Leading plastics reduction lawyer sees single-use policies as 'gateway' to bigger change

Jennie Romer has been ubiquitous in many pivotal moments of modern plastics policy.

From helping to craft San Francisco's landmark plastic bag ban ordinance, to moving to New York City to help pass a similar local policy, to helping introduce the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act's original sponsors, Romer has been a key player throughout. As the founder of PlasticBagLaws.org, she's become an expert on plastics policy fights and participated in the development of numerous other laws over the years. Since joining the Surfrider Foundation in 2019, Romer has continued that work, helping to track more than 1,000 plastic reduction lawsaround the country.

Courtesy of Penguin Random House

Romer recently released a new book, "Can I Recycle This?", that highlights these experiences and answers questions for the average reader about recycling more than 60 common items. The book uses watercolor illustrations by Christie Young to show examples of different packaging types and bring levity to more complex details on recycling infrastructure or policy. Romer also makes a case in the book for policies such as extended producer responsibility (EPR), in an expansion of her focus beyond the world of bags, straws, polystyrene foam and other commonly targeted plastics.

"I've spent more than a decade as a lawyer fighting for effective plastic pollution laws – now I'm ready to fix the whole recycling system," Romer writes.

Waste Dive recently spoke with Romer about her advice for communicating about recycling, what's next for packaging policy, how to scale up reuse systems and more.

Read the full story at https://www.wastedive.com/news/jennie-romer-can-i-recycle-this-book-plastics-epr/600292/