In this week’s roundup, we’re talking about organic waste, plastic waste, and what policy can do about those things! We’re also discussing the EPA along with the record-breaking heat and humidity we’re experiencing in Northern Virginia.

Massachusetts’ organic waste ban is good for business, state finds – Waste Dive, July 16, 2025

Massachusetts stood out in a study of five (of the nine) states with commercial organic waste disposal bans. The state’s landfill tonnage was reduced by at least 7% on average over the course of five years. Researchers point to available infrastructure, easily understandable regulation, and strong enforcement as the driving factors for success. Since 2014, when the ban was first implemented, the policy has expanded to require even more commercial generators of organic waste to divert the material from disposal. Revenue and employment in organics recycling have steadily increased since 2016, after a sharp increase immediately after the ban was enacted in 2014. The total tonnage of organics processed increased by 65.5% between 2016 and 2024, with a whopping 342,203 tons handled in 2024. The report deduced that Massachusetts’ ban was received positively across the board. 

EPR Packaging goes live in Oregon – Waste 360, June 30, 2025

The nation’s most comprehensive EPR law went into effect in Oregon on July 1 but an industry critic pushes back on roll out of Extended Producer Responsibility laws and programs as they continue to put the responsibility for dealing with packaging on the consumer. 

Malaysia stops accepting plastic Waste from US and other Countries – PBS News, July 20, 2025

The U.S. produces more plastic waste than any other country in the world. Last year, more than 35,000 tons of it was shipped to Malaysia. The cost of sending plastic waste overseas is cheaper than dealing with the waste ourselves here in the United States. However, due to the amount of waste ending up in Malaysia, much of the waste ends up dumped, landfilled, burned, or in the ocean, creating a multitude of more problems. In June, Malaysian leaders effectively banned future shipments. According to Anja Brandon, Director of Plastics Policy at Ocean Conservancy, state and local governments in the U.S. are tackling the challenge of plastic waste management and policy, through extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation and policies requiring less plastics to begin with. While these policies are a start, significant reductions in the amount of plastic produced at all are necessary to face our plastic problem.

And speaking of PFAS, leading fossil fuel companies pushed for eliminating EPA’s Research and Development Office –  Inside Climate News, July 21, 2025
Last week, EPA Administrator Lee Zelden announced that the Office of Research and Development (ORD), the entity responsible for determining health and safety risks of chemicals, would be shuttered. A coalition of industry groups, orchestrated by the American Chemistry Council, has been lobbying the Administration to stop regulating them based on ORD chemical assessments. ORD’s Integrated Risk Information System program, or IRIS, has been under attack by the petrochemical industry for years. It completes independent scientific research on chemicals so that the EPA may make informed policy decisions. With the dismantling of IRIS and ORD, the EPA loses its access to firsthand, rigorous research, and the ability to use the safety assessments that result from it in order to regulate corporations and protect public health.

Most Humid Summer on Record in DC Area – WTOP News, July 22, 2025

We are finally out of drought territory but full on in HOT AND HUMID territory as we mark the most humid summer on record in our region. Just since June 1, the DC area has already experienced 650 hours with the dew point over 70 degrees, more than twice the average of 276 hours in the same timeframe. High dew points mean there is already a lot of moisture in the air, making it harder to cool off by sweating (which requires evaporation from the skin to cool you down). The one bright spot in the weather news is that all of the rain that has fallen has brought the region out of its long-standing drought condition.