The goal of the SIA is to build on the progress made by various efforts and provide case analysis to support decision making to best position Rhode Island as they consider Extended Producer Responsibility Program for Packaging and Paper (EPR) and a Deposit Return System (DRS) where both programs are managed by a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO). For the entire work effort, the scope of covered materials is the broad material types of paper, plastic, metal, and glass as related to PRO managed programs for EPR and DRS. In the recent decades, Rhode Island has made significant progress with environmental protection and sustainable materials management with the creation of a state agency for environmental management and a quasi-state agency for the management and operation of the state landfill and material recycling facility. To highlight a few milestone events, in 1986, the General Assembly passed the Rhode Island Recycling Act making Rhode Island the first state in the country to require recycling and set an ambitious goal that all solid waste capable of being recycled should be recycled, as a target, no less than thirty-five percent (35%) of the solid waste generated in the state should be disposed of through recycling; and every effort should be made to exceed this target. In 1988, the General Assembly passed the Material Recycling Facility Act to create a Material Recycling Facility operated by Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation, where the facility was designed to receive, sort, and market recyclables like paper, glass, and metal from residential and commercial sources. RIDEM acknowledges that a compressed timeline has been imposed for this project. Creating data from scratch (such as performing a waste characterization study or numerous field visits) would be challenging. As listed within the details of each task, the overwhelming methodology to apply for this work effort is to use existing data, similar data, or extrapolated data and drastically reduce the amount of time and effort required for creating baseline conditions. Resources from RIDEM and RIRRC will perform a substantial role for the data acquisition and its approval, where the vendor work effort will focus on compilation and analysis that results in findings and recommendations. Project Schedule The SIA project is expected to take several months and all tasks should be finished by the vendor as listed within the details of each task. An interim deliverable is required for August 1, 2026, with a complete draft report so that RIDEM can perform the necessary reviews prior to it being used within the Public Review that is listed for September. All work effort by the vendor should be completed by November 1, 2026. This timeline will allow for RIDEM to submit the final report to the governor, the speaker of the house, the senate president, and the chairs of the house and senate environment committees no later than December 1, 2026. The high-level project plan listed here is conceptual and does not reflect the detailed project plan that is required and provided by the vendor within the proposal; however, it does serve to illustrate the compressed timeline, schedule of tasks, deliverables, and milestones to achieve the final report delivery.
