Ontario EPR Lessons Applied by CPSC in California

At a joint media conference at the Ontario Legislature in April, the Recycling Council of Ontario and Ontario Waste Management Association called for new legislation that drives and achieves greater waste diversion. The two organizations contend that embedding the following principles into new EPR legislation would ensure Ontario becomes an environmental and economic leader in resource management:

Focus responsibility on individual companies get rid of agencies that allow producers to 'outsource' their costs and responsibility, and allow them to do what they do best: innovate and compete. Restrict point-of-sale fees. Recycling costs are a new cost of doing business in Ontario and should be considered in the price of the product, not added at the checkout. Government should set the rules (standards, targets) and enforce them with penalties.

These key principles align with the nationally harmonized principles of EPR. In fact, CPSC is pushing for these very principles in our three EPR bills. For the full story, click here.

Legislation - Battery, Battery, Sharps and Pharma Bills

For current bill text, fact sheets and model letters go to our 2013 Legislation page. Here is the latest on our bills: AB 488, Williams Primary Battery Recycling Act: Held in Committee
This bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations committee which means in essence it is dead for this year. While we were happy to have the support of the manufacturers of batteries, it was not enough to overcome the opposition by electronics manufacturers, pharma and others. We thank Assemblymember Das Williams who authored the bill and championed this issue and his fantastic staff for their hard work. We moved the discussion further than ever before and lead the nation in this disucssion.

AB 403, Stone/Eggman Sharps Producer Responsibility: SUPPORT

This bill was heard in the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee on April 16th and passed out of committee with a 5-2 vote. The Assemblymembers have decided to hold on to AB 403 for the year given the confusing analysis of Prop 26 by legislative counsel, and plan to continue the effort to address home generated sharps waste next year in some form.

SB 727, Jackson/Hancock Medication Take-Back Program: SUPPORT

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This bill continues to gain new supporters every week, and has substantial support from diverse groups, including the California Veterinary Medical Association, National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse, and Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts. For the latest fact sheet click here. This bill was scheduled to be heard in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee May 1, and instead of a hearing, Chair Jerry Hill announced that he will hold the bill in committee while stakeholder meetings are held this year. We will keep you informed of progress and meetings. Please send in your support letters!

PaintCare California California Program Update

In 7 months since program launch, PaintCare has now established 401 retail locations, 5 private transfer stations, 1 Restore, and 3 paint recyclers as drop-off locations for leftover paint in California that's 410 new locations for residents of California to recycle their paint! These numbers continue to increase weekly, with rapid progress towards meeting annual program goals. PaintCare has also launched a Large Volume Pick-up program to provide direct service to those with over 300 gallons of leftover paint. The program has now provided over 100 pickups to contractors, school systems, large apartment buildings, hotels, movie studios, theme parks, and even an American Indian Reservation. The top ten largest pickups were each over 1,000 gallons, with the largest being 3,120 gallons of paint. Those with over 300 gallons can request a large volume pick-up by calling the PaintCare hotline: (855) PAINT 09. In addition, PaintCare continues to partner with HHW programs to cover their costs of transportation and processing of paint. PaintCare has completed contracts with 15 California HHW programs-- through direct contracts with government agencies, and indirect contracts through government facilities' onsite service providers. As the contract templates and options have evolved over time, PaintCare would prefer to provide municipalities the correct template upon request, rather than posting a template online for download. To avoid confusion over which template is the most current and appropriate for each local government's situation, please contact Caitlin Sanders, California Program Manager, to discuss your unique program, and an appropriate template will be provided. For questions or additional information about the California PaintCare Program, contact Caitlin Sanders, California Program Manager: csanders@paint.org or (415) 590-0259. Additional California Staff available for information and assistance include three regional coordinators: Daria Kent (north), Terri Ryan (central), and Brandon Nelson-Zarrahy (south). In addition, the hotline (855-PAINT-09) and website (www.paintcare.org) provide great resources for the public.

