The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and local leaders gathered today at Choo Choo Bob’s Train Store in Saint Paul to promote the new extended producer responsibility (EPR) program that will simplify and standardize reuse opportunities, recycling, and composting for Minnesotans. Questions about product packaging and recycling are common during the holidays when residents navigate how to properly dispose of wrapping materials and packaging from gifts.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that household waste in America increases by 25% between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. This includes items like wrapping paper, cardboard boxes, plastic and paper packaging from gifts, and leftover food. This additional waste adds up to roughly 1 million tons of extra trash entering U.S. landfills per week during the last five weeks of the year.
Under the new EPR program, Minnesota is phasing out all product packaging sold in our state that is not refillable, reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2032. This applies to paper products and packaging for household goods, electronics, food, and beverages sold in Minnesota, including online purchases. This program will simplify and standardize recycling across the state, expand education, and make it easier for Minnesotans to know “what goes where” when it comes to recycling and composting.
“We all know it’s easy for waste to add up around the holidays,” said MPCA Assistant Commissioner Kirk Koudelka. “Minnesota’s extender producer responsibility program will make it easier to make sustainable decisions when giving gifts to loved ones. As we develop this program, we encourage Minnesotans to seek out ways they can limit the amount of trash they’re sending to the landfill between now and the end of the year.”
Two-thirds of Minnesota’s landfill waste could have been reused or recycled. Waste from the Twin Cities is expected to increase approximately 19% by 2042, putting a heavy strain on our landfill system. Preventing waste and recycling or composting when prevention isn’t possible can help solve our trash problem. The EPR program will make sustainable decision-making easier for Minnesotans while prioritizing engagement with businesses to create a program that supports their needs, too.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency recommends the following tips to reduce waste around the holiday season:
- Bring your own reusable bags on shopping trips.
- Wrapping paper with foil, plastic, dyes, or glitter is non-recyclable.
- Give presents in reused gift bags or seek out recyclable, reusable wrapping options like fabric or newspaper for gift wrapping.
- Consider buying gifts that use less packaging.
- Buy gifts in-store to avoid additional packaging associated with shipping.
- Do not recycle items like packaging peanuts, styrofoam, ribbons, bows, tinsel, or anything with a sticky adhesive.
- Cardboard boxes, paper greeting cards, gift cards, and bubble wrap can be recycled.
- The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has suggestions for sustainable disposal options for your wreath and Christmas tree.
"As the owner of Choo Choo Bob's Train Store, we're thrilled to host this important event highlighting Minnesota's new extended producer responsibility program. In the toy industry, we see firsthand the challenges of excessive packaging, especially during the holiday season. This new legislation is a significant step toward reducing waste and making sustainable choices easier for both businesses and consumers. We're excited to be part of educating Minnesotans about these upcoming changes that will benefit our environment and our communities," said Jenny Moberg, owner of Choo Choo Bob's.
“Minnesotans want producers to take responsibility for the ever-growing mountains of packaging waste from their products,” said Ramsey County Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt, chair of the Partnership on Waste to Energy. “As counties we are working very hard with our municipalities, recyclers, residents, and businesses to keep as much waste out of landfills as possible. We are excited that the state’s new extended producer responsibility program will hold producers responsible for the costs for recycling, create incentives for them to reduce packaging and make it easier for us to recycle packaging during the holidays — and all year round.”
“The growing packaging crisis is making our work as mission-based recyclers increasingly difficult. Problematic and unnecessary packaging is trashing our recycling system, driving up costs to our communities, and polluting our environment. Unchecked changes in packaging design often creates too much non-recyclable materials which flood into our facility, clogging up the system, and causing contamination,” said Miriam Holsinger, co-president of Eureka Recycling.
“Transitioning to more sustainable packaging solutions will help us reduce plastic pollution, protect the air we breathe, and protect the water we drink. What better gift could we give our loved ones?” said Paul Austin, executive director of Conservation Minnesota. “This program is an important step toward rethinking how we value our natural resource materials, improve recycling, composting, and reuse options for all Minnesotans, all while helping us reach a goal of zero waste.”