City of Lockport Curbside Recycling Collection Evaluation

PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP
A Review of Extended Producer Responsibility Policy and its
Impact to Local Solid Waste Management Practices
AWMA 2016 Annual Seminar
Air & Waste Management Association
Niagara Frontier Section
Prepared by:
Dawn M. Timm
January 27, 2016
Who am I?
2. Quick Review of Local Solid Waste Management
Practices and Procedures
3. Defining Product Stewardship and Extended
Producer Responsibility Policy
4. Examining EPR impacts to Government
5. Examples of National EPR Policy
6. Introduce the New York State Product Stewardship
Council and examples of Product Stewardship in New
York
7. Case Study: Electronic Waste Reuse and Recycling Act
8. Future Plans: Paint Stewardship Legislation
9. Wrap-up
1.
Presentation Overview
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar

Director of Niagara County Division of Environmental/Solid Waste
Management
◦ Assist 20 local governments with meeting various environmental and solid waste
management efforts,
◦ Closure and Long term Post Closure Care of four Landfills in Niagara County,
◦ Liaison to Niagara County Legislature on matters related to environment and solid waste
management.
Vice Chair of New York Product Stewardship Council
 Former Region 9 Representative for New York State Association of
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (NYSAR3)
 Education:

◦ BS- Environmental Earth Science/Geology from Buffalo State (2002)
◦ MS- Environmental Science and Policy and Resource Management from University of
Wisconsin (2004).

URS – Environmental Consulting (2004-2008)
Who am I?
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar

Local governments are expected to manage an increasingly complex
waste stream, balance costs and deliver a premium service
◦ Our trash composition has changed (i.e. glass), increase of “single use” items
and rapid obsolescence,
◦ Some products are bulky and hard to manage (furniture, carpet, mattresses,
tires, etc.),
◦ Some products contain toxins (electronics, CFLs, Thermostats, metals)
◦ Manufacturers are disconnected from the “end-of-life” management of their
products: they have little incentive to create more sustainable products (easier
to recycle/less hazardous materials)

Examples of familiar Solid Waste Policy
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Source Separation / Curbside Recycling (1990)
Bottle Bill (1982 and 2009)
Waste Oil
Lead Acid Batteries (1990)
Cell-phones, plastic bags, Lead Wheel Weight Law
Electronic Waste, Mercury Thermostats, Rechargeable Batteries…
Overview of Local Solid Waste Management:
When do we care about our household garbage? January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar

Definitions:
◦ Product Stewardship is the act of minimizing the health, safety, environmental,
and social impacts of a product and its packaging throughout all lifecycle stages,
while also maximizing economic benefits. The manufacturer, or producer, of the
product has the greatest ability to minimize adverse impacts, but other
stakeholders, such as suppliers, retailers, and consumers, also play a role.
Stewardship can be either voluntary or required by law.
◦ Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a mandatory type of product
stewardship that includes, at a minimum, the requirement that the
manufacturer's responsibility for its product extends to post-consumer
management of that product and its packaging. There are two related features
of EPR policy: (1) shifting financial and management responsibility, with
government oversight, upstream to the manufacturer and away from the public
sector; and (2) providing incentives to manufacturers to incorporate
environmental considerations into the design of their products and packaging.
What is Product Stewardship and Extended
Producer Responsibility?
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar

How is EPR policy changing how
waste is financed and managed?
◦ Current Practice: Taxpayers and
Governments Fund
◦ EPR: Manufacturers/ Product
Purchasers Pay
 Recycling Collection/Infrastructure
built into product price or
company’s cost of doing business,
 Producers responsible for financing
and managing their products at endof-life,
 Producers internalize costs of
reducing environmental
externalities

EPR Shifts the Costs and
Responsibility off Governments (even
though they may continue collection).
Benefits of Product Stewardship
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar
Electronics

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Fastest growing waste problem due to quantity, rapid obsolescence and toxicity.
2011: 3.4 million tons waste generated
Alkaline Batteries

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5 billion Dry Cell Batteries are annually purchased in U.S.
Mercury automobile switches
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Vehicles manufactured prior to 2003 have multiple switches that each contain 0.8 grams of Mercury
Tires
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300 million scrap tires each year
Markets exist for 85%, yet it is estimated that 265 million are stockpiled
Mattresses
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20 million used mattresses are discarded annually
Paint

