producer responsibility: a tool to manage toxic garbage
TRANSCRIPT
Producer Responsibility A Tool To Manage Toxic Garbage
Garbage Has Fundamentally Changed
Products lasted years
Then: New models come out frequently & products become obsolete
Now:
Waste Management System
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Product is manufactured and sold to retailers
• Government and ratepayers pay for recycling/disposal.
• No incentive for manufacturers to design less toxic, more recyclable products.
Product delivered to store or sold online
Consumer buys product Recycle Bins
Garbage Bins
Consumer disposes or recycles product
Local governments responsible for product
recycling or disposal
Ratepayers pay for disposal
Recycling Processes
Landfill Processes
Producer Responsibility Programs A Tool To Help
Cost of program is funded
by producers & consumers
that purchase the product
How Does Producer Responsibility Work?
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WHATCOM SAN JUAN
ISLAND SKAGIT SNOHOMISH
OKANOGAN FERRY
STEVENS PEND
OREILLE
CLALLAM JEFFERSON
GRAYS HARBOR MASON
PACIFIC WAHKIAKUM COWLITZ
CLARK
LEWIS THURSTON
PIERCE KITTITAS
KLICKITAT SKAMANIA
BENTON FRANKLIN
WALLA WALLA
DOUGLAS
GRANT
LINCOLN SPOKANE
ADAMS WHITMAN
GARFIELD
ASOTIN
CHELAN
YAKIMA
KING
Producer
Responsibility
Works!
• More than 350 no-cost collection sites • Recycled over 320 million lbs since January 2009 • Created more than 125 private-sector jobs
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Approx. 2 million lights recycled since Jan. 2015
Paint Stewardship
• Paint industry (ACA) initiated producer responsibility legislation in WA
• Statewide program to recycle and safely dispose of latex & oil-based paint
• PaintCare operational in: OR, CA, CO, VT, MN, CT, RI, ME, DC
Paint • Businesses & residents
can bring leftover paint to collection sites
• Sites can choose to participate. In other states, the collectors are: HHWs, transfer stations, collection events, paint retailers, paint stores
Paint & Water Quality • Paint is sometimes discarded in
waterways
• Oregon paint stewardship processed 618,971 gallons in 2015
– Population ~ 4 million
– 0.15 gallons per resident
• Washington Population ~7 million
– 7 million x 0.15 = 1,083,199 gallons
– How much paint enters WA waterways?
Paint Stewardship in WA • Paint bill has failed in WA legislature
every year starting in 2013
• Will come up again in 2017
• NWPSC met with 14 legislators
– Gather support from businesses and residents
– Call, email, and meet with legislators in support of paint stewardship
Pharmaceutical Stewardship • Prescription drugs are often thrown away in
garbage or flushed
• Prozac and other drugs have been detected in fish
• Kids are taking drugs that were not prescribed for them
– Oxycontin leads to heroin use
– Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the US (47K in 2014)
• Currently at county level (health ordinances)
• Collection network: Secure pharmacy receptacles
• King County program begins in 2017
• Snohomish, Kitsap and Pierce counties passed ordinances in 2016
• Bill for a statewide program in 2017
JOIN US www.productstewardship.net/JOIN
Associate Membership
Community Membership