Paint Stewardship Bills Signed in Minnesota and Vermont

On May 23rd, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton signed HF 967, and on June 3rd, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed H262, making Minnesota and Vermont the fifth and sixth states in the nation to implement product stewardship laws for paint. The laws are consistent with legislation passed into law in Oregon (2009), California (2010), Connecticut (2011), and Rhode
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Island (2012). "Dealing with post-consumer paint has been a high priority for solid waste districts and alliances, but it has come at a significant cost," said Jen Holliday, environmental safety compliance manager of the Chittenden Solid Waste District in Vermont. "This law ensures that we can keep household paints out of our landfills and out of people's storage closets, and do so with funding provided by manufacturers--not taxpayers." Proponents say the laws will pay off in the form of millions of dollars of savings each year for local governments, increased environmental benefits, and new green jobs. For more information, visit www.paintcare.org and www.productstewardship.us.

California Mercury Thermostat Rules Adopted

On May 15th the state of California succeeded in enacting the final mercury thermostat regulations to implement the 2008 Mercury Thermostat Collection Act. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the new rules will greatly reduce the amount of toxic mercury sent to landfills and incinerators due to improper disposal. The new rules require thermostat manufacturers to collect and recycle discarded mercury thermostats in California. Before these new rules, the Thermostat Recycling Corporation was collecting less than 9% of the thermostats. However, as of July 1st, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control requires that the industryrun collection program improve each year and ultimately achieve a 75% recycling rate by 2017. These improvements mean an additional 430,000 discarded mercury thermostats will be collected. For more information regarding this final rulemaking, see the full article.
Thermostat

WA Ruling on MercuryMercury-Containing Light Program

In December 2012, the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) adopted rules to carry out the state's mercury-containing lights product stewardship law (Chapter 173-910 WAC). The law, passed in 2010 (Chapter 70.275 RCW), requires a producer-financed program to collect, transport and recycle residential mercury-containing lights. The program was scheduled to begin on January 1, 2013, but lighting producers, represented by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), filed a lawsuit claiming that the program funding mechanism created through Ecology's rulemaking was not authorized in the law. Last month the Thurston County Superior Court judge ruled in favor of NEMA, and limited each light producer's requirement to fund the program to $15,000 per year, which significantly reduces the funding for the statewide program. Ecology is evaluating legal options and how to proceed with the operation of the program. In addition, Ecology is working with stakeholders on a legislative remedy that will allow the state to implement a fully funded product stewardship program.

King County, WA May Adopt Medicine Stewardship Rule

The King County Board of Health's proposed Secure Medicine Return Rule and Regulation would require drug producers selling medications for residential use in King County to provide and promote secure medicine return systems approved and overseen by Seattle and King County Public Health at no cost to the consumer.
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According to Komo News, the pharmaceutical industry is threatening to sue King County if this proposed Secure Medicine Return plan moves forward. At a May 16 public hearing, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) legal counsel Marjorie Powell delivered a warning to the King County Board of Health hoping to discourage the medicine disposal plan. Powell referred to the current lawsuit that PhRMA has filed against California's Alameda County, who passed a similar requirement for drug manufacturers. King County Councilmember Joe McDermott, chair of the Board of Health, said "the subcommittee has been well aware of the lawsuit filed by PhRMA in Alameda. I've been talking with county attorneys and we're secure in where we're at and our options to move forward." The public testimonies at the hearing were unanimously in support of the program. King County plans to vote on the proposed rule and regulations later this month. For more information see the full article.

Alabama Waste Pharmaceuticals Collection Bill Approved

The Alabama Legislature approved HB237, which amends an existing law that prohibited pharmacies from issuing refunds for unused portions of prescription drugs, to address waste drug collection. Pharmacies will now be able to accept any unused or expired dispensed medication that is returned for destruction. The amendment does not specifically address how pharmacies should dispose of the unused or expired drugs they accept or who should pay for the program.

Another Look at NRCM's Product Stewardship Case Studies

Bottle Bill The Natural Resources Council of Maine has released a recent Product Stewardship Case Study, taking a look at how to better recycle beverage bottles, in a way that neither excessively burdens consumers or producers. Maine has a bottle bill with an incredible 90% recycling rate for beverage containers. During the 35 years the bottle bill has been in effect this bill has created jobs and a well stimulated economy as well as reduced litter. Maine's bottle bill saves taxpayers money as manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and consumers all share the responsibility for recycling beverage containers. Its just a nickel that keeps this process going.

