Recycling Policy Industry Stakeholder Dialogue
January 2013 update
Recycling Fund Reinstatement Request letter to Governor Pence
October 2012 update
In March of 2012 the IRC launched an industry dialog – bringing together manufacturers, the waste management industry, beverage distributors, brand owners and several trade associations for the first of several meetings to discuss policy options to advance recycling in Indiana.
Why do these stakeholders care about recycling? For starters, the waste management industry provides a wide range of recycling services across Indiana and they’ve invested millions of dollars in recycling infrastructure to date. Indiana’s manufacturers of glass, aluminum, insulation and plastic (among others) are keenly interested in securing more recycled material from Indiana’s residents and businesses. Beverage companies including Coke and Nestle Waters have set ambitious recycled content goals for their packaging and as such, have a stake in this dialogue as well.
In September 2012, these stakeholders came together in support of fully reinstating Indiana’s Recycling Fund which was suspended in January 2009, due to the State’s economic crisis at that time. This impressive and diverse business group sent a letter (below) to Governor Daniels and a similar letter to all Gubernatorial candidates asking for their support of reinstating the recycling fund. Governor Daniels deferred to the next Governor. Candidate Gregg supports fully reinstating the fund and Candidate Pence has not responded. Candidate Boneham did not reply to a request for an email address to send the request. We look forward to working with the next Governor, whoever he shall be, on this important issue.
In October 2012, the IRC made the economic case for investing in recycling alongside representatives from the glass and aluminum industries in front of the Environmental Quality Service Council – Indiana’s environmental legislative study committee. A summary of that hearing was published in Resource Recycling.
If you have any questions about this process, or if you would like to join the stakeholder group on behalf of your company please contact Carey Hamilton at [email protected].
