SENATE BILL: Single Use Glass and Plastic Discouraging Act (Failed)

[Former President tack50]

I have to say I'm usually skeptical of legislation that bans single-use plastics, for the simple reason that 90% of plastic pollution is caused by the actions of Asian and African countries, but my main objection to this bill is the banning of plastic straws which people with disabilities depend on because it is the only straw type which is affordable, easily available, safe in hot liquids, and does not pose an allergy or choking/injury risk to those who use them.  I am submitting this amendment so that we do not impose an unfair burden on people with disabilities:

Well, I realize that most pollution is caused by foreign countries but that should not stop us from doing our job.

Anyways, I would definitely object to that amendment though I do have a counterproposal ready (basically taxing straws at 5 cents per unit).

Still, before I do formally introduce it, what about paper straws? They are indeed worse than regular plastic straws, I will not lie but I imagine they still get the job done? Or are they worse for the environment anyways and so they shouldn't be used?

[Former President tack50]

Sponsor!!!!

Thank you Mr. PPT.

I have introduced this piece of legislation in order to discourage and reduce the usage of single-use plastics in Atlasia, especially (but not exclusively) those used for the consumption of food and drinks.

This is done in 3 ways. First a system of refundable deposits will be introduced. Under this system, consumers will have to return their empty containers to a supermarket or another sort of recycling facility, so that it is later sent to a recycling plant and processed. Several products, from aluminium cans to especially plastic bottles; would be taxed and the tax refunded to the consumer once they return the product in question. This system has proven to be effective and is in fact already in operation in several countries (most notably Germany)

The second is a regular tax, applied for now only on plastic bags, though I might extend it to straws as per Scott's argument.

The final one is a regular ban on certain widely used single use-plastics. Most notably plastic cutlery. ´
I also included Atlasia setting up some goals for the recycling of products.

This legislation should be quite effective at reducing the amount of plastic and glass we use and therefore make the country more environmentally friendly and sustainable.

As per usual for transparency, parts of this bill were very loosely based on some RL EU directive while others were drafted fully by myself.

[Former President tack50]

Ok, introducing the following amendment then:

SENATE BILL

To encourage the recycling and discourage the single use of plastics and glass materials

Be it enacted in both Houses of Congress Assembled,

Section 1: Name
1. This bill may be referred to as the "Single use glass and plastic discouraging act"

Section 2: Refundable Deposits
1. A deposit of 10 cents shall be paid by consumers on all sales of glass bottles
2. A deposit of 5 cents shall be paid by consumers on all sales of aluminium cans
3. A deposit of 30 cents shall be paid by consumers on all sales of plastic bottles
4. These deposits shall be paid on top of any additional regional, state or local deposits.
5. These deposits shall be refunded to the consumer after delivering the empty container intact in recyclable shape at any recycling point.
6. All supermarkets and other convenience stores with a surface area larger than 2000 square feet shall be considered recycling points for the purposes of this act. These establishments shall be responsible for delivering the received containers to a processing plant where they can be adequately recycled.
7. Section 2.6 shall not be construed as to limit the implementation of recycling points in any other sort of establishment or store

Section 3: Non-refundable taxes
1. A tax of 5 cents shall be imposed on all sales of plastic bags
2. A tax of 5 cents per straw shall be imposed on all sales of plastic straws
3. These taxes shall be imposed on top of any regional, state or local taxes

Section 4: Single use plastics bans
1. Starting on July 1st, 2021; the sale of the following products across the Republic of Atlasia shall be banned if they are made of single-use plastics or oxo-degradable plastic:
a) Cotton bud sticks
b) Plastic plates and cutlery
c) Straws
c) Sticks to be attached to and support balloons
d) Food containers intended for meals ready for immediate consumption and made out of expanded polystirene
e) Beberage containers made up of expanded polystyrene
f) Cups made up of expanded polystyrene

Section 5: Future goals
1. The Republic of Atlasia and its government shall pass the necessary measures to ensure that 90% of plastics are collected and explicitly separated for recycling by the year 2029
2. The Republic of Atlasia and its government shall pass the necessary measures to ensure that 25% of plastics are made of recycled materials by the year 2025; and 30% by the year 2030.

Section 6: Enactment
1. Except for the parts that specify otherwise, this bill shall be enacted 1 month after passage

[Former President tack50]

Senators have 24 hours to object.

Does this refer to Scott's amendment or my own amendment?

[Former President tack50]

Nay

[Former President tack50]

Note for Yankee: if the Scott amendment passes, consider my amendment withdrawn as I do not think it makes sense to relitigate the issue

[Former President tack50]

Bottle deposits are good because you can actually get the money back and it encourages recycling. But 30 cents is too high.

For what is worth I based it off comparable systems. For example Germany's deposit is 25 cents.

However I am open to lowering the deposit if the Senate wants it

[Former President tack50]

Well, I personally refuse to believe that this is somehow a tax on poor people or anything of the sort unlike what Jimmy and Scott seem to be claiming?

The system works perfectly fine in many jurisdictions (including apparently Yankee's old home state of NY irl?) and is not really a tax on poor people as the taxes are just refundable immediately.

The only non-refundable tax here is a tax of a whopping 5 cents on the purchases of plastic bags. Is this really such a big tax? I do not think so, and despite its very small cost it is extremely effective at reducing plastic usage.

I will say that I am fine with removing Section V if people want. It is the usual "empty platitude" stuff that gets added to bills as a declaration of intent but ends up being ignored; so if you don't want it I am more than fine removing it.