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64 million gallons of leftover paint is generated each year
Medical Sharps

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3 billion medical needles are generated each year
Packaging and Printed Paper (PPP)
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40% of U.S. Municipal solid waste stream is comprised of PPP
50 Million tons disposed of each year (missed opportunity?)
Carpet

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3.9 Million tons of scrap carpet generated annually
7.5% recycled
Target Items: National Numbers
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar
Maine becomes 8th State to pass Paint Stewardship Legislation (October 2015)
 PaintCare (Paint Industry’s product stewardship organization) launches Maine’s program.
Call2Recycle implements Nation’s First Single-Use Battery Recycling Program in Vermont
(October 2015)
 Effective 1/1/2016, battery producers to fund and manage battery recycling in the state.
Connecticut Mattress Recycling Law- requires mattress industry to create a recycling program
for mattresses and box springs (May 2015)
 $9 fee (managed by not-for-profit) upon purchase of new mattress fund the program is shown as a separate line item.
 Residents who drop off mattresses will get $2!
Alameda County (CA) Safe Drug Disposal Ordinance- requires drug makers to underwrite the
costs of a program in which consumers can drop off unwanted medications.
 U.S. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services report that $275.9 billion in prescription drugs will be prescribed and it
is estimated that 10-33% of prescribed drugs are not consumed.
 Withheld multiple appeals and U.S. Supreme Court denied request to hear case.
Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-25) : federal bill that would require pharmaceutical
companies to manage and finance the safe collection and disposal of their products.
Examples of EPR Policy Headlines
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar
National Product Stewardship
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar
Why is New York focusing on Product Stewardship and EPR?
1. Local Governments can’t solve this problem on their own.
2. Recycling Rates are plateauing in New York.
•
Will Product Stewardship Policies provide a bump in recycling?
New state property tax cap means local governments are seeking cost-saving
measures.
Development of the New York Product Stewardship Council (NYPSC)

Created in 2009 by NYS Association for Solid Waste Management (NYSASWM)
with support from state Solid Waste Organizations

Multi-stakeholder council with membership from government, businesses,
recycling professionals and members the environmental community.

Priorities
3.
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Build and educate our support base and engage more local governments,
Implement and strengthen current legislation
Pass new legislation
NYPSC in action
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Electronic Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act
Mercury Thermostat Collection Act
Rechargeable Battery Recycling Act
The New York State Product Stewardship Council
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar
NY State Rechargeable Battery Recycling Act (2010)

Manufacturers will be responsible for financing the collection and
recycling of batteries collected, advertising and reporting
◦
Call2Recycle
Retailers that sell will be required to accept
Disposal Ban

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The Mercury Thermostat Collection Act (2013)

310,000 thermostats are taken out of service each year in NY
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Manufacturers develop and implement a thermostat collection
program that meets a pre-established goal of collecting 15,500
thermostats by 2015.
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NYSDEC to establish annual collection goals thereafter and make
changes to the program
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Is it working?
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Annual goal has been met.
Electronic Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act (2010)
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Manufacturers are required to manage and fund programs for
collection and recycling of e-waste

Intended to relieve municipalities of the costly burden
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Is it working?
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Jury is still out, but 315 million pounds have been collected since 2011.
Examples of EPR in New York
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar

E-Waste Management prior to EPR
◦ Government managed/financed collection
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New York E-Waste Law (#22)
◦ Statewide, manufacturer (OEM) sponsored program
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Provide reasonably convenient collection
Must take their own brand
Accept one item of the same type for every one they sell
Recycle their share of the statewide recycling goal
Market based approach
Set e-waste recycling goals, incentives for surpassing goals
Relieves local governments from financial burden
Covers a broad range of products
Establishes a disposal ban in phases
Acceptable Methods
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Mail back
Community Collection Events
Fixed Acceptance Sites (Retail)
Local Government Agreements
1 Site per Municipality > 10,000.
E-waste Case Study
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar

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OEMs created “Collectives” and sought
to satisfy requirements of Volume
Retail and Not-for-Profit Participation
◦ Best Buy
◦ Goodwill
◦ Salvation Army

