesses we are pleased to welcome each of you to our committee t hear first the h stand for . Or it what is■0 herbert. The chairman ceo sc johnson and son. Makes products many of us have in our homes and households is . Mrs. Myers. And windex cleaners which i have not used since yesterday. [laughter] quickly told him he is at last weekend. [laughter] they also have ambitious sustainability goals to make ecyclable and reusable. Doctor johnson, thank you for joining us today. You are welcome to begin your testimony at this time, thank you. Thank you. Thank you chairman carper and Ranking Member capitol and distinguished members of thecomo talk today. This is an incredibly important topic. I am a scientist by education but ive spent the last 37 years in my career in the packaged goods industry. And as a ceo of a large Global ConsumerGoods Company that is a big user of plastic iee very different ways. On one hand i status the most useful versatile■e costeffectie materials developed in the last century it has brought extraordinary benefits to human life and wellbeing on this planet. Hand as a lifeline conservationist i have seen how plastic has become one of the most profound global pollutants thats affecting planetary animal and human health. The challenge is reconciling thostwo perspectives. How we as a society can and would in a practically most economically and least disruptive preserve the benefits of plastic is brought to humanity while preventing the vast amounts of plastic that end up in landfills or worse end up in the environment where it can affect animal and human health. Q now our company has a long history of environmental leadership. I have long seen our companies of plastic and packaging waste onef our top issues it is something we have been working on for very long time. We launched ourent recycled plae 33 years ago back in 1990. We have continued to take numerous actions and launched many otherui to reduce our plastic footprint. We are going to continue to do so whether it is improving pcrc, providing reit use, refill countries working i cannot say i can raise my hand and say i feel go abo the progress we have made. No matter how many innovations of one company can try or efforts we can■q voluntary actions can only go so far. It is incredibly difficult for an individual busin a whole to e unilateral progress on Plastic Waste. It takes everyone in the pstic ng collectively together from plastic manufacturers, packaged Goods Companies like oursees retailers, recyclers to individual users or Plastic Products all coming together, working collectively becausehe scale at retail, skillet recycling, scale and supply, scale through everyone in the passaging value chain working together holistically. Without scale we tend to expensive ineffective piecemeal approaches. ■s enacted and goals are set and the more time that is given to achieve those, the less the disruption there will be[. O business, the economy and consumers. Time will allow for Product Innovation and recycling Technology Innovation and allows for Education Programs and allows for an investment in capacity into recycling and recg infrastructure and many other things. Many organizations have been working to support and i think what the World Wildlife fund has done in particula h excellent we on how its workable in closing i would like to say■÷■ i believt is a critical issue that needs to be addressed and a practical good way to make substantialprol Regulatory Framework where you can achieve skill and take spots ability for the lifecycle of the products and i think the sooner goals and expectations are set for the industry and a time is given to meet those goals er. Thank you. Doctor johnson, thank you for leading us and now turn to aaron simon for her comments. And heaf Plastic Waste and business at the World Wildlife fund. Ms. Simon ha5c■sfe fund since 2, is that right . , efforts to engage in the private sector to reduceic pollution. While commanded you are recognized for the next five minutes or so. Thank you, chairman carper and Ranking Member ouppercaseletter and other distinguished members of the committee for the opportunity to testify today. Before i came to wwf, i was a packaging engineer and scientist working here for ten years. He spent a lot of time designinh that were largeformat and moved to the rooms that started up on walmart shelves. So when we today, not only am i passionate about it but i can talk about it from a few d perspectives. Thats maybe why we invited you to come. [laughter] World Wildlife fund is one of theorlds leading sciencebased conservations. Weve been around for over 60 years in our mission is to protect the worlds resources for ■7future generations and to help to address some of the Biggest Challenges facing the planet today like plastic pollution. Plastics are essential. Its modern life. Theyve helped us to overcome insurmountable challenges, but the cost of that innovation has quite extreme. The u. S. Is generating most of the Plastic Waste in the world thats ending up in the rivers, and its estimated globally there is 11 Million Metric Tons of plastic pollution entering evere that is a dump truck per minute so in the hour we might be talking that would be 60 dump trucks heading to the oceans and they are e everywhere from the ecosystems we are trying to protect to the city sidewalks. Iming the communities and economies and of course leading to the growing Health Crisis of micro plastics in the food and water. So tot antiplastic. We think it can be a cornerstone to many of the innovations that. Currently we depend too heavily on the single use economy where we make news and get rid ofe nee system into a circular economy and thats going to require a multifaceted approach tha protects the communities, the environment and the economy. And we see this and our partners as a huge untapped opportunity for the u. S. And it leadership and so massive that if we were to start today to transform ther one, we could save more than 4 trillion in direct and environmental and social cost b■ policies like extended producer responsibility can be a critical part of the solution. We know they are responsible for the robt the world. And it creates powerful incentives for companies to reduce and designed for the cln the risk of that leaking into the environment. The shift of the responsibility the objective is for the physical organizational and financial structure to be shared between the producer and the government. It creates a structure that increases the end of life and allows for better environmentally sound treatment and provides incentives for manufacturers to design more resources and invest in infrastructure. The epr principles are broadly supported by industry and other ngos and include an industry like the governanceld ideally bd at the federal level and in this type of model the governments of the oversight but the day to day management and obligations industry led producer responsibility organization. In my written testimony i and recommended parameters for the system. They hope the Conversation Community will help pave the way for congress to develop and enact legislation and we are not alone in that. We have a track record working with companies tomprove their fr policy. In my written testimony i will elaborate on the work with Companies Like cocacola and the Companies Support the federal apr as well as corporations up the line. They are also knowing the American Public is fully behind you. I know that soon to be released show 85 that Plastic Wastel pollution is a concerning problem that requires immediate Political Action to solve. This issue is one that we can all agree on and a circular economy is the only way forward to help us to get there and the government and industry outline the best in class system. Members of the committee have introduced the accountability act into the recycling infrastructure and accessibility act and at the break free from plastic act. These demonstrate the bipartisan recognition of the growing problem and the keen interest in addressing it. Welldesigned federal apr provides another oppo pass bipartisan legislation. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today and for the committees leadership. It sounds like a lifetime of leadership in the private sector and the nonprofit hear from dan. My sister grew up in danville virginia and one of my places