A groundbreaking California law that compels packaging producers to phase out single-use plastics is already sparking anger from the chemicals industry and environmental groups just weeks after going into effect.
The law, which was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2022 but only took effect in May, requires plastic and packaging companies to use less single-use plastic, and ensure by 2032 that all packaging is either recyclable or compostable. The big idea is to incentivize producers of plastics to consider the end of their products’ life in order to create better, more sustainable bottles, containers and wrappings.
Under the new rules, plastic producers have to cut single-use plastic, increase recycling rates, and pay $5bn to remedy harms from plastic pollution.
My example was simplified for the sake of illustration. But even in my simplified model, I did say
Industry is allowed to make their case, but the government should not naively trust them. They should demand proof, and have that proof analyzed with their own independent experts.
Yeah I think another part of how we ended up with things working the way they do is that our legislators don’t actually know anything about what they’re legislating and “expert voices” seem like they get monopolized by corporate interests
It feels a bit like we built a system to see who is most electable, not who is likely to be most capable once elected, and so winning politicians are often ones who index all their knowledge and abilities into interpersonal skills and have none left over to legislate with.
I don’t know what it would take to reliably have real experts that don’t have a conflict of interest helping shape our laws and regulations but if we found a way to accomplish that it would be a big step in the right direction. Though it would do nothing about politicians acting in bad faith and pursuing corporate interests because its advantageous to their position of power to be buddy buddy with powerful wealthy entities. You’d obviously also have to get corporate money out of politics for it to do any good.
I agree that this is an annoying problem. I don’t know the answer to it, and I dont think anyone does, really. But my best bets:
But I think a big part of the issue is that the only people who are politicians are people who choose to be politicians. Ie, people who want power. I’ve heard an idea that sounds crazy, but might have some merit - to simply assign legislative positions to people based on lottery, similar to how jury duty is assigned. Then you would really have a cross section of the population representing the people!