Dr. Debalina Sengupta, Assistant Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the UH Energy Transition Institute (ETI), recently appeared on NPR’s Hello Houston to discuss how introducing a unified federal policy can build on the recent interest in plastic recycling we are seeing in the United States. The conversation was sparked by the research findings detailed in the latest UH Energy white paper, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for Plastics Packaging: Gaps, Challenges, and Opportunities for Policies in the United States, making it a timely public policy dialogue.
During the interview, Dr. Sengupta discussed why the United States continues to struggle with low plastic recycling rates despite widespread public awareness and decades of local and state-level initiatives. She pointed out that while recycling rates for paper and metals are relatively strong, plastic packaging lags far behind, with only a small fraction, as low as less than 10 percent, recovered and recycled nationwide.
Hello Houston Episode Featuring Dr. Debalina Sengupta
As identified in the white paper, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a critical policy framework for addressing the challenges of recycling plastic. EPR shifts responsibility for packaging waste management from municipalities and consumers to producers, which in turn encourages better product design, more consistent recycling systems, and stronger end markets for recycled materials. Though EPR is increasingly shaping how packaging and end-of-life responsibility are approached in the United States, progress is uneven and even in the danger of being stalled due to fragmented policies and inconsistent standards across states and municipalities.
Drawing on the white paper’s analysis, Dr. Sengupta explained on the radio show that the nation’s recycling challenges extend beyond individual behavior. While consumer participation is important, structural barriers, including uneven access to recycling infrastructure, limited sorting and processing capacity, and underdeveloped markets for recycled plastics, continue to limit positive outcomes. These gaps particularly affect the over 15 million tons of plastics packaging waste produced in the U.S. every year, which includes materials that are difficult to collect, sort, and process using existing technologies.
Dr. Sengupta underscored during the Hello Houston discussion that plastics are produced and traded in national and global markets, making a patchwork of localized rules inefficient for both producers and waste managers. A national framework, with clearer federal guidance and a more coordinated national approach, as recommended by the white paper, could provide consistency, reduce inefficiencies, and help align investment in recycling infrastructure.
Dr. Sengupta also discussed the limitations of relying solely on mechanical recycling and pointed to emerging technologies that can convert plastics into alternative products. These evolving approaches offer opportunities to expand markets for recovered plastics and support a more circular plastics economy.
UH Energy is proud to see its research informing public discourse and policy discussions at both local, state, and national levels.
To learn more about the ways in which UH Energy continues to contribute evidence-based solutions to one of the most pressing sustainability challenges facing the country today, read the white paper here.