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manufacturers. Before this electronic waste program, all of these electronics were sent to landfills to be incinerated. Those toxic materials are released into the environment with 40% of the lead in landfills and 70% of heavy metals in landfills coming from discarded consumer electronics. Maine's program has been a tremendous success, recycling more than 37million pounds of e-waste, including about 4 million pounds of lead. Not only has this program helped public health and the environment, but has cut costs for local governments and taxpayers by $11 million, as well as creating a supply of new jobs to Maine's communities. For more information, visit http://www.nrcm.org/documents/ewaste_case_study_sm.pdf

New Developments in Electronics Product Stewardship

A global registry for greener electronics, EPEAT, has expanded their product categories to include televisions. Until now, governments and consumers have not had a comprehensive standard to assist them in identify environmentally preferable options when purchasing new televisions. The EPEAT criteria were developed over four years with the involvement of hundreds of representatives from the environmental, manufacturing, research, recycling and government sectors, and reflect several categories of environmental attributes that cover the full lifecycle of electronic products, such as reduction/elimination of environmentally sensitive materials, design for end of life, product longevity/life extension, and end-of-life management. Last month Staples became the first major U.S. retailer of consumer electronics to become a licensed e-Stewards Enterprise, a program of the Basel Action Network (BAN). Staples will now offer free e-Stewards certified recycling for consumer electronics in the US stores. The eStewards Certification is considered the most rigorous standard for socially and environmentally responsible electronics recycling, as it assures that private data will be removed, and hazardous e-wastes will not be exported to developing countries, deposited in landfills or incinerators, or sent to prison labor operations. To read more click here.

Yale University's University's Journal of Industrial Ecology focuses on EPR

A special issue of Yale University's Journal of Industrial Ecology recently focused on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). The article investigates EPR from a number of directions, looking at a number of countries, provinces and states including programs in the U.S., the European Union, Canada, China, Brazil and the State of Washington. The article can be downloaded for free at: http://jie.yale.edu/EPR.

Heidi Sanborn Speaks At SF Showing of Trashed Trashed

The new documentary film Trashed, by Jeremy Irons, was screened at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas in San Francisco on April 11th. The award winning actor travels across the globe to take a look at how humans' appetite for material goods is affecting the health of our planet. The film was followed by a discussion panel that included Heidi Sanborn, CPSC's Executive Director. Heidi stressed the need to continue to support manufacturers that design products for a cradle to cradle lifecycle and commit to funding take-back of their products. Go to
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http://matadornetwork.com/change/trashed-a-messy-journey-into-the-bowels-of-moderncivilization/ to read Sven Eberlein's article covering the event.

Sao Paolo Oil Filter Stewardship Agreement

Recently, the Secretary of Environment of the State of Sao Paolo signed a product stewardship agreement with individual oil filter producers and importers. Under the agreement, service stations and automobile repair shops will collect and store waste filters for later transport arranged by the filter manufacturers and importers. The filters will be disassembled into primary materials, such as steel from cases. Residual waste oil will be re-refined for reuse as a lubricant. The producers and importers will cover all costs for the stewardship program. The Sao Paolo agreement sets a 2014 goal to collect and process 830,000 pounds of waste oil filters. Abrafiltros views the programs in Parana and Sao Paolo as a pilot for a national stewardship program that would be authorized under Brazil's National Policy on Solid Waste enacted in 2010. For more information click here.

Western Australia Mattress Recycling Scheme

On May 20th the Western Australia Waste Authority announced it would soon begin a mattress recycling program in the state and is seeking "Expressions of Interest" for a pilot program to be operated in Perth, the state capital and Peel, a coastal municipality. According to the report, Perth and Peel together send about 130,000 to 150,000 mattresses to landfills for disposal each year. The mattresses consume about 110,000 cubic meters of landfill space, and represent a loss of about 1,300 tons of metal and 200 tons of wood that could be recycled. While the report does not discuss implementing a manufacturer-funded product stewardship program, the chosen recycling scheme must become "financially sustainable within 24 months." For more information on the pilot program click here.

CPSC Board Lobby Day, Fundraiser & Joint Board Training

On May 16-17 the CPSC Board held its annual Board Retreat and joint training with Board members from partnering organizations CRRA and Keep California Beautiful. This year we added our first annual Lobby Day and Board Fundraiser to the program. CPSC's Board members split into teams and navigated the State Capitol to meet with legislators and legislative staff to support stewardship bills. The fundraiser followed that evening, and was a big hit thanks to the support of all our donors, partners, Board members and staff. We would also like to send a big THANK YOU to Julia Burrows, Liz Salmi, Greenwise Joint Venture, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, and Rutherford Grove Winery for their generous donations to our event!

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