Product Stewardship: Behind the Scenes #bumpyride

Transcription

1 Product Stewardship: Behind the Scenes #bumpyride Northwest Product Stewardship Council Peter Thermos, Council Coordinator Lisa Sepanski, Council Chair Mendy Droke, Paint and Medicines Committee Chair

2 Product Stewardship

3 Product Stewardship

4 Product Stewardship

5 Product Stewardship

6 Product Stewardship

7 Product Stewardship

8 Product Stewardship

9 Product Stewardship

10 Product Stewardship

11 Common Features Focused on products that are toxic/hard to handle Implemented by nonprofit stewardship organization instead of local government Funds are held by the stewardship organization-can t be used for other purposes Uses local recyclers, transporters and collectors, creates jobs

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13 Existing Programs COMPUTERS & TVs MERCURY-CONTAINING LIGHTS OTC & PERSCRIPTION MEDICINES

14 Electronics = What is the problem?

15 Electronic Products and the Law Interim Enforcement Policy (IEP) Conditional Exclusion for Electronic Wastes Provides direction for the legitimate recycling of electronic products Assumes ALL electronics are Dangerous Waste If you recycle Dangerous Waste Regulations do not apply If you dispose Dangerous Waste Regulations apply Dangerous Waste Regulations WAC Electronics sent for disposal must use a permitted Treatment Storage and Disposal Facility 15

16 Gaps What is legitimate recycling anyway? Lack of specificity about what it means to properly recycle electronic products No transparency No documentation requirements for downstream vendors 16

17 Electronic Product Recycling Law E-Cycle Washington WAC Establishes specific rules for collection, transport and recycling of electronics for companies that voluntarily participate as service providers in the program. The WMMFA adopted the voluntary Preferred Processing Standards for recyclers/processors that process electronic products for E-Cycle Washington. Exceeds the requirements in the Dangerous Waste Regs 17

18 Transparency Preferred Processing Standards Requires annual independent 3 rd party audit Downstream vendors must conform with all of the performance standards for materials of concern (MOCs) MOC = devices containing mercury or PCBs, batteries, CRTs, leaded glass, and circuit boards; Ensure that exported MOCs are legally accepted by recipient country. 18

19 Fast Forward to June collection sites available across Washington > 340 million lbs. recycled Approx 125 private-sector jobs created

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21 Electronics #Bumpyride 21

22 Fluorescent Lamps = What is the problem?

23 LightRecycle Program Program launched on January 1, WA Ecology provides program oversight. Recycling program for individuals and businesses in WA. Recycle up to 10 mercury-containing lights per person per day at no charge. Program products include fluorescent tubes and CFLs.

24 Voluntary Collection System 326 Collection Sites Registered Municipal and retail sites 223 sites accept all program products Collection Network

25 Outreach Over one million lights recycled, and counting Individuals and businesses can recycle up to 10 flur escent lights or CFLs per day for free! Drop them a off t an y of these Collection Sites: Grigg's Department Store Ace Hardware 1415 George Washington Way Richland WA Kennewick Ace Hardware and Sporting Goods 2831 W Kennewick Ave. Kennewick, WA Ace Hardware and Sporting Goods on Keene Road 103 Keene Road Richland, WA Grigg's Department Store Ace Hardware 801 W Columbia St Pasco, WA Batteries Plus Bulbs 321 North Columbia Center Blvd, Kennewick, WA Patnode's True Value 600 9th St. Benton Cit y, WA A PCA Product Stewardship program 50 1(c)(3) non-profit

26 Program Finance Environmental Handling Charge (EHC) $0.25 / light, for all accepted light types. Added to the purchase price of mercury-containing lights sold at retail. Reporting and Remitting the EHC Lighting producers must register, report sales and remit the EHC Revenue for 2015 was in line with projections.

27 Fast Forward to 2017 Collection Results 2015: 989,034 lamps Target surpassed by 4.2% 2016: 1,181,121 lamps Target surpassed by 18.5%

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29 Units Fluorescent Lamps #Bumpyride 800, , , : Sales of CFLs are declining rapidly. 500, , , , ,000 CFLs Tubes HIDs - Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec (millions) Lights Sold

30 Medicines = What is the problem?

31 King County Secure Medicine Return Program Passed in 2013 Prescription and Overthe-Counter Medicines Accepted Coverage Standards Secure, standardized collection containers Education and Promotion Reporting Standards 31

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33 Medicines #Bumpyride Statewide Medicine Return legislation fails to pass King County passes Secure Medicine Return ordinance in 2013 Pharmaceutical industry sues King County 2014 Statewide Medicine Return legislation is introduced in Olympia

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35 Electronics #Bumpyride 35

36 So What Happened?! Difficult for Auditors to catch everything especially if information has been mislabeled or omitted It took GPS trackers to reveal the final destination of exported electronic products Trackers revealed that an E-Cycle Washington processor illegally exported a flat panel TV (containing mercury lamps) to an unpermitted facility in Hong Kong 36

37 Smoothing the Bumpy Ride Explore the use of GPS tracking devices to ensure that materials of concern are not exported illegally; Add more types of electronic products to the program such as printers, fax/copy/scanning devices, VCRs and DVD players. These products are handled by recyclers outside of the E- Cycle Washington system. There is no documentation required for final destinations for materials of concern. Create a statewide advisory committee on electronics recycling to advise on markets, services and program policies. 37

38 Units Fluorescent Lamps #Bumpyride 800, , , : Sales of CFLs are declining rapidly. 500, , , , ,000 CFLs Tubes HIDs - Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec (millions) Lights Sold

39 So What Happened?! LED lights are replacing CFLs faster than expected. GE even ran a marketing campaign about it. 39

40 Smoothing the Bumpy Ride Analyze Sales Trends: A 38% annual drop in mercurycontaining lighting sales in WA is estimated. Engage Lighting Manufacturers: Discuss options in a series of webinars and conference calls. Propose EHC increase to $0.50. Approved by Ecology. New EHC will take effect July 1, Plan technical changes to the EHC reporting system and retail outreach. 40

41 Medicines #Bumpyride Statewide Medicine Return legislation fails to pass King County passes Secure Medicine Return ordinance in 2013 Pharmaceutical industry sues King County 2014 Statewide Medicine Return legislation is introduced in Olympia

42 Smoothing the Bumpy Ride SMR Launch in King County 42

43 Medicines Lessons Learned What is unique to your county? Know your ordinance Consider an extended timeline Dedicated staff person Learn from other local governments Enforce but flexibility is key Plan communications strategy including for the public Keep elected officials informed Chain pharmacies may not participate It s a marathon, not a sprint 43

44 #The End Northwest Product Stewardship Council