[Former President tack50]

Introducing the following amendment to reduce the deposits (which I think can get quite high if regions also create them) and to get rid of section 5:

Section 2: Refundable Deposits
1. A deposit of 10 cents shall be paid by consumers on all sales of glass bottles
2. A deposit of 5 cents shall be paid by consumers on all sales of aluminium cans
3. A deposit of 30 cents shall be paid by consumers on all sales of plastic bottles
4. These deposits shall not be paid on top of any additional regional, state or local deposits. If a region, state or local government introduces local deposits; the deposits shall be reduced by the amount worth of the regional, state or local deposit; until the federal one reaches zero.
5. These deposits shall be refunded to the consumer after delivering the empty container in recyclable shape at any recycling point.
6. All supermarkets and other convenience stores with a surface area larger than 2000 square feet shall be considered recycling points for the purposes of this act. These establishments shall be responsible for delivering the received containers to a processing plant where they can be adequately recycled.
7. Section 2.6 shall not be construed as to limit the implementation of recycling points in any other sort of establishment or store

Section 5: Future goals
1. The Republic of Atlasia and its government shall pass the necessary measures to ensure that 90% of plastics are collected and explicitly separated for recycling by the year 2029
2. The Republic of Atlasia and its government shall pass the necessary measures to ensure that 25% of plastics are made of recycled materials by the year 2025; and 30% by the year 2030.

[Former President tack50]

I still oppose this bill as written. What amounts to a small tax of $10-15 a week for those buying groceries real adds up to those with little money.

Wait, do people not use reusable bags? My family has been using them (or sometimes, cardboard crates) for the past line 5 years without issue tbh

Also the tax is literally 5 cents per bag. At most I would expect somewhere around 50 cents a week per household to be paid. 10-15$ a month implies something on the order of 200 plastic bags lol.

[Former President tack50]

I still oppose this bill as written. What amounts to a small tax of $10-15 a week for those buying groceries real adds up to those with little money.

Wait, do people not use reusable bags? My family has been using them (or sometimes, cardboard crates) for the past line 5 years without issue tbh

Also the tax is literally 5 cents per bag. At most I would expect somewhere around 50 cents a week per household to be paid. 10-15$ a month implies something on the order of 200 plastic bags lol.

I meant the "deposits". Also in many areas, in my area, there are very few if any recycling programs and grocery stores are like 45 minutes drive away in some cases. This will leave poor rural areas and rural areas overall suffering from the deposit "tax", do to the additional burden of getting the refund.

I'd prefer if Section 2 was rewritten into a refund-only program.

Well Section 2.6 should take care of that, basically making it so medium sized and large supermarkets need to install recycling points and/or reverse vending machines? (I would also expect small grocery shops to install them to remain competitive but it would not be a mandate)

Mind you I am open to putting in more restrictive requirements regarding the installation of these recycling points (say, at least 1 per county or to expand it to all grocery stores regardless of size). If need be I am also open to reducing this bill so that it only applies in counties with a population over X; or counties defined as urban or suburban by the Census Bureau or something like that.

Tbh even in a rural town I have a hard time thinking that you need to drive 45 minutes each way in order to get to a grocery store, though of course it also depends on how many grocery stores actually become recycling points.

[Former President tack50]

What is the current text of the bill? I kinda got lost with all the amendments lol

[Former President tack50]

So where does that leave us at?

The big question would be whether we want to impose county minimums or some other sort of messure to make this easier on rural areas as Jimmy worried about. And if so, how should we do it.

[Former President tack50]

Introducing the following amendment to try and see if this is enough to fix the fissues regarding rural areas. This amendment goes with the simple solution of only applying to urban and suburban areas as well as rural counties that do have the necessary recycling infrastructure in place:

SENATE BILL

To encourage the recycling and discourage the single use of plastics and glass materials

Be it enacted in both Houses of Congress Assembled,

Section 1: Name
1. This bill may be referred to as the "Single use glass and plastic discouraging act"

Section 2: Refundable Deposits
1. A deposit of 10 cents shall be paid by consumers on all sales of glass bottles
2. A deposit of 5 cents shall be paid by consumers on all sales of aluminium cans
3. A deposit of 30 cents shall be paid by consumers on all sales of plastic bottles
4. These deposits shall be paid on top of any additional regional, state or local deposits.  If a region, state or local government introduces local deposits; the deposits shall be reduced by the amount worth of the regional, state or local deposit; until the federal one reaches zero.
5. These deposits shall be refunded to the consumer after delivering the empty container intact at any recycling point.
6. All supermarkets and other convenience stores with a surface area larger than 2000 square feet shall be considered recycling points for the purposes of this act. These establishments shall be responsible for delivering the received containers to a processing plant where they can be adequately recycled
7. Nothing in this section may be construed as to stop or limit the creation of other recycling points in any other sort of establishment
8. The deposits specified in this section shall only be applied in sales that take place in counties defined as urban or suburban by the Atlasian Census Bureau, and in rural counties that have at least 1 deposit recovery and recycling plant located in a position such as that no point of the county is located any further than 15 miles from the deposit recovery location

Section 3: Non-refundable taxes
1. A tax of 5 cents shall be imposed on all sales of plastic bags
2. These taxes shall be imposed on top of any regional, state or local taxes

Section 4: Single use plastics bans
1. Starting on July 1st, 2021; the sale of the following products across the Republic of Atlasia shall be banned if they are made of single-use plastics or oxo-degradable plastic:
a) Cotton bud sticks
b) Plastic plates and cutlery
c) Sticks to be attached to and support balloons
d) Food containers intended for meals ready for immediate consumption and made out of expanded polystirene
e) Beberage containers made up of expanded polystyrene
f) Cups made up of expanded polystyrene

Section 5: Enactment
1. Except for the parts that specify otherwise, this bill shall be enacted 1 month after passage

[Former President tack50]

Aye