Tax on Virgin Plastic Resin Would Affect Importers If Bill Passes
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., introduced a bill this month, the Rewarding Efforts to Decrease Unrecycled Contaminants in Ecosystems (REDUCE) Act, that would impose a 10 cents-per-pound excise tax on virgin plastic resin produced domestically and imported. Exported resin would be exempt.
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Whitehouse said the fee, which would increase to 15 cents in 2023 and 20 cents in 2024, would make recycled plastic more cost-competitive with virgin plastic. His Aug. 6 press release announcing the bill said that less than 3% of plastic waste in the U.S. is recycled. He said that companies that make medical products, including packaging for medicines; companies that use plastic in personal hygiene products such as tampons or diapers; and those that make packaging to ship hazardous materials could apply for a rebate. Virgin plastic that is used to make products that are not disposable would also qualify for the rebate, he said.
Importers would have to estimate the poundage of virgin plastic when importing single-use plastic goods. If the importer did not provide enough information to determine that, "the amount of the tax imposed on such item shall be 10 percent of the appraised value of such item as of the time such item was entered into the United States for consumption, use, or warehousing," the bill's text says.