Transition from a “one day” collection
event to permanent drop-off facilities.
E-waste Case Study: Is it Effective?
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar
E-waste Case Study: Is it Effective?
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar
Westchester County: Seeing
Significant Savings
Westchester County decided for environmental
reasons to begin collecting used certain electronics
back in the late ‘90s. By actively promoting this
recycling program, the County was able to increase
the amount collected from 3.1 million pounds in
2008 to over 3.6 million pounds in 2010. The
County’s costs grew as the amount collected
increased and by 2010 they spent nearly a million
dollars a year to manage e-waste – over $75,000 a
month. As a result of the producer responsibility
law, Westchester County’s expenditures dropped
significantly. While the County still incurs some
operational costs, it no longer has to pay a vendor
to have the material taken off its hands. The
majority of the $85,000 the county spent managing
e-waste in 2011 was spent before the law was
implemented in April.
-From Product Stewardship Institute , Inc. Interim Report
March 29, 2012
E-waste Case Study: Westchester County
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar
NYPSC and PSI hosted a Stakeholder
Discussion on Jan 2014.
 Perspective of e-recycling industry
◦ Law turned industry into high risk, speculative
business
◦ Without volume to process, recyclers bid for
consumer volume without understanding what
compensation they’ll receive from OEMs.

Perspective of OEMs
◦ Difficult and expensive program to run
◦ Budgeting and Planning difficult due to release
of program goals

Perspective of Governments
◦ Convenience up and Expenses down!
◦ Threat of meeting the Performance Standard
◦ The Ban

CRT Glass Crisis
◦ $0.25 - $0.35/lb. to properly manage
◦ Accounts for as much as 80% of weight
collected
E-waste Case Study: The Challenges
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar

Success
◦ Over 315 million pounds collected
◦ Raised awareness for the need to keep e-waste out of
waste stream

Challenges
◦ Lack of yearlong, consistent OEM support
◦ Collection events are scaled back and inadequate drop off
locations
◦ Charging for CRTs
◦ Governments paying hundreds of dollars per ton
 Unbudgeted expenses
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Potential Solutions
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Strengthen Performance Goals (5lbs per capita)
Eliminate Business Waste from performance standard
Set a standard weight limit for mail back programs
Clarify manufacturers are required to provide “year long,
consistent support”
◦ Set goals for rural communities.

Where we are at…
◦ EPF increased to unprecedented $300 million
◦ DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos

“We understand that E-waste as a waste stream is a resource in some
respects. You want to get the value out of the resource and not throw it into a
landfill,” Seggos said. “The e-waste law has been a very important law. It has
diverted significant volumes of waste from landfills and into commodities. I
understand there are hiccups.”
E-waste Case Study: What now?
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar
On average, 3.9 million gallons of leftover paint generated in NY each year and most
is either disposed or managed by local Household Hazardous Waste Programs
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Accounts for 50% of volume and total expense for local governments
Non hazardous and ineligible for reimbursement
If all were managed properly, would cost $31 million per year
Potential Solution: PaintCare
Established by American Coatings Association (501c3) “…with sole purpose it to
ensure effective operation and efficient administration of paint product
stewardship programs on behalf of all architectural paint manufactures in the
United States.”
PaintCare
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar
Paint Stewardship Legislation
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar
The Proposal: Pass Paint Stewardship Program that would hold the paint industry
responsible for collecting and managing leftover paint
Benefits:
 Reduce government costs,
 provide convenient, year-long recycling opportunities
 Create private sector jobs
 Supported by American Coating Association (ACA, represent 95% of U.S. Paint
Manufacturers)
Hang-ups:
 A “nominal fee” ($0.35 on quarts, $0.75 on gallons and $1.60 on 5 gallons)
 Retail locations hesitant to participate
Currently, New York State Senate and Assembly, S4926 and A6199, respectively,
proposing statewide product stewardship legislation that are supported by ACA and
PaintCare.
June 11, 2015: New York State Caucus of Environmental Legislators (NYSCEL) called for
passage of several key bills before the end of regular legislative session, which included
Paint Stewardship
Planned Legislation: Paint Stewardship
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar
Municipal Impact of Product Stewardship
January 27, 2016
A&WMA Annual Seminar