NWPSC November Newsletter

November 2014

Product Stewardship Programs

Participate in LightRecycle Washington Program Update Meeting/Webinar Thursday, Nov 13
On Nov. 13, 2-4pm, hear updates on the LightRecycle Washington Program from PCA Product Stewardship, Inc., the stewardship organization implementing the plan, and the Dept. of Ecology, with a question and answer period. 200 webinar spaces are available. 50 spaces available for in-person attendance at Dept. of Ecology, Lower Level Auditorium, 300 Desmond Drive, Lacey, WA. To reserve a spot at the webinar or live meeting email Joanne Neugebauer-Rex.

PaintCare Minnesota Begins
On November 1, Minnesota became the sixth state with a PaintCare paint stewardship program. PaintCare, the nonprofit organization established by the American Coatings Association (the trade association for paint manufacturers) to implement paint stewardship programs on behalf of paint manufacturers in states that pass paint stewardship laws, now operates paint stewardship programs in California, Connecticut, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont while Colorado and Maine will begin in 2015.

Product Stewardship News

San Francisco Proposes Safe Drug Disposal Ordinance
Following the recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in favor of Alameda Countys 2012 medicine take-back law, the President of the Board of Supervisors of the City & County of San Francisco proposed an ordinance which would "require pharmaceutical manufacturers who sell and distribute drugs in San Francisco to fund and administer a comprehensive drug take-back program," expanding the City's existing medicine disposal pilot program into a permanent solution, and including both prescription and over-the-counter medication. The San Francisco Chronicle and Waste360 have further coverage of the proposed ordinance.

Canada-wide Action Plan for EPR Report
The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) released a recent progress report (PDF) on the Canada-Wide Action Plan for Extended Producer Responsibility (CAP-EPR) that went into effect in 2009. The progress report shows that "9 out of 10 Canadian provinces have passed some form of EPR legislation" and that the "number of product categories covered by legislation or programs has increased from 33 to 94." Resource Recycling has further coverage of the report.

e-Stewards Launches New Tools to Safely Recycle E-waste
e-Stewards® Marketplace is an online trading platform that will allow businesses to easily recycle unwanted electronics with certified e-Stewards® Recyclers. This online auction ensures all transactions go through e-Stewards Certified Recyclers. e-Stewards Certified Recyclers conform to the e-Stewards Standard which prohibits the disposal of electronic waste in landfills or in developing countries, requires that all customer data be wiped clean before it leaves their custody, includes a rigorous audit of the recycler and their downstream processors, and requires strict health and safety precautions to protect the health of recyclers. Any business can register and sell used electronics on e-Stewards Marketplace while immediate buyers must be Certified E-Stewards Recyclers which can in turn sell non-restricted (non-hazardous waste) materials such as refurbished equipment, or separated commodities to anyone. Additionally, e-Stewards recyclers can sell scrap to each other for further processing.

e-Stewards has released a new application called the e-Stewards Global Impact Calculator©.  The Calculator, now available on the Apple Store for free, provides three different metrics of sustainability for companies that want to track the environmental performance of their electronics recycling programs:

1. Greenhouse gases avoided;
2. Toxic metals diverted from landfill or global dumping; and
3. Valuable and precious metals recovered.

The application will soon be available for Android operating systems.

Report Examines European EPR Programs
An article in EurActiv (Lack of transparency in European waste management) notes the release of a report for the European Commission by BIO by Deloitte (Final report: Development of Guidance on Extended Producer Responsibility (PDF)) examining Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in sixteen EU member states. The article states "the first observation presented by the study's authors is that the data they required was not always readily available. "Even after extensive investigation, there is a severe lack of comparable information available for economic and technical performance," the report states... The report argues in favour of strengthening EPR policies, stating that "internalising the costs [...] of depollution and of recycling in the cost of the product will provide an incentive for producers to take into account environmental consideration for the end of life of its products"... Finally, the report recommends the construction of a transparent mechanism for comparing the cost and performance of EPR programmes across Europe."

"Take Our Drugs Please! The Future of Rx Take Back Programs"
Writing in NACWA The Water Voice: Perspectives on Water Policy from the Experts, wastewater operator Ed Gottlieb explains his support for producer responsibility and a permanent, funded solution to pharmaceutical take back (via CPSC and Upstream).

Upcoming Events

• LightRecycle Washington Program Update (webinar and Lacey, WA): Nov. 13
• EPA Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) webinar: The Changing "Waste" Stream: Nov. 13
• Tire Stewardship Dialogue Meeting (webinar, Hartford, CT): Dec. 9-10

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The Northwest Product Stewardship Council (NWPSC) is a coalition of government agencies in Washington and Oregon working on solid waste, recycling, resource conservation, environmental protection, public health and other issues. Together with non-government agencies, businesses and individuals, we form a network that supports product stewardship and extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies and programs. For more information, contact info@productstewardship.net or visit us at www.ProductStewardship.net.

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